Teruterubozu Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Probably a dumb question but does anyone know of an inert substrate that looks like up aquas shrimp sand? As some of you know I'm working on putting a rack together. I like the pellet look of the shrimp sand, but I'm probably going to be sticking with neo's til I'm more comfortable with shrimp. I haven t been able to find a similar look that doesn't mess with the ph. Any suggestions? Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 Tiny Ball Bearings? J/K Maybe a microgravel or something, but I have no idea who even sells that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subtletanks91 Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 Why not just use sand. Or a ph buffering substrate that keeps substrate around 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OblongShrimp Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 Coal Slag sandblasting sand is a nice black sand that is inert and cheap (50lbs for ~$8). It doesn't look like up aquas shrimp sand but is a nice inert substrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soothing Shrimp Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 +1 I use Black Blast myself from Menards for my neos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wicca32 Posted March 22, 2014 Report Share Posted March 22, 2014 i like sand in shrimp tanks over gravel. baby shrimp get down into gravel and can cause probs if they die. sand is great, cheap, easy to clean, and looks good. i tend to do a base of pool filter and then a thin layer of black sand and let the shrimp blend the 2 together. if i start seeing to much pool filter i put a bit more black in. looks good and you dont see all the shrimp poo like you can on all black sand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teruterubozu Posted March 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2014 So I'm going to try out the fluval shrimp strate. Says it buffers to 6.5 to 7, but my water starts as 8 so I'm have to see how it goes. I've got TMS in my 2 75 gallon tanks and I really wanted a different look for the shrimp tanks. Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wicca32 Posted March 24, 2014 Report Share Posted March 24, 2014 ok i will let you know when i tried it back 2012 i set up a tank and used my kenutcky tap water with it. my tap test something like a ph of 7.3, gh was about 7, kh was 2. for the first 4 months the fluval shrimp stratum took my water down to a ph of 5. who knows if it was lower but 5 was as low as the api master kit went. after that it stayed at about 6.2. right around the 1 year mark it started turning to mud. still saw all the little balls but if you moved anything a small cloud would come up. it still buffered and was not leaching just breaking down. its a good substrate but dont go on what the package says. some people like me have had great luck with it some it has not buffered for any time at all. i was told the reason it broke down like it did was because it was using tap water. i would think it would start leaching before turning to mud though. i didnt do a lot of water changes maybe once every couple months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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