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Mineral balls - do you use them?


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Do you use those mineral balls? If so what kinds and why and if not.. why not?

 

I am finding them everywhere online and, of course, they say they are an absolute MUST for shrimp, but not sure if that is true or more hype (there is a lot of hype for us newbie suckers out there) :)

 

 

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Depends on what mineral balls you are talking about. The brown ones or black ones

They seem to come in different colors and minerals. I just type in 'shrimp mineral balls' on ebay and get a huge list http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l2632.R2.TR2.TRC1.A0.H0.Xshrimp+min&_nkw=shrimp+mineral&_sacat=20754

 

I am just starting out, neos and not sure if any of this is really needed

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I can honestly say that i have seen evidence that mk life balls do help with ammonia.. When i set up my last tank with ada, i couldn't get my ammonia below 1ppm.. I added life balls to the tank and the next day there was no ammonia. Thats just my observation.

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I use a pice of granite with pegmatite in my tanks. It is a relatively insoluble rock. However it does contain nearly if not all trace and ecential minerals. I'm using it based on my knowledge of the rocks composition and solutions. The rock should only release minerals that are below saturation levels in the water. To date it seams to be working. My TDS is holding steady at 160ppm, pH is at 7.4. Hasn't checked kh or gh in a while.

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What are the real benefits of these mineral rocks versus mineral powders (besides being super adorable!).

What I want to know is..

1. What are these mineral balls made of (must be something as these rounded balls are not normal and naturally reoccurring).

2. If it's supposed to release minerals is it.. A. Suppose to dissolved as it release these minerals (saying the entire ball is a big chunk of mineral)? Or B. It's also a powdered but baked onto the surface of the balls.

If it's dissolves, has anyone (folks who has these balls inside their tanks) noticed a decrease in the size of the balls?

If it's baked onto the surface, what's to say it does release all at once when it comes into contact with water? Is it assumed it has some sort of built in release feature?

I never got these mineral balls because it never quite made sense to me. I dose minerals directly as needed but I'm curious to know.

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  • 2 weeks later...

They do release mineral t N exceedingly slow rate. Mostly there just for shrimp keepers piece of mind. You can have a healthy tank with nothing but catappa bark moss and amazonia as opposed to mineral balls and amazonia. Mineral balls do close tomnothing

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