# mineralized soil and shrimp?



## mikslik (Sep 30, 2009)

Hello- I'm considering setting up a 30 gallon shrimp tank with mineralized soil. Is there anything to fear with this combination? Some crazy byproduct of mineralization or the dolomite, clay, fertilizer mixture that will affect the shrimp or shrimp breeding?

Mike


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## JohnPaul (Aug 28, 2006)

mikslik said:


> Hello- I'm considering setting up a 30 gallon shrimp tank with mineralized soil. Is there anything to fear with this combination? Some crazy byproduct of mineralization or the dolomite, clay, fertilizer mixture that will affect the shrimp or shrimp breeding?
> 
> Mike


Everything seemed fine in your question until I saw the word "fertilizer." What sort of fertilizer are you talking? All of the "recipes" for mineralized soil that I have seen make it a point of emphasis to be sure you buy pure soil _without_ any fertilizer additives. So there shouldn't be any ferts in the base soil itself, and the dolomite etc. shouldn't have any ferts either.


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## potatoes (Jun 25, 2010)

get the cheapest soil you can find, its only one or two bucks for 50lbs. i used scotts premium topsoil from home depot. it is cheap and has no additives, and if you are mineralizing, thats what you want.


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## Gordonrichards (Apr 28, 2009)

Remember to remove all twigs from the soil. Straining the soil is #1.

Don't forget to the cap the topsoil

Let your tank sit for a month or so, you may have to do a water change or two. You should be good to go.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I am successfully keeping the natural color form of cherry shrimp and blue tiger shrimp both in tanks with mineralized soil. As everyone already said, make sure you use soil without additives and strain it well for organic debris.


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## mikslik (Sep 30, 2009)

Thanks for the input everyone- from the comments I gather that this approach is fine for shrimp (thanks AaronT)

The "fertilizer" I was referring to is muriate of potash, not pre-mixed potting soil with fertilizer. I did read somewhere about someone using osmocote, however. I think I'll just use the potash.

Thanks again, Mike


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