# Changing shrimp tank substrate



## Krayz5183 (Nov 30, 2010)

OK...ive been reading alot on FSS and it has me *very* nervous now..i want to change to Akadama which ive seen alot of good things about. Now if i want to switch this out with a minimal impact on my tank..could i switch out one half of tank soil then the other side a week or so later? Do i need to break down the whole tank? Any advice would be very appericative! I'm not sure if im going to switch it out or not but in case i start seeing problems then i know how and what to do about it. At this point i've had this tank set up for about a month and a half and had no issues so far( knock on wood).
thank you


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

i have just started using fss but so far have not had any probs with it.

best way i know to change substrate is get a big bucket and fill with as much water as you can from the tank and put all shrimp plants fish in it and then take the old sub out and put the new sub in. fill tank with as much of the old water as you can. you will have a part to full cycle again depending on how much old bacteria is left in the tank filter and plants


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

Funny you mention switching substrates as that's what I went through this weekend. I took out my ecocomplete and replaced it with regular natural looking gravel which will not leech anything into the water column. You pretty much have to do a teardown of the tank and do it in one shot unless you want to be dealing with it a few times. I had regular cherries in that ecocomplete tank so I threw them in a 5 gallon with a bunch of plants. Since I changed out the substrate, I will let that tank cycle for 30 days...once the 30 days is up, I'll be putting my nice orange shrimp in there since right now they are housed in my low PH CRS tank.

If you are removing your old substrate then you are pretty much removing ALOT of the beneficial bacteria. You might have to let your tank cycle for some time before you add shrimp unless you want to chance it.

EDIT:
On a side note, if it's a cheap tank then just go get a new one from Petco and start over. Sometimes it's easier then dealing with a mess.


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## Krayz5183 (Nov 30, 2010)

well on my talk i have a fluval 205 running a 15 gallon..so im sure there are alot of bacteria built up inside it...um..i can use stability to help things along..only problem is i am at room compacity at my house for tanks and setting up another or using another is unfortunitly not an option for me..thats why i thought changing half the substrate at a time might be more beneficial for me and the tank..just drives me nuts to think about having to do this..lol..only thing that might help me be ok with the fluval stratum is im dosing alot of helpful items that borneo wild makes...that might make things ok compared to just using the fluval stratum..im not sure..basically just looking for the positive side of things..maybe the fact that i dont need to switch substrates


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## Krayz5183 (Nov 30, 2010)

btw i have quite abit of plants, a large lava rock, a prefilter sponge, large branch of driftwood so those things might hold alot of bacteria to make this easier


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

What kind of shrimp are in this tank?


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## Krayz5183 (Nov 30, 2010)

lol..thats the scary part..pfr's and crs/cbs sss & ss


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Why, exactly, would you be nervous about Fluval Shrimp Stratum? I think you're potentially overreacting a bit. There are plenty of us on the forum that have been using Fluval stratum products since they hit the market in the U.S. without any problems. A quick search of the forum should yield hundreds of results.

And hedge_fund: Eco-Complete is inert/doesn't have anything to release into the water column.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

Krayz5183 said:


> lol..thats the scary part..pfr's and crs/cbs sss & ss


haha. goooooooood luck

You might want to try your idea with switching out half of the substrate at a time. I think you might still affect the water chemistry somewhat which will stress the shrimp. You can just leave it alone and not do anything too.

On a side note, a great way to remove substrate is to use the net....worked like a charm for me.


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

somewhatshocked said:


> And hedge_fund: Eco-Complete is inert/doesn't have anything to release into the water column.


My tap water is 150 TDS....the water in the eco complete tank was around 225 TDS so something was messing with the chemistry. Even after large water changes the TDS kept going up. I fed once every 2 days and there was nothing else in the tank except plants, and tons of them. I narrowed it down to the ecocomplete.


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Was there anything wonky in the bag before you started the tank up? Strange smell? Anything?

Eco-Complete has a decently high CEC rate so it can absorb nutrients and slowly release them into the water over time. But I've never had an issue with solids and EC. It's basically lava rock. So am wondering what it could be, as I don't think the rock itself could cause problems like that. Would have to be something in the packaging, I'm guessing.


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

I mentioned this in the other thread but if you are having OK results with the FSS then the smartest and safest thing to do is to leave the tank alone.

Most people do just fine with FSS so unless you start seeing real problems then you all changing it out is going to do is CREATE problems.

The stability of the tank and the water parameters is hugely important in keeping shrimp happy and healthy.

Plus while Akadama doesn't leech ammonia it DOES strip the water of minerals which is a whole lot easier to deal with during initial set-up if you have an empty tank and you can monitor it and add minerals back in to balance it out. It isn't an insurmountable obstacle when using Akadama but it IS a variable and risk that has to be managed.


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## GDP (Mar 12, 2011)

Yeah unless YOU are having issues with the FSS I wouldnt bother switching. I had issues with it and my CRS, and them not breeding. So unless something like that is going on I wouldnt mess with it.


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## Krayz5183 (Nov 30, 2010)

thanks guys


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## hedge_fund (Jan 1, 2006)

somewhatshocked said:


> Was there anything wonky in the bag before you started the tank up? Strange smell? Anything?
> 
> Eco-Complete has a decently high CEC rate so it can absorb nutrients and slowly release them into the water over time. But I've never had an issue with solids and EC. It's basically lava rock. So am wondering what it could be, as I don't think the rock itself could cause problems like that. Would have to be something in the packaging, I'm guessing.


Maybe I had a bad batch but this seems to be a recurring theme with eco complete....I have heard it all too many times. Since I'm only going to be keeping neos in this tank along with moss, I have no need for any specialized plant substrate.


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## chiefroastbeef (Feb 14, 2011)

I don't have high grade shrimp likes, I just have cherries.

I switched to a new tank and to new FSS last year, carrying over rocks, driftwood, plants and fish. All was fine, I didn't notice a mini cycle as my canister filter held up the cycle.

I would think carefully about this, you don't want to over react, go through all this trouble, and lose the high grade crs shrimp due to switching substrate/new cycle, etc.

Good luck!


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

I also would suggest against changing the substrate when all shrimp are doing fine in there. I would just get another 15G or 20G and set it up cycling and move the plants over when ready, and then shrimp. 

I used FSS, and switching to Akadama. I don't hate FSS, just like Akadama more. I still have tanks with FSS and no issue yet so far. Don't overreact, it may do more harm than good.


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## Cynth (Sep 11, 2010)

I have been using FSS over a year and I haven't had any issues with it.


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

It's not specialized. It's not even "complete" - that's just a marketing ploy. There are a few threads here on the forum where the marketing manager from CaribSea has clarified (one of them my own post) that there is absolutely nothing in Eco-Complete, that it is inert. Meaning nothing to supply your water column, plants, anything.

Which is why I asked if there was something in the bag. 

But I'm with you on using it for shrimp. It's not my preferred medium and my critters don't thrive with it like they do in other products like Fluval Stratum or Azoo Plant Grower Bed.



hedge_fund said:


> Maybe I had a bad batch but this seems to be a recurring theme with eco complete....I have heard it all too many times. Since I'm only going to be keeping neos in this tank along with moss, I have no need for any specialized plant substrate.


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

That's odd. I seem to be having very good luck with ecocomplete, but I have plants and fish with my shreemp.


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