Best shrimp soil

[Guest Shrimpstyle]

so im setting up a new tank in the next few weeks and would like to know what soil i should use in it?

i am currently using ADA in my other tanks and think its great but i was thinking to try Up aqua shrimp soil or benibachi shrimp soil

in this next tank. so any suggestions would be great :confused:

[skfadmin]

I would recommend that this is left open for discussion before making a decision as im sure others will have there recommendations and why.

i have a few tanks set up with ADA amazonia I & II and love the product. i have a new tank that i just setup with Benibachi black soil but think its to early to make an

informed decision as the tank has only been setup for 2 months now, but seems to be doing very well.

[Sprae]

I've been using benibachi in my nano. I think it's pretty good as its buffering my tap water from 7.2 to 5.8 pH so far. I probably prefer it to be at 6.2 but I'm not complaining :)

Heard ADA is good too, how is that buffering for you? Water parameters?

[Guest kingkong]

Hi Shrimpstyle and welcome to the forum.

i also use ADA amazoni II in my tank and upaqua shrimp soil in another. i found the upaqua has started to break down and not buffer as well, but i have very hard water also. the ADA is doing great and i would recommend that to anyone setting up a tank as long as you dont mind waiting for it to cycle.

@sprae, welcome also mate. good to see a few people found this forum so quick. My ADA tank buffers to 6.4 and its been like that since i set up the tank 14 months ago.

[Guest Shrimpstyle]

thank for the input guys/girls :)

i am in no real hurry to set up the tank and am more than happy to wait for more input on the subject.

@ sprae Hi mate, why would you prefer the PH higher that it is?

the lower the ph the less bacteria! half the worlds shrimp breeders try and try to do everything they can to get there PH as low as that.

does it stay that low with Benibachi soil always??

[Loach]

I use up aqua shrimp soil and it buffers my waters PH ot around 6.5 from 7.2.

[Sprae]

@ sprae Hi mate' date=' why would you prefer the PH higher that it is?

the lower the ph the less bacteria! half the worlds shrimp breeders try and try to do everything they can to get there PH as low as that.

does it stay that low with Benibachi soil always??[/quote']

Wasn't sure if that's a good thing to have pH too low. Had a consistent 5.5 on the early months of Benibachi. I think now it's starting to buffer less to 5.8-6.0 now. Is there any reason lower pH or more acidic water is better? Less bacteria?

[BlueBolts]

Have used several soils and no doubt the benibachi is my fav. Depending on the ratio/thickness of the soil, as this affects the buffering capacity. I have nano's @ 26 lt, and had a tank with 80m-90mm of the benibachi, and it buffers at 5-5.2.

Yeah, lower the PH, the less bacteria = better shrimplets survival .... anything that assist their survival rate is GOOD ! Definitely a must for the EXOTIC shrimps...LOL.

[Sprae]

Hmm... does that mean I should start adding things like Benibachi Fulvic Grain? It's slowly going north to 6.0 or more now.

[Joele]

Up Aqua soil buffers my water to around 6.2 but I have very soft water to start with.. (1-2 dkh)

[BlueBolts]

Hi Sprae, 6.0 is great, fulvic is a great option, BUT I would just monitor the PH, lots of other more important factors. Just checked out www.bossaquaria.com.au, and there's some GOD send products coming our way .....

It's me Sprae....LOL...who am I ?

[Dean]

im staying well away from this topic as my opinion is bias.

@joele how long have you had the upaqua shrimp soil running and how well has it maintained its buffering ?

[Heavyd]

I use benibachi soil in my tanks.

Something I've been curious about for a while now. How does the fulvic grain differ from the soil?

[Sprae]

Hi Sprae' date=' 6.0 is great, fulvic is a great option, BUT I would just monitor the PH, lots of other more important factors. Just checked out www.bossaquaria.com.au, and there's some GOD send products coming our way .....

It's me Sprae....LOL...who am I ?

Hi Bluebolts

I think I know who you are :)

I'm already planning to get a few things from boss aquaria soon. So many great products, so little budget ;)

[Joele]

@joele how long have you had the upaqua shrimp soil running and how well has it maintained its buffering ?

Only around 6 weeks, so not a great long term test so far..

[Loach]

Up Aqua soil buffers my water to around 6.2 but I have very soft water to start with.. (1-2 dkh)

Mine might be around there, havent checked my PH in a month ;)

[Dean]

well please keep us updated with the parameters, as there are a lot of mixed reviews about this soil and i think it would be a benefitto everyone to know others experiences with all soils.

Only around 6 weeks, so not a great long term test so far..

[Dean]

same for you loach, the more parameter readings we get the better for everyone to make an informed decision on product they want to use.

Mine might be around there, havent checked my PH in a month ;)

[durro68]

My pH is 6 but I have up aqua and ADA amazonia I & II in about even quantities but all running on a system of about 1200 litres.

[Dean]

so all the tanks are running the same water supply? so the readings from 1 soil cant really be understood? or they are all running PH 6 and you know each soil is doing its own job?

[NoGi]

I have Benabachi in 2 tanks and normal 1mm pebbles in another. The tank with plain ol pebbles seem to be what my Cherries prefer.

[BeeNoob]

I prefer ADA Aquasoil (New Amazonia) with new small & fine granules, also love Breeder's soil from CRIMSONxHEATWAVExLOWKEY.

[MrShrimp]

I have being cycling Ada amazon II for 5 weeks now with 50% water change every week. I've added 3 CRS and 2 died overnite. A week later I added 4 high grade CBS and 2 died a couple of days later. So I'm guessing after 5 weeks, my Ada soil hasn't fully cycle yet. I took the remainder 2 CBS back into my nano where I have been keeping all my crystals for several months now with no deaths.how long do I have to wait. I think 5 weeks is to long

[Dean]

hi mate, sorry about the loss. first thing to do is buy yourself a few test kits.make sure that ammonia & nitrite are at zero ( 0 ) and nitrate <5not until you get these readings should you be adding shrimp to the tank.also if you have done above and all is good but the shrimp are still dying that you are adding to the tank,then i would think that the way you are adding the shrimp to the tank ( Acclimatizing them) may need to be thought about :) try the drip method of acclimatization .

I have being cycling Ada amazon II for 5 weeks now with 50% water change every week. I've added 3 CRS and 2 died overnite. A week later I added 4 high grade CBS and 2 died a couple of days later. So I'm guessing after 5 weeks, my Ada soil hasn't fully cycle yet. I took the remainder 2 CBS back into my nano where I have been keeping all my crystals for several months now with no deaths.how long do I have to wait. I think 5 weeks is to long

[Naraic]

I have six months worth of results for two 30l tanks with up aqua soil if you wanted them posted? Never know when those test sheets will in come in handy, they even note births, loses and other odd ball events explained or otherwise. I'll spreadsheet them.

More like 5 months of records.