Mineral Balls and Leaves

[Shimpscape]

I've seen Mineral balls for shrimps on ebay and other sites. Do they really have any benefit.. Any members who use them?? I've seen two types.. What's the difference between the two..

Also about leaves.. I've seen people keeping Indian almond, banana and guava leaves in tanks.. Is it OK to keep them long term or how often do you change them.. I'm new to keeping shrimps and I want to get as much info as I can.. Note that I'm only keeping Neos..

[Lloydwang]

no idea about first one, since I never use mineral balls. 

for second one, leaves are for biofilm growth. No, I believe I never remove them.  

[JamesHe]

grey color ones are tourmaline balls.

 

I use few in each tank.

 

It's good to have, in other words, it's not must.

[Shimpscape]

Any difference between Tourmaline and Porphyries Andesite balls..

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[jem_xxiii]

From what I understand most experienced shrimp keepers can note say with 100% certainty that the mineral balls work, most just like to have them in case they do work but you can not notice their effects. 

 

A lot of people use leaves as a form of biofilm in which the shrimps devour the leaves. Not everyone has success with them though. 

[OMG Aquatics]

Mineral Balls are pretty much snake oil.

 

If you can't notice their effects, then chances are it's doing nothing.

[DETAquarium]

Mineral Balls are definitely a hot topic as we all wonder how well they work if at all. In my experience I would say they do work, to what ends I don't know. Long story short, more times than not people encounter problems with shrimp deaths by way of molting. I use mineral balls as a peace of mind or insurance policy in tangent with other products to ensure the shrimp I have are receiving adequate minerals, nutrients, etc for them to properly molt.

 

As far as your leaves question goes, I use 3 different types of leaves at minimum in my shrimp tanks. Not need to take them out, just let them be eaten by the micro organisms in your shrimp tank, which the shrimp will then feed on. Leaves as the ones you mentioned also have several beneficial properties to them aside from producing biofilm.

 

Hope that helps!

[Pokeshrimp]

I been using Capata leaves and the shrimp don't seem to care for it, it doesn't really drop PH much if at all so don't use it if thats what you want. Maybe they need another week or two to grow enough bio film for the shrimp to graze on. They will release tannins so you'll get a slight sepia tint to the water.

[Vpier]

I been using Capata leaves and the shrimp don't seem to care for it, it doesn't really drop PH much if at all so don't use it if thats what you want. Maybe they need another week or two to grow enough bio film for the shrimp to graze on. They will release tannins so you'll get a slight sepia tint to the water.

Do you boil the leaves? It takes a little time for the leaves to start breaking down and once that happens shrimp will start eating the leaves while grazing the biofilm.

 

Not to hijack or change the subject but I boil my leaves in RO water and then dump the leaf water (tea) into my reservoir of water. Does anyone else do this?

[ChadO]

I also boil the leaves just to be safe.  I just did a batch of Mulberry leaves last night.  I checked my tanks this morning, and it just cracks me up how some shrimp tanks tear after them, and some are slow and consistent in their consumption.

 

As far as dumping the tea water into your reservoir of water, the only thing I would hesitate on is that is that is your RO source, then when you go to remineralize (assuming you roll that way), your "base" water would be off a bit, I would think.  I guess, in my case, I have a 32 gallon Brute that I store my RO water in, then I can use it for top-off or for mixing 5 gallon batches (or larger) into other containers right there in the room.  Given my setup, I wouldn't put the tea water in my RO reservoir.  However, saving that tea water and distributing it later may not be all bad.  The only concern that I would have is if there did happen to be some contaminant that you boiled off from the leaves in the water, you'd possibly be keeping it around and distributing it by re-using that tea water.  I couldn't say for sure as boiling may destroy the contaminant anyway.  I guess now that I think as I type this, I'd probably continue to discard the used tea water just to be ultra safe.  However, I'm not an expert on the power of boiling the contaminant, and the water may be fully safe.  I'd be curious what others with deeper knowledge in this might have to say.

 

Side note: I saw your location as Central, MN.  I grew up in Wadena, MN.  Fun times.

[35ppt]

it cracks me up when the leaf is floating, and shrimps are there on the underside, grazing away.

Or lying on the substrate, upside down, picking at a leaf above them.

[Vpier]

I also boil the leaves just to be safe.  I just did a batch of Mulberry leaves last night.  I checked my tanks this morning, and it just cracks me up how some shrimp tanks tear after them, and some are slow and consistent in their consumption.

 

As far as dumping the tea water into your reservoir of water, the only thing I would hesitate on is that is that is your RO source, then when you go to remineralize (assuming you roll that way), your "base" water would be off a bit, I would think.  I guess, in my case, I have a 32 gallon Brute that I store my RO water in, then I can use it for top-off or for mixing 5 gallon batches (or larger) into other containers right there in the room.  Given my setup, I wouldn't put the tea water in my RO reservoir.  However, saving that tea water and distributing it later may not be all bad.  The only concern that I would have is if there did happen to be some contaminant that you boiled off from the leaves in the water, you'd possibly be keeping it around and distributing it by re-using that tea water.  I couldn't say for sure as boiling may destroy the contaminant anyway.  I guess now that I think as I type this, I'd probably continue to discard the used tea water just to be ultra safe.  However, I'm not an expert on the power of boiling the contaminant, and the water may be fully safe.  I'd be curious what others with deeper knowledge in this might have to say.

 

Side note: I saw your location as Central, MN.  I grew up in Wadena, MN.  Fun times.

Been doing this for a while and have had no problems. I only use Nature Shrimp products and feel very confident.

 

Wadena, MN's tornado alley.  I'm in the Brainerd lakes area, I'm on the Whitefish chain if your familiar with the area.

[monty703]

 I keep Oak leaves and Indian Almond leaves in my shrimp tanks.  Great for when you need to go away for a few days/weeks as they just pick over the biofilm on the rotting leaves and are happy as all heck doing that.  They much prefer this diet to some of the fancy shrimp food these days.