# Substrate for shrimp?



## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

I am planning on starting a 20 gallon planted shrimp tank, with dwarf cories. (And hopefully Black Bee shrimp.) What kind of substrate should I use? Is there anything affordable that will keep the water parameters suitable, or should I just use plain gravel? 

What measures do other shrimp keeps use to keep the water good for shrimp? I use Seachem buffer and Seachem Equilibrium for my other fish. I am Surrey municipal water.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

I heard good things about ada soil.


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

charles said:


> I heard good things about ada soil.


 So how much should I use? I have a tank with a 2 foot x 1 foot footprint.

Should I mix it with anything?

I may be putting in a raised terrace, using plastic containers. What if I use gravel for the tank floor, and ada half filling the containers, topped off with gravel?

Will this keep my ph down enough for shrimp?

What sort of ada should I use? How long does it last in the tank?

Or should I just go with gravel or sand?


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Hey Tom.

Pat has about 18L of used ADA in this ad for $45. That is an awesome deal. I have 9L in my 15 gallon tank ATM (to give you an idea).

Best Regards,

Stuart


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

CRS Fan said:


> Hey Tom.
> 
> Pat has about 18L of used ADA in this ad for $45. That is an awesome deal. I have 9L in my 15 gallon tank ATM (to give you an idea).
> 
> ...


 I am thinking about it. Is ADA a definite advantage to keeping the shrimp, or will the do just as well with sand or gravel? I am unsure what it takes to keep water parameters correct for the black bees.


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## stonedaquarium (Jun 11, 2011)

If you dont want to spend too much on ADA soil... i have bred CRS using flourabse as a substrate...... you just need to buffer the PH to 6.0 or 6.3 and keep TDS constant at 180-190. and you should be fine... i have a 5 gal CRS tank and i have now about 10 shrimplets and 6 berried CRS


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## Bfunk89 (Dec 1, 2011)

I use reptile sand in both of my shrimp tanks (crystal reds and blue pearls) with driftwood. My ph stays at a stable 6.8, I struggle with soft water but that's just maple ridge water not the sands doing I believe. I use equilibrium and alkalinity buffer as well as seachem flourish. I'm growing grass (not sure what kind), java fern and anubias nana and they're all growing great. the crystals are breeding like bunnies, hopefully the blues will soon too as they get older =) I tried the fluval shrimp substrate before and hated it. It was constantly messy feeling, impossibly light when trying to root plants and my plants didn't seem to grow as nice either.


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