Jump to content

Benibachi soil

ineke

By ineke
in Shrimp Tank Setup

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • HOF Member
ineke Shrimp Guru

ineke

Posted
  • HOF Member
Posted

If I decide to use benibachi soil in my 20 litre cube how long does it last? Does it break down and need replacing? Is there anything else you can use to buffer tap ph of 7.4 to below 7 for CRS?

Thanks

ineke

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BlueBolts Shrimp Guru

BlueBolts

Posted
Posted

Hi Ineke, If you were investing in benibachi soil, I would go with RO/Di water, as your tap water's PH @ 7.4 will continually fight against the natural buffering capacity at 6.4. The "life" of the soil is dependent on this. My benibachi soil is approx. 16 months old, and still buffering well.....but i've only used RO/DI water, and kept GH at 4, which is its's natural buffering capacity too....

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • HOF Member
ineke Shrimp Guru

ineke

Posted
  • Author
  • HOF Member
Posted

missed this post sorry BB. I have got the RO unit now and waiting for the salty shrimp. Have changed some of the water in my tanks with the RO water. My problem now is I don't have a spare tank to pull down to put the Benibachi soil in before my new shrimp come. I will sort something out over the next week or two then I will buy the soil as I really do want to keep my few CRS healthy. Dean messaged me last night and has scared the c###p out of me that I will lose what i have because I don't have the salty shrimp and have started using the RO water. Luckily all tanks still have some tap water and the TDS is around 180. Need to save some money and get the important things instead of dabbling in everything me thinks!!!!

How do I get my shrimp used to the new set up as at the moment the cube is ph 6.8 kh 3 gh 4 TDS 192 amomnia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate 0-5(varies) So if I set up a new tank with all the right WP and benibachi and salty shrimp how do I transfer them. Do I do slow changes over a week or so with water thats had the salty shrimp and ph buffered in the original tank then get them out and slowly drip feed the water from the new tank into a bag then release them?:confused-new:

Cheers

Ineke:encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BlueBolts Shrimp Guru

BlueBolts

Posted
Posted

Hi ineke, yeah RO/Di water is absolutely pure, and nothing lives in it.....so definitely need to remineralise it etc.... SoundS like you're ticking all the boxes....shrimps just need an acclimatisation for any chnage in WP.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • HOF Member
ineke Shrimp Guru

ineke

Posted
  • Author
  • HOF Member
Posted

Thanks BB I will get there in the end. Money is the limiter as with all of us. But if I stick with what I have and slowly get the CRS tank going properly I should be able to enjoy myself. Bit worried now but as I said I will have the salty shrimp next week so will add that to the water changes for the CRS and leave the cherries as they are. Once I build up a bit of cash I will invest in a better CRS male and see where it leads.

Cheers

Ineke

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 months later...
neosin Shrimp Lover

neosin

Posted
Posted
Hi Ineke' date=' If you were investing in benibachi soil, I would go with RO/Di water, as your tap water's PH @ 7.4 will continually fight against the natural buffering capacity at 6.4. The "life" of the soil is dependent on this. My benibachi soil is approx. 16 months old, and still buffering well.....but i've only used RO/DI water, and kept GH at 4, which is its's natural buffering capacity too....[/quote']

any idea what is the longest time it can hold for?

I've had mine for 1 yr and I'm hoping I won't have to change it soon

I'm using co2 and ph is around 5.5 when co2 is on :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Squiggle Shrimp Guru

Squiggle

Posted
Posted

From what I have read about peoples experience with this soil on this forum, it all depends on what water you are using. Some people who are using RO & SaltyShrimp have got 18mths +, but then people who have used just tap water have striped the buffing capacity out of the soil in just 3mths. So it all depends on what water you are using :encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Squiggle Shrimp Guru

Squiggle

Posted
Posted

I believe it's the Fulvic grains that do the buffing & once you start loosing the buffing capacity you can just add more of the grains to help boost the capacity. I know BB has done some experimentation on this so maybe he will be able to give you better numbers on the effects :victorious:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mr_c265 Shrimp Breeder

mr_c265

Posted
Posted

The actual chemical is humic and or fulvic acid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
michael Shrimp Breeder

michael

Posted
Posted

I have a question does anyone know the conversion from kg to lts. The package is 3 or 5 kg but on boss aquaria its in lts as in a 120 x 45 x 45 requires 30lts so how many bags is that

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Squiggle Shrimp Guru

Squiggle

Posted
Posted

I used 2 bags of normal & 1 bag of powder per 60 x 45 x 45, that gave me about 8cm deep, so I'm guessing with your tank being twice as big you'll need 4 bags of normal & 2 bags of powder, hope this helps :encouragement:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • HOF Member
ineke Shrimp Guru

ineke

Posted
  • Author
  • HOF Member
Posted

Dean explained it somewhere litres and kilos are interchangeable so 4 litres is equal to 4 kgs

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Squiggle Shrimp Guru

Squiggle

Posted
Posted

2/3 normal base & 1/3 powder top. Can use super powder instead of powder but it's way more expensive :victorious:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • HOF Member
ineke Shrimp Guru

ineke

Posted
  • Author
  • HOF Member
Posted

I have normal and they seem fine however I haven't had any shrimplets in there and apparently it's good to put the powder over the top as it is smaller and easier for the shrimplets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

    Shrimp Disease and Treatment
    Tibee, Taitbee, Pinto, Mischling, F1, F2

  • Tropical Fish Forum
    Discus Breeding Guide
    Discus Disease and Treatment Guide

  • Posts

    • beanbag
      Shrimp molting before eggs are hatched

      By beanbag · Posted

      Hello folks,  The current problem I am having is that my Taiwan bee shrimp are molting before all their eggs have hatched.  Often the shrimp keep the eggs for 40+ days.  During that time, they lose about half or so, either due to dropping or duds or whatever.  Shortly before molting they look to have about a dozen left, and then they molt with about half a dozen eggs still on the shell.  Then the other shirmp will come and eat the shell.  These last few times, I have been getting around 0-3 surviving babies per batch.  I figure I can make the eggs hatch faster by raising the water temperature more (currently around 68F, which is already a few degrees higher than I used to keep it) or make the shrimp grow slower by feeding them less (protein).  Currently I feed Shrimp King complete every other day, and also a small dab of Shrimp Fit alternating days.  Maybe I can start alternating with more vegetable food like mulberry?  or just decrease the amount of food?
    • ngoomie
      Shrimp and meds containing gentian violet

      By ngoomie · Posted

      Yeah, cancer risk was a thing I'd seen mentioned a lot when looking into gentian violet briefly. I kinda just figured it might only be as bad as the cancer risk of malachite green as well, but maybe I should look into it more. I've been doing a pretty good job of not getting it on my skin and also avoiding dunking my unprotected hands into the tank water while treating my fish at least, though. Maybe I'll just not use it once I'm done this course of medication anyways, because I know a store I can sometimes get to that's pretty distant carries both malachite green and methylene blue, and in pretty large quantities.
    • jayc
      Shrimp and meds containing gentian violet

      By jayc · Posted

      Can't help you with Gentian Violet, sorry. It is banned in Australia violet for potential toxicity, and even possible cancer risks. I thought it was banned in Canada as well. At least, you now know why there isn't much info on gentian violet medication and it's use. But keep an eye on the snails after a week. If it affects the snails, it might not kill them immediately. So keep checking for up to a week. Much safer options out there. No point risking your own life over unsafe products.
    • ngoomie
      Shrimp and meds containing gentian violet

      By ngoomie · Posted

      Hello! I have a tank that currently does not contain shrimp, but does contain neon tetras which I am currently treating for Ich, as well as some bladder snails. Shrimp will be a later addition, likely cherry shrimp but I'm still doing research just to be sure. Initially I'd intended to buy some sort of Ich-fighting product that contains malachite green after doing a decent bit of research on it, most of which indicated that it should be shrimp-safe so I'd be good if I ever needed to use it again once shrimp were actually introduced (though I should note I'm aware shrimp can't get Ich, I'm more wondering in case the tetras could get Ich again, or something else that responds to similar medication). I ended up not being able to find any MG-containing products without either having to travel quite far or wait multiple days for delivery (which I was worried could lead the Ich to be fatal), and ended up picking up 'Top Fin Ick Remedy', a product that contains gentian violet which is a triarylmethane dye like malachite green. The bottle has two slightly differently worded warnings about its use with invertebrates ("not recommended for" and "not safe for" respectively), but when I'd been researching malachite green, I'd also heard of products that contain MG but not any other ingredients that would be harmful to inverts still being branded with warnings that they could be harmful, just as a "just-in-case" since the manufacturer didn't test it on any inverts, and I'm wondering if maybe it could be a similar situation here. I'm having a very very hard time finding information about gentian violet's use in fishkeeping at all though, it seems currently extremely uncommon. What I will say though is that I'm on day 2 of treating my tetras with it, and the bladder snails seem just fine -- in fact today I noticed what looked to be a bladder snail that appeared to be newly hatched (because of its size) that I hadn't seen before that was zipping around the tank without issue. But obviously, shrimp are not snails, and bladder snails are also notoriously hardy little guys, so what I'm seeing right now could easily be totally inapplicable to cherry shrimp. It might even be inapplicable to other species of snails, for all I know. Has anyone else here ever used anything that contains gentian violet in a tank that actually does contain shrimp? Were they okay, or should I make sure to not use it once shrimp are added?
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Planaria video - Chris Lukhaup

      By sdlTBfanUK · Posted

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58BrDSEY8KE  
×
×
  • Create New...