# Review of Fluval Shrimp Stratum and ADA soil II after >1 year of use.



## Xforce (Aug 17, 2011)

Sorry I'm not fully agree with your conclusions .. 
it's possible that your final results are correct but the calculation you did to get there was wrong in my opinion .. 
there are so many reasons for success and failure in breeding and many other parameters that influence the breeding phase and survival rate 
you simply cannot point the substrate as the only cause for results .
for example : 
I have in one of my tanks Fluval substrate its almost 2 years old and I really want to replace it 
but i don't have the time or the chance to replace it since its always full with cbs babies they just covering every free inch in the tank 
its only 25L tank but I had in it more than 300 shrimps ! than in the last couple of month i have sold almost all the shrimps i had in that tank
except few adults (I even got to the point I told myself I sold too much )
but luckily now I have so many babies once again i think I will double amount i had in a month or two .. 
you cannot point in this case at the substrate being a help for me or interrupt my shrimp breeding :icon_lol:


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

Ryantube, Thanks for sharing your results. I currently have FSS with Red Rillis and monitoring them. They are still juvies so there's plenty of time ahead before i get some breeding started. I still have reservations with FSS but love the way it looks. What water parameters, temp, filtration and plants did you have across the three tanks? Were they consistent with only the substrate and shrimp breed being the variable?

Xforce, glad to read of your success with FSS. While i have been on the fence reading all the FSS feedback posted, i decided to get some myself for my own experience. Would you mind sharing your water parameters, temp, filtration, plants in the tank? If possible, i'd like to re-create that in my tank.


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## randyl (Feb 1, 2012)

Thanks for the review. This is probably the first long term usage review I have read. Thanks a lot. 

Agreed it's just one case, but it gives people something to think about. 

One question: when you said you didn't get ANY PH buffering from these two substrates, what is your tap or source water parameter? You use RO/DI, tap, or mix?


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## moosenart (Feb 18, 2012)

+1 

I don't agree with your FSS conclusion.


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## Xforce (Aug 17, 2011)

acitydweller I'm using many substrates but most of the tanks are with ADA , Shirkura and FSS .
In the CBS (with 2 years old FSS) im using :
90% RO water
10 % Tap water ( just to keep the water buffer) 
my tank is planted very little with marsilea minuta that spread alone and moss tied on dw nothing massive .
i try not to touch the sub at all and i never clean it .
I whould have never got to so many CBS in one small tank if i havnt use all sort of goodies for them , no metter what sub I'm using ..

I agree every review like that is helpful for all us i totaly for this :thumbsup:
but in my opinion I think when reviewing a substrate it will be more helpful to point if you used tap water or RO water .. 
Tap water effecting the substrate life span and the final results of the water parameters 
also when you talking about the the condition of the substrate grains you should refer if the tank was planted with roots plants if you decorate with stones and if you move it alot or not at all 
another thing that can effect substrate life span and total condition is undergravel filter if you have one point it out . 
And again if your talking on breeding results ( like on this post) than alot more need to be considered than just the substrate.


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## ryantube (Jan 8, 2012)

randyl said:


> Thanks for the review. This is probably the first long term usage review I have read. Thanks a lot.
> 
> Agreed it's just one case, but it gives people something to think about.
> 
> One question: when you said you didn't get ANY PH buffering from these two substrates, what is your tap or source water parameter? You use RO/DI, tap, or mix?


I used tap water at for all of them at first. The original pH was 7.8 so I thought the substrate would buffer it to around 7.0 . But in fact it's constantly 7.6-7.7 so I used RO for the CRS tank (YF and RCS are more adaptable to high pH so it seems less effect to them).

Temperature for CRS tank is kept at constant 70 F. 
I tested GH is around 150 ppm, and KH around 80 ppm. How do you convert them to dKH?

As I said before the CRS breed 2 generations then suddenly stopped breeding. 4-5 berried females but survivor rate is very low.

So right now tank parameters:

Tank CRS: RO water pH 5.5 came out from the RO system. When I change about 25% water the pH drops to 7.0 then after a couple days raises again to 7.4 and stay there. Any reason?

Tank YF and RCS: tap water. pH 7.7


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## ryantube (Jan 8, 2012)

Xforce said:


> acitydweller I'm using many substrates but most of the tanks are with ADA , Shirkura and FSS .
> In the CBS (with 2 years old FSS) im using :
> 90% RO water
> 10 % Tap water ( just to keep the water buffer)
> ...


You are right! Many things need to be considered. That's why I still consider using FSS because it's cheap and doesn't leak as much NH3 near ADA soil. 

Would you mind sharing your water parameters?


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Sorry, Fluval Shrimp Stratum doesn't produce ammonia.


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## jingleberry (Mar 1, 2012)

I've been looking into FSS recently and there seems to be a lot of mixed reviews. I'm considering using FSS mixed with some left over SMS for my first shrimp tank.


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## Alyssa (Sep 16, 2011)

Tap water is known to break down AquaSoil I believe, and I think folks said that it can break it down in as little as a year to a year and a half. But those that use RO I believe have had success for several years with AS.


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

Breaking down would have something to do with how people mess with the base I would think. I would think it breaks down quicker with tap, but be gental with it, dont change scapes like you change underwear, add water from water changes gentley and all should be good.


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