[thecollector]

Has anyone seen any benefit in changing the salt they use?
Or adding supplements, like in a reef setup?


Background:
I've recently learned that one of the prepackaged biosphere type sellers uses salt with higher levels of magnesium and calcium.

That got me thinking about the salt I've been using.

So far I have been using Tetra marine salt, I was original going to get Crystal Sea Marinemix - based on research back at around the time I found out about Opae Ula - that was some years back.

Back the the present: the only place I found that was selling the salt, didn't actually have it in stock after ordering it, and was offered a 4Kg bag of Tetra marine salt instead of the 1kg bag of Crystal Sea Marinemix.

I’ve got a bottle of Mironekuton Powder (got it before I found out it’s mostly montmorillonite clay and could have got it cheaper, even if I bought the stuff sold for Koi use). I add a pinch of the stuff every now and then to my tanks, even to my baby holding jar.

I’m using Caribsea Aragonite as the substrate in the tanks.

Higher levels of magnesium and calcium. That got me thinking about the salt and how it sounds almost like they may be using a salt designed for corals - as they usually have higher levels.

So... back to the the questions at the beginning:
Has anyone seen any benefit in changing the salt they use?
Or adding supplements, like in a reef setup?

Or is it overkill for Opae tanks?

[odin]

This is an interesting topic to discuss, i have only ever used Instant Ocean marine salt and Prodibio Biodigest in my tanks and have had pretty good success. If my shrimp were not breeding and doing so well i would experiment a bit with other products but what i have and used has worked first time which could be luck!

[thecollector]

This is an interesting topic to discuss, i have only ever used Instant Ocean marine salt and Prodibio Biodigest in my tanks and have had pretty good success. If my shrimp were not breeding and doing so well i would experiment a bit with other products but what i have and used has worked first time which could be luck!

Yep...

That's the issue... So far with my approach, I've got 5 babies, from the lot you sent me, which based on their age would be their first attempt.

The 4kg of salt I have will last me a long time, as I'm only using 13g per litre of distilled water.

Now... seeing as you mainly feed Spirulina, and going on my experience of mixing up the nutrient medium to make my own Spirulina. The sprilunia would almost act as though you were supplementing the tank. But the Opae are directly eating the supplements.

[odin]

Your parameters can’t be an issue if you have had breeding, have you changed anything since that or did you do anything different on the run up to them reproducing?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[thecollector]

I'm not concerned about the parameters. Just looking to see if things can be made better.

Only thing that's caused an issue so far is scraping some of the algae off the front panel of glass. The algae got on to some of the shrimp. Most got rid of it when they molted, but 3 of my females that had been berried, passed away. I think the algae plus having been berried took a lot out of the 3 females. All the rest are fine, there is a hand full of saddled Opae.

I’ve added a single horned Nerite snail, to try and deal with the algae on the glass.

My biggest issue is getting the Opae to eat anything other than what’s on the glass.

I’m just going to leave them for now, no more feeding, just do water changes every now and then as needed.

[odin]

Some of my tanks I haven’t fed in 3 weeks and there must be 500+ in it and I don’t see any algae in it either. Stop worrying :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Halocaridina]

The salt I've used is Dennerle Nano Marinus Reef Salt, but I later read that reef salt and marine salt are separate things, and the former is only for tanks with coral. I haven't used up enough to get through a 1kg pack yet though so I haven't switched to anything else yet, but will probably get marine salt when I do run out.

My shrimp don't eat much either. Partly it is because I don't have that many (probably just over 20). However, over the course of many hours the food usually disappears. I have only fed once every few months anyway because they seem to be happy with either algae on the glass or snail poop most of the time.

[thecollector]

Over the week end I bought some montmorillonite clay on eBay, and got it today.

The product is Shingoi Pond Medic - it's for koi ponds, but the price was right. Heck it's a lot cheaper than the Mironekuton Powder. At nearly half the price, but for 1.1kg of clay.

Anyway...

The reason for this post is that after about 8 hours after adding small amounts (I mean small) to each of my tanks. Just in one of them, I’ve seen a molted exoskeleton and air bubbles coming off of the moss ball.

This is not normal.

I’ve never seen air bubbles coming off that specific moss ball, even after water changes. To have an Opae molt in a tank that is in need of a water change, that is even more unusual - at least for this specific tank.

It seams this clays is living up to what is stated on the tub.

[odin]

I’ve never heard of that product, what does it do and what is it used for? Do you have a link? If the plant is producing bubbles has your salt levels dropped?

[thecollector]

I’ve never heard of that product, what does it do and what is it used for? Do you have a link? If the plant is producing bubbles has your salt levels dropped?

The one I got: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-1kg-1-5-li ... 2643615194

Water level is the same since last water change.
The plant is a normal mossball.

The tank I mentioned above is one I'm feeding heavily to try to get the Opae to think there's enough food around. That it’s time to have babies, as there are a lot of saddled females.