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Matt1508

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Hi everyone

Just wondering everyones thoughts on using Purigen in their shrimp tanks. I have used it with fish, but wondering if it is safe for use with shrimp?

Thanks

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Purigen is shrimp safe. I have used it quite often- usually just to remove tannins but it's good for removing lots of things. Just remember to use dechlorinator after recharging it. Macropore works well too.

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I have been using Purigen for the last six months in my CRS tank, the purigen colour is currently clay brown still a little longer until it turns blackish requiring recharging. Yes as @ineke states soak in dechlorinator and I would probably use it in a fish tank before cycling back through a shrimp tank.

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1 hour ago, zn30 said:

I have been using Purigen for the last six months in my CRS tank, the purigen colour is currently clay brown still a little longer until it turns blackish requiring recharging. Yes as @ineke states soak in dechlorinator and I would probably use it in a fish tank before cycling back through a shrimp tank.

Thanks so much for your help

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Thanks , just setting up first bee shrimp tank and being cautious,all new Eco complete substrate. been told of ammonia spike. Waiting and testing     Thanks    zn30 and  ineke          

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1 hour ago, Matt1508 said:

all new Eco complete substrate. been told of ammonia spike.

Hi Matt,

not sure what you have been told. But Eco complete does not give off ammonia like ADA substrate or CAL Black Earth premium.

It will not help start a cycle in your tank since it has no ammonia, which means that beneficial bacteria, won't grow until there is some ammonia (food source for BB). 

Eco complete is good if you already have a mature filter media you can seed the tank with. 

 

By all means, do test the water parameters for ammonia and nitrites. If you find them to be zero, then there is no ammonia from the substrate, which means you tank has not cycled. The moment you add any source of ammonia, say from tap water, food, fertlisers or from livestock who produce waste, then the tank will not be able to deal with the ammonia.

 

And if you are going to cycle the tank, then leave purigen out until the tank is completely cycled. Otherwise you interfere with the beneficial bacteria's food source - ammonia and nitrite.

Edited by jayc
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Thanks JayC .First time using anything but gravel,sand.Have taken Purigen out guess that means Cycle stage one.have seeded from established tank and put a couple of small peps in there to speed the process.and thanks for info on Eco complete.  Great looking substrate.will put photo when organised,purchased tank,filters,lights, from ozshrimp.got a bargain ,heaps of extras.All I need now is co2.any recommendation size of bottle,reg,diffuser.? Thanks again Jay C  ,ineke,zn30

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2 hours ago, Matt1508 said:

purchased tank,filters,lights, from ozshrimp

You got a bargain for sure !

 

 

2 hours ago, Matt1508 said:

All I need now is co2.any recommendation size of bottle,reg,diffuser.?

What's your plans for the tank?

It would help us give you a better recommendation.

What sort of tank scape-wise?? Iwagumi / Dutch style / Amazonian / Jungle / Taiwanese / low key shrimp tank / etc 

What sort of inhabitants? - just remember heavily planted tanks and shrimps mean of or the other will need to compromising. Either the plants will get priority or the shrimps, which means the other will not thrive (they may survive, but not thrive).

 

You're kinda limited with the substrate you have picked to use. Eco complete, despite it's name, is actually not very "complete" at all for plants. They have no macro nutrients (NPK) at all to sustain the growth of aquatic plants. Unlike substrates like ADA amazonia, or CAL BEP. Hence the reason why it has no ammonia. You can of course add your own Macro nutrients to sustain plants, so it's not impossible to grow lush plants with Eco Complete.

A low light Shrimp tank with mosses and liverworts would be your best option. In which case, CO2 is not necessary at all. Cheap lights are more than enough to sustain mosses and is used primarily to view the shrimp. Save your money.

Edited by jayc
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Thanks Jayc will concentrate on shrimp,mosses and decor.will buy some Amazonia substrate for another setup down the track.trying to decide what shrimp to buy.they all look soooo good ,any suggestions and I rather buy shrimp than co2.

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3 minutes ago, Matt1508 said:

any suggestions

Since you have an Eco Complete substrate, it's suited to Neocaridina, which are all the Cherry varieties and  Rillis. So lots to choose from. 

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Thanks JayC.have 1000+ Red cherries at the moment throughout my peppermint breeding tanks,started with 18.Thinking now crystal,bee shrimp.Would I be better removing Eco complete and adding substrate that would drop PH ?I have R O water with SS gh+ ready to go into tank once cycled but yet to test PH.Have used tap water,Prime until tank is cycled,going to buy some chocolate cherries.thought I would put them in with the Red cherries since they were going crazy ,and will they crossbreed ?Thanks again

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3 hours ago, Matt1508 said:

Thinking now crystal,bee shrimp.Would I be better removing Eco complete and adding substrate that would drop PH ?

That's a lot of red cherry shrimps you have there. I assume the tank with the cherries is a different tank to the eco complete tank.

Swapping substrate to accommodate Crystal shrimps now will be a bit of work, so it's completely up to you.

The benefit of using buffering substrate with Crystal bee shrimps is that you maintain a stable low pH. That is much better than having to constantly alter parameters to suit Crystal shrimps. So do it now before you get the shrimps, if that is the path you want to take. The key to happy shrimp is stable water parameters.

 

3 hours ago, Matt1508 said:

going to buy some chocolate cherries.thought I would put them in with the Red cherries since they were going crazy ,and will they crossbreed ?

Yes they will cross breed, and you will end up with a lot of culls, and if those culls start breeding themselves you will end up going backwards with the quality of your shrimps. 

Chocs and Red can produce some very nice deep red cherries, but it takes a lot of work and many tanks to separate the good ones from the bad ones, and re-breeding the good offspring until you get nice colours again. 

Edited by jayc
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Hi JayC,sorry about confusion.have Eco complete in 4ft,just finished nitrogen cycle,eheim ecco pro,aqua one acquis 1000,both full of eheim substrate pro and seachem matrix.Have cherries in breeding tanks which is 4, 180l tanks with sump below.have been putting nice red ones together in 1 of the 4 tanks.  Planning on removing Eco complete from 4ft and adding substrate with better PH buffers,going to add Eco complete to Discus tank.Thanks for help.

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4 hours ago, Matt1508 said:

Thanks for help

No problem Matt.

Don't forget that plant substrates that buffer pH will have more ammonia in it, so the cycling will take longer. If you need help choosing a good substrate, just yell out again.

There are lots of options to pick from and each have their good and not so good points.

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Good onya JayC.Will give you a yell next week about substrate,Busy at the moment with two pairs of Discus in separate tanks,both pairs with fry.4ft tank now cycled,just adding extras,driftwood ,rock.will wait until I get substrate then add SS GH+ to RO water. Thanks JayC

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