Hi Guys,

 

I'm new to this forum and have a few questions for natives and if anyone uses RO water and Salty Shrimp Bee Shrimp Mineral GH+ to re-mineralize the water??

Hi Grahms,

There are several examples where salty bee minerals have been used to remineralise either RO or tapwater for native shrimp. For example, Squiggle used salty bee to remineralise RO for Caridina zebra (zebra shrimp) and I'll be doing the same thing when I set up my new zebra tank. I use salty bee to remineralise my tapwater (TDS 91), aiming for around TDS 200, for my chameleon shrimp tank. I'm sure there are numerous examples on SKF where natives are kept alongside cherry shrimp variants in RO remineralised with salty bee.

What native shrimp in particular are you thinking of keeping?

I already have Cherry Shrimp, Darwin Red-Nose Shrimp, North Australian Chameleon Shrimp, Rifle Shrimp in a cycled 45cm ADA tank (wont go in to detail but its a high-tech tank) (Setting up a 3 foot to just use as a Tiger Shrimp Breeding tank and maybe moving the Cherries to this tank and keeping the ADA tank just natives). I have just been aging water in a drum whilst its being aerated for a week and adding this to another drum under the tank (uses a top up system). I have recently purchased a compact RO system and Salty Shrimps Bee Shrimp Mineral GH+, as I am wanting to keep the TDS value down over time....What do you think?? (also just purchased and just started using Benibachi Red Bee Balls (3) and bossaquaria's Boss Shrimp Booster (30g))

For your natives, I would suggest that you just stick with the tap water and use water changes to maintain a relatively steady TDS - unless you know there is a problem with your tapwater, such as high nitrates or phosphates. IME natives are highly adaptable to a range of parameters as long as the parameters are relatively stable. I'm wondering what your TDS is if you feel the need to lower it?

For your cherries and definitely for CRS, tigers and CRS-tiger crosses, it will be worth using the RO and salty shrimp minerals because these are adapted to specific water parameters and are more sensitive than natives to adverse water conditions.

Edited April 23, 201511 yr by fishmosy

My tap water TDS is like high 90's, my tanks TDS was 103 until I added 4 Benibachi Red Bee Ball's, now its 110 (In the last day). I have contacted Dave from Aquagreen (in the past) and he was the one who told me to just age water over a week whilst being aerated, it is just after doing a lot of research on the other dwarf shrimp species, I thought it would be better to RO my water and add the minerals developed for other shrimp to improve their own environments...(as well as trying not to burn out the substrates buffering capability, ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia, by using RO instead of tap water)

 

My last tests where as follows (22/4):

pH- 6.4

temp- 23

TDS- 103

Ammonia- 1

Nitrate- 5

Nitrite- 0

If you are using a buffering soil in with the natives, it may be worth using RO then.

Its interesting that your water tests show ammonia as well as nitrate. Is that the water parameters from the tank you are cycling?

Yer, I added 20 cherries and 10 rifles over the weekend, think they spiked up from the extra bio-load added. Will be doing a water change this Arvo with the RO water with the salty bee mineral....

As well as the ADA soil leaching ammonia, or so I have read that it can.

It can leach ammonia. Hopefully that will stop soon.

You can make your own version of salty shrimp gh + using

Calcium chloride

Magnesium sulphate

Potassium chloride.

Chlorides can be swapped put for sulphates and vice versa.

In the uk these ingredients cost me the equivilent of $30 aus and thats makes about 3-4 kilos of remin.

Why does my post warrant a dislike?

is dislike possible?

hey luke (and others) u might be interested to check out jayc diy rainwater/ro mineralisation mix :-)

it s based on seachem equilibrium and relies on all sulphates without any chlorides.

http://www.shrimpkeepersforum.com/forum/index.php?/topic/7159-DIY-Remineralisation-for-RO-or-Rain-Water

I don't think a dislike is possible. 

it s based on similar to seachem equilibrium and relies on all sulphates without any chlorides.

 

 

You'll get me in trouble with seachem 

The only similarity is that it is sulphate based, and the Ca:Mg ratio is similar.

There are certainly shrimpers enjoying great success with the Seachem products and at least one case where those products in combination with inert gravel are proving more successful than the typical Salty Shrimp GH / Benibachi substrate combination. I'm talking about Taiwan Bees not easier stuff. 

 

That said - Salty Shrimp conditioner is very cost effective, certainly cheaper than the Seachem alternative. It opened the doors to success for many shrimpers when it reached our market. Benibachi substrate is widely accepted as the current best option (if you want a pH buffering substrate) and for good reason. 

There is always more than one way to overcome a problem and the most popular ways don't always work for everyone. 

 

For the DIY mixes avoiding Sodium and Chloride to the greatest extent possible is a good thing. Swapping the chlorides for sulphates as Luke suggested above is the way to go - see JayC's DIY remineralisation thread. 

I ran out of my old remineraliser and started using Salty Shrimp. I haven't went with the DIY formula yet cause I haven't got my hands on some good scales yet.

 

What I have noticed is when I add my SS to the RO water there is usually some bit that don't dissolve after a couple of days. I have been toying with the idea of premixing some in hot water to make sure it dissolves and keeping it in small bottle. Are there any cons to this idea?