# Stainless Steel w/ shrimp



## toofazt (Aug 9, 2005)

I would like to use this large stainless steel bolt and nuts to hold down some wood until it's water logged in my 10G shrimp tank. It would be ok to use, wouldn't it?


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

I would say yes. I use stainless steel mesh without any adverse problems.

-John N.


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## toofazt (Aug 9, 2005)

Alright, I'm using it right now. I'll let you know if there are any deaths :-s


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## toofazt (Aug 9, 2005)

I'm going to say it's not ok to put that much stainless steel in a 10G. Within one day 1 shrimp was upside down moving its feet/twitching. I moved it to my 20G and it was healthy within 4hrs. So I'm thinking maybe that shrimp was just unhealthy or something... nope another shrimp doing the same thing. I put that one in the 20G and it went back to normal. Now I just found a dead shrimp in the 10G so I took the ss bolt out of the 10G and did a 50% water change. Hopefully the rest will be ok.


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## praxis5624 (Apr 22, 2006)

I was just about to mention this when I ran across your problem. I totally agree with not using stainless steel in shrimp tanks because it is as dangerous as copper. I used a coat hanger ( composition is stainless steel ) straightened to level out gravel and your above symptoms resulted in over 8 deaths. Water changes seemed to remedy the problem but remember not to use such metals due to their toxicity to shrimps.


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## mazakman (May 10, 2006)

There are many kinds of stainless steel. (17-4, 303, 304 And 400 type) are just a few. I've been a machinist for 30 years and have made many water manifolds for drinking water out of stainless. A good check is make sure it is NOT magnetic. If it's not magnetic it's low in carbon and will not corrode. I know that this doesn't really answer your question but a least you we be getting high quality metal this way. And less chance of reaction with the water.


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## Neon Shrimp (Apr 26, 2006)

Thank you for the warning guys. That is a good way to test quality of stainless steal!


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## toofazt (Aug 9, 2005)

mazakman said:


> There are many kinds of stainless steel. (17-4, 303, 304 And 400 type) are just a few. I've been a machinist for 30 years and have made many water manifolds for drinking water out of stainless. A good check is make sure it is NOT magnetic. If it's not magnetic it's low in carbon and will not corrode. I know that this doesn't really answer your question but a least you we be getting high quality metal this way. And less chance of reaction with the water.


I've been a machinist for 2 years  And no, the bolt I was using is not magnetic at all.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

I'm thinking about ordering some stainless steel mesh to make a moss foreground in a 10gal tank... Amazon.com: Stainless Steel 304 Mesh #6; 0.0350" Wire Diameter 62% Open Area Plain Weave 6" x 12": Industrial & Scientific

It's listed as 304. I'm a bit leary of using this given what happened with toofazt's shrimp. Granted, the bolt he used was enormous, but I'd like to know if anybody besides John is problem-free with using this mesh in a shrimp tank, how much is being used in the tank, how big the tank is, how long the mesh has been in use, etc.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

I used the stainless steel meshes that Buckeyemolded (Robert) generously gave me during one of my purchases from him. I had about (3) 3x3" meshes with moss on them in a 29 gallon foreground. Water changes every 2-3 weeks. No deaths between my cherries and crystals with mesh being in there for almost a year.

From the pictures on Robert's site, he also keeps a good portion of his tank lined with the meshes with cherry shrimp. So at least I pretty certain that the mesh he uses (and ocassionally sells) doesn't cause any problems.

-John N.


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## Neon Shrimp (Apr 26, 2006)

I have had the same experience as John. I have also bought some stainless steel mesh from Buckeyemolded and placed it in my CRS tank. The shrimp are all healthy. I am not sure what quality/grade of steel he has but it has not caused any problem


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