Homemade mineral balls... How to?

[Umbra]

So, I read that one can make homemade mineral balls for shrimp tanks using montmorillonite... But over here we only have bentonite.  What is the difference between the two clays? and could they possibly be used to remineralize RO water for shrimp tanks?

I ask this because where I live (south africa) we have almost NO shrimp products AT All.... which is honestly just plain depressing...

Any info would be appreciated on how to make homemade remineralizing agents or homemade mineral balls/rocks

[oem]

Hi Umbra.  I did some research on this topic before but can't seem to find my notes.  I know one of the sources was from a mining industry website and I believe the Wikipedia.org site.   Check the archives on SS as well.

 

 That said I remember that both have similar properties with some minor differences in chemical composition.  Depending on where they are mined they start out as volcanic ash millions of years old weathered, compressed, sometimes with moisture, sometimes not.  It's the tiny amounts of sodium, calcium,iron, silicates, ect. that seems to be the big difference. I guessing that the commercial shrimp products have had chemical analysis to determine the best combination of those minerals. I'm guessing that the clays with a calcium, iron, and silicate composition would be better for shrimp the a sodium composition if they have that information on the bag. ,,,,Mike

[Umbra]

30 minutes ago, oem said:

Hi Umbra.  I did some research on this topic before but can't seem to find my notes.  I know one of the sources was from a mining industry website and I believe the Wikipedia.org site.   Check the archives on SS as well.

 

 That said I remember that both have similar properties with some minor differences in chemical composition.  Depending on where they are mined they start out as volcanic ash millions of years old weathered, compressed, sometimes with moisture, sometimes not.  It's the tiny amounts of sodium, calcium,iron, silicates, ect. that seems to be the big difference. I guessing that the commercial shrimp products have had chemical analysis to determine the best combination of those minerals. I'm guessing that the clays with a calcium, iron, and silicate composition would be better for shrimp the a sodium composition if they have that information on the bag. ,,,,Mike

Ah, i see, so as long as they say they are "enriched" or something along the lines of containing more calcium, then they could technically be... A fine homemade substitute for commercial mineral balls? Then it's a relief, because we have VERY soft water here and a few of my shrimps hale already died (I am getting SS shrimp GH plus though in 2 days, but due to it's rarity here, I will use it minimally, at around half it's dosage and rely on a high calcium diet like the calcium bentonite balls I'll now make...)

really, you guys have no idea how helpful you are! Thanks

[afeather]

I was wondering about this too! Mineral balls commercially are so expensive. I was curious about homemade options.


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[EricM]

In my opinion, minerall balls are a waste of $, better to put that $ into GH, Foods, even mineral rocks like micronekton or similar.  

 

Think about how these little balls are used commercially.  thousands upon thousands crammed into a container where pressurized water is forced through them.  do you really think a small handful in your tank is really going to do something?