Don't do what I did...Use the right substrate!

[Shrimpelina]

Just a little post about how important it is to make sure that you have the right environment set up and running smoothly in your shrimp tank.  I thought all was going swimmingly in one of my tanks until I experienced multiple sudden deaths overnight ?..The cause....PH spike from substrate buffering incorrectly, which took me explaining exactly what I had in the tank and sending pictures to my mentor (thank you oh wise one, you know who you are ?....If you haven't got one of those (mentor I mean)..get one! They are invaluable when it comes to learning and asking advice!), to figure out as I couldn't put my finger on it LOL. Silly me had a PH neutral substrate in with Bee shrimp....I can hear all you bee keepers groaning at me now LOL....So no matter how much fulvic grain, driftwood, RO Water, mineral balls or alder cones I used the PH would just creep right back up again!  The cherries I had in there thrived of course, but the poor bees....?...Tank is now being stripped back down and added Benibachi substrate...Nothing but the best this time! ?

So heed my warning and please make sure you use the right substrate for the right shrimp....AND...don't be frugal.  You'll be thankful for using the "good stuff" when your shrimp are scurrying around happily, berried up all over the place......

Edited March 15, 2016 by Shrimpelina

[jayc]

Disciple?

 

 

[Disciple]

I am only her SKF mentor.

I think she is talking about another person. Lol

[Shrimpelina]

But you have also given me so much invaluable advice too Disciple!  I'm a very lucky lady to have a few people who are happy to help me figure things out.  Technically, I have more than one mentor ? along with a whole bunch of fellow shrimp enthusiasts who are always happy to help.  That's why I love being a part of the shrimp keeping community! ?

Edited March 15, 2016 by Shrimpelina

[FMuscle]

I know what you mean about the substrate. I'm happy with the buffering, but I'm still waiting for my stratum to settle down after over a week. Most reviewers said it takes 24 hours. If I wasn't in a bad position at the moment I'd replace it now and be done with it, but I can't justify it right now so I'm waiting either settlement or money tree growth. haha

[OzShrimp]

Dont be acared to share theirnname so we can all shower them with praise lol. Its people like that which make the hobby better by helping grow by assisting new people. I am sure most people in ur situation without a mentor may have got discouraged and given up.   

 

Kudos to your mentors!

[NoGi]

@Shrimpelina, in this hobby it is important to make mistakes and to learn from them. Newcomers that never make mistakes start to feel invincible and then start to make silly mistakes which can end up in devastating losses. Even seasoned veterans can make mistakes, it's called being human and until we are replaced by robot breeders with real AI we will continue to make mistakes. 

Also, mistakes can also lead to cool new shrimp.

[zn30]

Yes sadly I have leant the hard way cherry shrimp thrived in a standard setup tank however tragedy struck my bee shrimp doing fine for a month then over night losses started due to ph sky rocketing. I have learnt since running a Aqua one 900 tank (half round - magnifies the shrimp) setup correctly all parameters correct cycled the tank for 5 weeks, to be sure to be sure, have had CRS in this tank for 6 weeks all doing fine. Also setup a 620T for the cherry shrimp. The advice above has assured me that I have done things correctly this time, Thanks