New Low grade CRS/CBS breeding tank with Bee shrimp mineral GH+

[Dean]

so this is the first tank i started using the SaltyShrimp Bee Shrimp Mineral GH+ in, it has had great success as the tank is only 2 months old and im pretty happy with the results.

http://youtu.be/BzWypvX8im8

[Gbang]

WOO!!! that's a lot of babies!

[Dean]

yes i would have to agree. its the highest survival rates i have ever had since using the bee shrimp mineral GH+.

and now i added some oxydators a few days ago, so will see even more improvements i m sure :victorious:

[lachie1998]

wow so many shrimp Dean.

[Dean]

i think there would be a bit over 100 in there but they were from only 5 females :)

[Heavyd]

Beautiful! I really like the female in there with the large amounts of red.

How thick is the layer of benibachi in this tank?

[Dean]

i know right ! she is beautiful with a red stripe that goes around but gets much bigger under her belly.

ill try to get a photos of just her for you soon.

the benibachi soil in all my tanks is from 4 inches to 6 inches thick :)

i like it like this as it keeps the water very stable and keeps my ph very low at 5.2

the crystal shrimp seem to do really well in the very low ph. the cherry shrimp dont like it but i only have a few in that ph range.

[Heavyd]

Looking forward to more pictures.

Maybe that's why the benibachi isn't buffering as well in my 200L tank. I put 4 bags in there, and pH after a few months is 6.8-7. Although the shrimp seem to be thriving in there, I was a bit disappointed with the lack of buffering.

[Dean]

the buffering capabilities of the soil come down to a couple of things!

1. how hard your tap water is to start with?

2. how thick you have the soil?

3. do you have any rock/stones in there that will alter KH/GH/PH.

i have a 6x2x2 with 4inches depth in front and 8 inches at back in depth and i have white rock in there that buffers the tank to ph 7 even with all that soil. so i took out the rock and now its sitting at 6.1 with tap water only.

i use Ro water only and have very thick soil in my racks.

[Heavyd]

I have no rocks in that tank, just driftwood and mosses. I started out using tap water for the first 2 months, which was pH 7.8 and gH 6-8, but now I use RO and its still the same. When I first setup it was keeping the pH at 6.3. I would add more to the tank, but it makes such a mess when added to water!

[Dean]

lol that water is pretty hard. agree about the mess when added direct to the water, but i have done it and it does clear up in a day or 2 :)

but at the end of the day, if the shrimp are happy and breeding, it doesnt matter what the ph is :)

[Heavyd]

Yes that's true, and unfortunately paying $220 for the substrate for just one tank was already expensive for me.

BTW is the small packet of fulvic grain the same as the benibachi soil?

[Dean]

the fulvic grain packets is the same fulvic grain that they add to the soil yes.

i use it in a 4x2x2 that has ada soil it it that is 3 years old and no longer buffers.

the ph sits at 7.8 normally but added the fulvic grain 4packs :) and it has been sitting at 6.7 now for 2-3 months.

but i had only a few shrimp in there when i added it, as i did not want to stress the shrimp to much with large swing in parameters.

i put 2 in the filter and 2 in a sudo breeder box so it slowly added to the main tank and didnt just have a massive swing :)

it does work though :)

[Heavyd]

So the soil particles dont buffer on their own? They add fulvic grains to the soil from what you are saying? Just wondering if that's the case, because I did gravel vac the front of the tank a couple of times, and removed the very fine dust from the soil. Maybe that wasnt a good idea?

[Dean]

thats a very good question and i can not honestly answer that. i know the soil does buffer the water by itself to neutral and the fulvic grain is what makes it buffer so low so you could be right in what you are saying.

i didn't think people actually vacuumed there soil anymore :)

[Heavyd]

I only vacuumed because there was a lot of food rotting in the depths. Now I feed in petri dishes.

[Foxpuppet]

What filtration are you using heavyD? Could something in your media be the cause? I know my totto filter media dropped my ph by another 0.5, Just wondering if something else might do the reverse.

[Heavyd]

Im running an EHEIM 2215 with the standard media and an oversized air sponge filter. I too was wondering if the media was playing a part. Couldn't find anything online to suggest that it does.