# Substrate for Shrimp Nano tank



## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

I've just received my new nano tank (12" cube, 25 litres) and am intending to plant it heavily and keep shrimp in it, preferably Bee or Tiger shrimp.

After my last shrimp died, i think due to pollution from the cardinal and ancistrus fry they were being kept with in a similar sized tank, i will be keeping them on their own (though the shoal of cardinal fry may spend some time in the tank first to help mature it, and grow them on more before they mix with their parents!)

My problem is this, which substrate to use? I use RO water, reconstituted with Kent RO Right so the water is already soft and nutrient poor, i will be fertilising with tiny amounts of PPDM, only dosing trace minerals and K2SO4. I have an 11W light and mini internal filter that came with the tank. I will use a heater, but set it at a lower temperature after the cardinals leave!

My current thinking for substrate options are:
ADA Aquasoil Amazonia - but will i need powersand too? And will it reduce the hardness too much needing me to add lots of RO Right to buffer the water? (i was thinking of adding a CRS Rock from Aqua essentials anyway, this should help buffer too)
Tropica Substrate - seems like a good bet, but will it be ok with the shrimps? Shouldn't affect the water quality, but good with PPDMs?
Tetraplant Complete - Similar points to the Tropica substrate!
Garden soil - from my garden where i haven't used insecticides or residue forming herbicides for ages.

Any advice from anyone using these, or other, nutrient substrates with shrimp tanks sould be most welcome - failed with shrimps once,  don't want it to happen again!


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## dhavoc (Mar 17, 2006)

if you are going with bee, you need soft water, which from your discription you already have. you want to stay away from any ferts with shrimp as they are more susceptable to them. personally i dont fertilize at all in my CRS tanks (same species as bee). i use aqua soil as my tap water is on the hard side and it does great softening it. even with no ferts (2.4wpg) i have no problem growing eriocoulons, mosses, HC, HM, downoi, elatine triandra etc. they grow slower but thats a good thing as you dont want to disturb the shrimp too much. 11w is low light, so i would either get a stronger light (18w or even 26w) or stick to lower lgiht plants like mosses. with bee or crs, you have to put them over plants as far as how you maintain the tank.

sorry for the runon, but the beer has been flowing tonight.....


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

dhavoc said:


> you want to stay away from any ferts with shrimp as they are more susceptable to them. personally i dont fertilize at all in my CRS tanks (same species as bee). i use aqua soil as my tap water is on the hard side and it does great softening it.


Do you use powersand too, or just aquasoil? I really think the aquasoil with softer water might be too much in such a little tank. What does everyone think?



> 11w is low light, so i would either get a stronger light (18w or even 26w) or stick to lower lgiht plants like mosses.


I was thinking about seeing if i could get another light the same as the one the tank came with to give me 22W of light.



> sorry for the runon, but the beer has been flowing tonight.....


No worries mate, didn't think you had! I was feeling the same last night and now it's 11 in the morning over here i've got a nice thick head to show for it!


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## dhavoc (Mar 17, 2006)

with your soft water, you dont really need the aquasoil at all, you can go with eco complete or similar. you wont get the growth benefits of AS but if you use it your ph may be too low. stick with mosses, dwarf hair grass and crypts. shrimp love them. good luck

ps i havent used power sand in any of my tanks (CRS or planted tanks) and i have not had problems with cycling at all or plant issues.


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

Thanks for that mate.

In the end i've decided to get some Tetraplant Complete (TetraPlant Complete Substrate - 2.8kg [070898] - £10.99 : Aqua Essentials) to put under the sand as it is supposed to have much less effect on the water chemistry (No N or P and shouldn't drop pH!). It's also a 'complete' fertiliser (e.g. trace and others, except N & P) so i shouldn't have to add much to the water column that might affect the shrimp!

I'll post pictures and news when set it up!
Won't be stocking the shrimps for a while though as i'm going to use it grow up a brood of cardinal tetra fry first to mature the tank!


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