# Fluval Shrimp Mineral Supplement



## Herfi (Jan 3, 2011)

Ok so this is trying to raise your dGH. Each 5ml of solution raises dGH by approx .6 Now my guess is that the cap holds 6ml of liquid(just dumped 5ml in and almost got it full). So I would say dump 6 caps in.

My math
.6dGH/5ml = .12dGH per ml
6ml per cap X 6 caps = 36ml
36ml X .12dGH per ml = 4.32dGH

Feel free to pipe in and correct me if I am wrong in any of this guys. This is assuming your dGH is at 0.


----------



## DKShrimporium (Nov 23, 2004)

I looked up the info on this product on Foster & Smith and it tells dosing but not PER VOLUME of water. Did this product specifially come bundled with the tank, so it's implied the dosing is for the entire tank volume??


----------



## jczernia (Apr 16, 2010)

What kid of shrimp do you have?
Fluval dose not tell you 5ml for what volume of water, I have this stuff and this is what I used to do, add 5ml Mineral Supplement and test the water till you get the Gh you want.


----------



## DKShrimporium (Nov 23, 2004)

I have a call into Hagen, the parent comany to Fluval products. The rep has to call their corporate HQ in Montreal to actually get the information.

I'm awaiting a call back.

DK


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

it is specific to the ebi, which is an 8 gallon tank.


----------



## H2OLOVER (Apr 29, 2010)

i just followed the directions on the bottle and after a couple of weeks my cardinals are berried and i see a few small ones crawling around


----------



## DKShrimporium (Nov 23, 2004)

Just heard back from "Nora" at Hagen in New York, who called corporate in Montreal and was told:

Use 5 ml Fluval Shrimp Mineral Supplement per TWENTY gallons of water to increase 0.6 units dGH (German degrees hardness).

This should mean that 

one ml added to 4 gallons, or
half ml added to 2 gallons, or
0.25 ml added per gallon
will increase the hardness of THAT water by 0.6 dGH
- These are given for those doing water changes, to calculate how much to add to your water-change water.

Don: Since this tank houses BTs and crystals, a good goal is middle of the road 4-5 dGH in the tank as a whole. Therefore, the best strategy is to make water change water in the correct ending concentration, and do a bunch of water changes until the tank as a whole is correct. For example,

Make 2 gallons of water change water at 4-5 dGH, which would be

_half ml into 2 gallons gives 0.6 dGH. We need 4-5 dGH, which is (4.5/0.6=7.5 times this much, so 7.5 times half ml = 3.75 ml)_ 

*3.75 ml Shrimp Mineral Supplement into two gallons new RO water - this should make 4-5 dGH water in that two gallons - can someone verify this with a test kit, please - not the calculations but the actual result, as I am not 100% trusting what they quoted me - it makes no sense for them to bundle a product for an 8 gallon tank and give instructions for the product for twenty gallons.. *

Take the two gallons and do a drip-in water change (remove 2 gallons old tank water, then drip in the new water) ONCE A DAY for about two weeks, making a new 2 gallons of water change water with this recipe each day. 

DO NOT ADD ANY FLUVAL SHRIMP MINERAL SUPPLMENT DIRECTLY TO THE TANK, BUT RATHER _ONLY_ TO THE WATER CHANGE WATER, using this method.

Over the two weeks, the TANK water will gradually increase to the final 4-5 dGH value if you do this every day for two weeks. 

Thereafter, you do a water change using 2 gallons of this same water mix, weekly or more often. Keep the tank topped off with DI water in between (mark your tank water level with a mark or piece of tape, and add DI water to this level every night if the level has dropped due to evaporation), so evaporation in such a small tank doesn't make the water concentrate over time. 

This is about 25% water change in this tank, if you consider some of the 8 gallon volume is displaced by substrate, etc., - a little higher percentage than would be done in a large tank, but the slightly higher ratio also helps keep your tank water from creeping up over time. Small tanks have to be maintained slightly differently, due to the evaporation risk.

DK


----------



## dhgyello04 (Jul 11, 2008)

greenisgood said:


> I looked up the info on this product on Foster & Smith and it tells dosing but not PER VOLUME of water. Did this product specifially come bundled with the tank, so it's implied the dosing is for the entire tank volume??


Hey DK,
Yes this small bottle came bundled with the EBI kit.



jczernia said:


> What kid of shrimp do you have?
> Fluval dose not tell you 5ml for what volume of water, I have this stuff and this is what I used to do, add 5ml Mineral Supplement and test the water till you get the Gh you want.



Jczernia,
I currently have CRS, RCS, and BTS



greenisgood said:


> I have a call into Hagen, the parent comany to Fluval products. The rep has to call their corporate HQ in Montreal to actually get the information.
> 
> I'm awaiting a call back.
> 
> DK



That is amazing… thanks for going above and beyond the call of duty for me



H2OLOVER said:


> i just followed the directions on the bottle and after a couple of weeks my cardinals are berried and i see a few small ones crawling around


H2OLOVER,
That’s great I would love to see some pics. I will probably just start adding like half of a cap full and test after each time. I will do it subtle enough so it is not a huge water shift.


----------



## DKShrimporium (Nov 23, 2004)

We posted at the same time, see my post above. I just corrected the calculations.


----------



## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

Well, I will be the one to say it. IF you don't use straight RO water, all this is unecessary.


----------



## DKShrimporium (Nov 23, 2004)

msjinkzd said:


> Well, I will be the one to say it. IF you don't use straight RO water, all this is unecessary.


This is true, but for a beginner shrimp keeper, if his tap water contains carbonates, this is easier to calculate. It throws carbonates out of the equation.

DK


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

well, on the west coast a lot of tap water is 0 hardness, like mine. My tap is 6.5 pH, 0 gh, 0 kh, 20ppm tds


----------



## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

I think that really depends on what part of the west coast! But, while I find these supplements to be great, they are not always necessary. I am a fan of K.I.S.S.- Keep It Simple Stupid. No hard feelings for teh acronym!


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

lol, yah, I wish I could do without a mineral supplement, would be way easier to do water changes!


----------



## fresh.salty (Jul 2, 2010)

^^^
I'm surprised that they don't bump up the pH of your water. 6.5 has to be really tough on copper and galvanized pipes. They treat our well water here and from the chlorination generation process the water ends up hard.

TDS... 380
Alk.... 9
gH..... 17
pH.... 7.4

SoCal. Small, mutual & local water company formed to supply local citrus groves over 100 years ago.


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

dang! Our water is from the cedar river watershed east of seattle, they supply most of the seattle area. It's treated and filtered many times before getting to me, going through several municipalities.

water in norcal and BC are similar, not sure about oregon.


----------



## Senior Shrimpo (Dec 4, 2010)

greenisgood said:


> Just heard back from "Nora" at Hagen in New York, who called corporate in Montreal and was told:
> 
> Use 5 ml Fluval Shrimp Mineral Supplement per TWENTY gallons of water to increase 0.6 units dGH (German degrees hardness).
> 
> ...


Dear DK,

this is _golden_ advice. THANK YOU! 

Adam


----------



## snausage (Mar 8, 2010)

Ditto on the thanks to DK. That's excellent info for anyone into crs!!!!


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

dk is the master of water conditions.

she has a super secret machine that squirts out perfect water.


----------



## dhgyello04 (Jul 11, 2008)

Thanks again to all,


To DK.... your the best.roud: 
I will start as soon as I get home from work. I will also post the progress here so it may help others. 

Don


----------



## dhgyello04 (Jul 11, 2008)

I did my first water change with the new mineral supplement last night. No reported deaths this morning. I do have one question by the way for you DK. I saw one of the larger dark blue shrimp standing tail up in the current of the filter flipping its paddles a lot. I looked closer and noticed there where little yellowish sphere like objects bouncing around in-between the paddles. I am very green to the shrimp hobby, but after all the trouble that has happen with this nano tank, I could use some good news…..

Is this shrimp caring eggs? I hope so, that would mean I am on my way to having a good structured shrimp habitat. I had my phone camera near me so I will use my wife’s Nikon after work. 

If she is caring eggs, how long does it take before they hatch?
Is there anything I need to do in preparation?

Don


----------



## DKShrimporium (Nov 23, 2004)

Pics you sent are not clear enough to be definitive, but sure suggest a motherload of eggs. The location is definitely eggs, the color is within the normal range for eggs, my only question is the mass is extra large and lumpy, but this may be a function of the graininess of the pics and the fact she was fanning them "out" in the picture. Alternately, there could be eggs, but a problem with them such as fungal infection, although they normally drop them if so and don't retain them. Does look like a heavily berried female, though. Better, sharper pics will resolve the question if you can get them. - takes about a month for them to hatch

Do your water transition just as planned - slowly and gradually. Keep one or more glass walls slimy in the tank and perhaps put in a dried leaf to start culturing it - oak, maple will do, use about 3 square inches of brown, dried leaf and no more in a tank that size. There looks to be plenty for newborns to eat on your moss matrix, anyway.


----------



## Senior Shrimpo (Dec 4, 2010)

Ok, so I got my RO unit today and tested it out, and report:

Two capfuls (really just under, I tried to do 1.875 ml) of fluval shrimp supplement into one gallon of RO water gives me a gH of between 4-5. Hooray for science! 

Basically, 2 capfuls per gallon is perfect. Thanks DK.


----------



## DKShrimporium (Nov 23, 2004)

Senior Shrimpo said:


> Ok, so I got my RO unit today and tested it out, and report:
> 
> Two capfuls (really just under, I tried to do 1.875 ml) of fluval shrimp supplement into one gallon of RO water gives me a gH of between 4-5. Hooray for science!
> 
> Basically, 2 capfuls per gallon is perfect. Thanks DK.


OK, so, just so we're straight: 

_What VOLUME of Fluval Shrimp Mineral Supplement did you put into 1 gallon of water to get gH of between 4-5?_ ​I ask this because I don't know what the cap volume is, and you said two capfuls, and the Fluval literature suggests the caps on some containers might be 5 ml volume. (Some of their literature states, "...4 oz bottle with a measuring cap for easy dosing in 5 ml increments" - which suggests at least the cap on that size bottle is a 5 ml cap.)

Also:

_Did your gallon of untreated water measure at zero GH to begin with, before you added the mineral supplement?_​


----------



## Senior Shrimpo (Dec 4, 2010)

_What VOLUME of Fluval Shrimp Mineral Supplement did you put into 1 gallon of water to get gH of between 4-5?_ ​
Mmm I'll go measure that right now. I'll answer the other one though.

edit: mmm I don't really know, I don't have a mL measurer. BUT the capful did _perfectly_ fit in a tablespoon. So 5mL=tablespoon I guess.



_Did your gallon of untreated water measure at zero GH to begin with, before you added the mineral supplement?_​
It's RO water, brand new, so yes. I did test it to make sure. The kH was 0.


----------



## dmxsoulja3 (Dec 22, 2010)

I get my TDS tester today I have RO unit and the mineral supplement and will be glad to post some more results


----------



## Senior Shrimpo (Dec 4, 2010)

Ok, the whole cap is 5 mL. I used a mL water holder to check. And stupid me just added 5mL of the mineral solution per gallon of water. And I'm wondering why my water gH is 12. UGH

Well I'm glad I don't have anything in the tank yet, or they'd be majorly freaked, lol. I'm just playing with water chemistry.


----------



## yellowsno (May 15, 2011)

i know this is silly but if u can order yourself a syringe (without a needle) or a eye dropper with the ml on the side... like a science supply store would have those... for dosing my tanks i have a few syringes (without needles) for this as it makes my life easier... i got a 1 ml syringe so i can be super anal about my dosing and dose at .1 increments


----------



## Senior Shrimpo (Dec 4, 2010)

I have an actual 5 mL increment test tube and marked it per milliliter, so I got it pretty specific. 1.8~ mL per gallon makes my gH 4-5.


----------



## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Im still confused about this product as I get bought it and trying to get my GH right. So if someone would be so kind as to let me know how much of this stuff to add to a 10G that would be great and would be in your debt.

A whole cap is 25ML so im confused as to some of the comments here.


----------



## itchy201 (May 9, 2011)

GDP said:


> Im still confused about this product as I get bought it and trying to get my GH right. So if someone would be so kind as to let me know how much of this stuff to add to a 10G that would be great and would be in your debt.
> 
> A whole cap is 25ML so im confused as to some of the comments here.


What is your gh right now and what do you want to bring it up to?


----------



## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

You know I thought it was low but im not sure as my test solution for GH doesnt seem to be working. After a few drops it goes from a light yellowish to orange slowly with each drop. Its not like the KH where I can tell the difference.

*edit*

Figured out how to properly read the GH solution lol. My GH is 7 which I guess is almost perfect. Its about 4 out of the tap.


----------



## captmicha (Jul 12, 2009)

I don't understand why you need this supplement for your crystal shrimp. Don't they need soft water? Wouldn't raising the GH get you the opposite of what they need?

I'm not criticizing, I'm really just asking.


----------



## mordalphus (Jun 23, 2010)

A GH of 4-5 is ideal for breeding CRS, so if you start with RO water, or very soft tap water (like mine, 0 gh, 0 kh), you want to use an additive to get it back to 4-5.

Hope that answers your question captmicha


----------



## captmicha (Jul 12, 2009)

Wow, 0 IS soft. I gotcha.

Have you tried mixing up some cichlid salt? I bet it's cheaper than what you're using (I do realize it came with what you bought).


----------



## shrimpnmoss (Apr 8, 2011)

What are the ingredients in Fluval Mineral Supplement, Mosura Mineral Plus and other remineralizing liquids? There are a lot of different ways you can build your GH back to range.


----------



## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Yeah if you have super soft water you need a suppliment. I didnt create this thread I just brought it back up because I had bought some thinking I needed it. My tap water has a GH of 4 so its pretty much insta CRS water lol. I forget what PH is, I think right around 7 out of tap.

I forget the exact name of the ingrediants but I know its calcium, magnesium, and something else.


----------



## Neya (Nov 21, 2009)

mordalphus said:


> well, on the west coast a lot of tap water is 0 hardness, like mine. My tap is 6.5 pH, 0 gh, 0 kh, 20ppm tds



That's amazing water. I thought mine was good - 35-60ppm Tds


----------



## RandomMan (May 31, 2011)

shrimpnmoss said:


> What are the ingredients in Fluval Mineral Supplement, Mosura Mineral Plus and other remineralizing liquids? There are a lot of different ways you can build your GH back to range.


I realize this is a month old thread, but thought I'd post this to help, from the Fulval Mineral Supplement descriptions:
"Liquid electrolyte-based solution contains calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium with a 3 to 1 calcium/magnesium ratio."


----------



## captmicha (Jul 12, 2009)

Cichlid salt mix and liquid or Tums calcium. Same thing, probably cheaper though.


----------



## tbarabash (May 18, 2011)

Tap water where I live comes out at between 7.5-11 depending on what time of the month you test. I don't add anything to my water, never really figured I needed to. I have an ebi with rcs and they're doing okay, lost a few recently not sure why and wondering if my hardness could be the reason or if that water is okay for them? They are Breeding well, just finally starting to see a few juvies here and there And seem okay but like I said in the last 5 weeks I think I've lost maybe 4 shrimp for unknown reasons


----------



## MsNemoShrimp (Apr 25, 2011)

mordalphus said:


> well, on the west coast a lot of tap water is 0 hardness, like mine. My tap is 6.5 pH, 0 gh, 0 kh, 20ppm tds


I would love to live in your area, that way I can just use tap water for water changes instead of RO or DI. Lol.


----------



## soc200 (Feb 26, 2011)

Tap water was just SOOO unpredictable where I live. I am really amazed at how convenient using ro/di water is...it really reduced my uncertainty...and shrimp deaths have completely stopped since I switch.

The setup I got from filter guys combined with the float valve and a brute trash can brings a smile to my face every time I look at it. It's was way easier to setup than I imagined.

The only thing I ever do is scoop a cup of water out of the trash can and dump it into the tank. The system refills itself as needed.


----------



## HammerJoe (Jul 15, 2005)

I was wondering if anyone else got the confirmation of what DKshrimporium got from Fluval is correct, ie 5ml in 20gal of water raises 0.6dgh?


----------



## pejerrey (Dec 5, 2011)

HammerJoe said:


> I was wondering if anyone else got the confirmation of what DKshrimporium got from Fluval is correct, ie 5ml in 20gal of water raises 0.6dgh?


 I would grab a bucket of the water that you are going to use, test it. That is your starting point.
Add GH booster to reach desired levels, take note how much you added.


----------



## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

HammerJoe said:


> I was wondering if anyone else got the confirmation of what DKshrimporium got from Fluval is correct, ie 5ml in 20gal of water raises 0.6dgh?


I did my own experiment. 1.2ml = 5GH



sayurasem said:


> But if I were you. I would do a mix of 1 gallon RO water + 1.8mL of Fluval. make sure that one gallon of water is 4/5/6 GH depends on your choice. If the water test turned out to be 6+ GH, just lower the Fluval mineral dose.
> 
> There is no perfect answer to make 4/5 GH water. I use my own trial and error to get the right amount of GH.
> 
> ...


derived from my post here http://scapeclub.org/forum/showthread.php?p=151747#post151747


----------



## morgan (Apr 4, 2012)

0.5 ml is a touch too much in 1 ltr of RO. 183 ppm tds .


----------



## Qwedfg (Mar 7, 2012)

I use 2 ml in a 5 gal bucket and it makes my water have a gH of 6. My tap water is usually ~1.


----------



## morgan (Apr 4, 2012)

I have no accurate way of testing for general hardness.
So im adding the fluval supplement in small 0.5ml doses into my set amount of RO water.
I am stopping when my tds meter says 100ppm .

Im hoping this should not be too far off CRS liking .


----------

