# CRS Breeding substrate?



## ManlyMuffin (Jan 13, 2010)

Is using sand an ok substrate to breed CRS? i 'm kinda limited to sand becaus ei can 't find any aqua soil


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## NatalieT (Mar 20, 2007)

Is there some reason to avoid ordinary gravel? I am not a shrimp expert, but I don't think sand would be a problem--I've got one tank with some sand, and I had cherry shrimp happily breeding there for a while; of course, that experience may or may not be applicable to other kinds of shrimp.


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## James He (Aug 24, 2009)

The only issue I can tell is that some sand will alter the PH value.
When I setup the 10G tank for RCS, the PH was as high as 7.6 in the first few weeks, I inject CO2 and did weekly 50% water change, now the PH is around 7.2, I have some CRS in here for less than a week, but seems they are happy. Don't know about breeding yet.

So I think it would be fine for RCS, but I don't know about CRS with new setup.

Recently I was working on 1G nano shrimp tank.
I tried to soak the sand in vinegar for few days and rinse it throughly. I check the PH is below 7 now. but I didn't put any shrimp in it yet. I will try RCS first, then after few month, may be try CRS.

I heard pool filter sand is good choice and cheap, but I didn't try by myself yet. it is quartz sand (SiO2). less chance to alter water PH value.

See picture with sand bottom in my 10G


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## tex627 (Nov 2, 2008)

Use aquasoil. It saves you a lot of trouble. cherries and other neocaridina sp. will breed under the worst conditions but its different with CRS and most types of bee shrimp.

CRS require soft, acidic water. aquasoil adjusts it prefectly. with inert substrate like sand and gravel, the pH of your tank will most likely be the same as your tap water and most tap water is usually high in pH and not soft enough for these sensitive shrimp.

you can purchase aquasoil from aquaforestaquarium.com


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