# Substrate for biocube



## B76 (May 17, 2011)

I am going to aquascape my new 14 gal biocube and it will be house cherry shrimp for now. My question is can I mix both fluval substrate products? Would that be beneficial to use the shrimp stratum? Im concerned with plant growth,health,color. But also concerned about the well being and success of shrimp and them being happy and healthy. 

I just finished a 30 gallon wormstrate tank and plan on housing anubias, sagataria, kompacta, crypts, and swords.


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## B76 (May 17, 2011)

Can I get advice specifically regarding substrate for my new tank. What are the benefits of shrimp stratum? And would it also help my plants grow? Or should I get one geard specifically for plants?


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## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

Really cherries aren't picky, they're about as easy as shrimp get. My 10 gal cherry tank just uses eco-complete. It's low tech, but I have a good groundcover, lots of moss, and a sword plant that keep it nice and thickly planted, and the shrimp love it. Good microfauna growth as well. I *would* get a substrate that is geared towards plants, rather than just a plain pea-gravel, and I would probably avoid anything like a crushed coral, that would really raise your pH, but other than that, you're really wide open.


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## Big_Fish (Mar 10, 2010)

I've got a brand new CRS tank starting up, and I purposely bought the Fluval Shrimp stratum for it. (my mail goal for the substrate is to actively lower the PH, which the fluval stratums are supposed to do)
AFTER having made the purchase I discovered a number of threads with people reporting issues with the substrate. it seems to be hit or miss, (as if Fluval has / had a QA problem... some well respected veteran CRS breeders were having issues with crs babies not surviving) That being said, there ARE many breeders out there that are having great success with the fluval stratums. I have not been able to find any info on the differences between the shrimp stratum and the plant stratum, except that the shrimp stratum has smaller sized granules.
(don't rinse it!! lay it in the tank, use the bag or a plate and gently add water)
it feels like tiny dirt balls... and can make for some murky water if agitated too much.


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

RCS are like roaches... I've had them breed and overrun my wet/dry on my Cichlid tank which has aragonite based substrate.

Go with what you like. I've never tried the fluval substrate but ADA, Seachem Fluorite, Seachem FloraBase, Eco-(preference in this order) have all worked well for me with RCS


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## B76 (May 17, 2011)

Ended up jut getting the fluval flora substrate. I have a question about the light. I think it's a blue antic PC bulb stock with the biocube. Isthere anyway to exchange it? Ate they harmful for freshwater


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## TarantulaGuy (Apr 15, 2009)

Not harmful, just not really useful. Most biocubes you should easily be able to get a better PC light, somewhere in the 6500k range rather than actinic.


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## B76 (May 17, 2011)

Ya I'll buy a corallife bulb. So I have one 24w 10,000 watt. And 1 true actnic 03 bulb. I'm going to save that one for possible future salt water endeavors. 

What would be ideal to pair with the 10,000k bulb? I also will nerunning co2 so highlight is fine. I woul love some insight shoul I just buy a 65000 bulb? Or is there somthing cool I ont know about?


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## eklikewhoa (Jul 24, 2006)

6700k or 8000k if you can find it.


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## Pen3 (Jul 9, 2006)

I read on Shrimp now and AL that stratum shrimp is horrible for crs it doesnt buffer the water at all or just barely does any buffering. Everyone had either very low breeding rates or lots of dead babies. Stratum shrimp also deteriorate fast in only a few months and all buffing cap is gone. Youre better off with Amazonia or Shrimp Sand for CRS.


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