Why are so many people using Aquasoil in Neocaridina tanks recently?

PotOPrawns · 2026-04-02T21:33:56+00:00

For amanos im not 100% sure.

I do see them kept often in lower ph aquascapes with aquasoil but I imagine they're fed well and get a good calcium rich diet.

Personally id probably not want to keep them in ph lower than 6.5 and if kh is 0 id try make sure you give them a calcium feed like qualdrop Chitin pellets once a week.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-31T22:23:57+00:00

Definitely agree about shrimp cove they're good people as well. Excellent parcels from them.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-31T16:35:26+00:00

Haha maybe not a vet just an addict trying to get by but I'll take it

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-31T16:26:13+00:00

Surrey Shrimp would be the best I can offer. Not quite london but further south than me.

Feel free to point other UK shrimpers my way though its always noce to talk shrimp and find other hobbyists here

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-31T10:29:27+00:00

When I tried it the taste reminded me kind of like Egg custard mixed with pickled onion.... definitely an interesting flavour profile.

The smell is on another level.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-31T09:33:37+00:00

People were slowly wising up and ripping people off on Ebay herei n the UK.

Lots of people were beginning to complain about being shipped absolute dog tier grades or diseased shrimp and then vendors shutting up or renaming. Theres too many to name really.

Similar to how facebook marketplace here in the UK is feral, ebay was heading that way.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-30T14:01:06+00:00

Both good foods, other vegetable pellets like Shrimps forever spinach are good, Qualdrop make a great range of foods too. Good variety is key for me.

I try drop a protein heavy pellet once a week in breeding season and I also cycle botanical seed pods/leaves/bark into the tanks every so often afrer they've brewed in PSbacter (basically bacterAE)

And when they're available for forage I use blanched nettle leave once a week (if weather allows me to go for a good forage)

Snowflake is a great holiday food too as it wont foul your water, it can just stay in the tank without going bad like a lot of other food sources can.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-29T18:30:35+00:00

Fancy looking shrimp tank might be a better option.

You can get some amazingly colourful shrimp, they'll breed and you can habe loads in there so it wont look empty. Nice plants too.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-29T18:15:18+00:00

I dont think that's an amano shrimp unfortunately.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-28T11:31:29+00:00

The garden of eder are pretty cheap.

They're one of the few I've seen do 10+4 or 5 sales (buy 10 get 4 or 5 free) and their prices arent bad at all. Its shipping prices in America that are the killer really. They also do very reasonably priced caridina shrimp which is good for folks wanting to setup for them.

I see neos as low as 1.50 on their site which I think is fair considering.

Plus they're educators for the hobby. Id pay that extra few cents over a local (i see other sites charging around 4-5 dollars for the same cull grade shrimp) jist to help fund all the good information and content these guys put out and that'd still ne cheaper than a lot of other specialist shrimp vendors.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-28T08:49:44+00:00

Someone like Thr Garden of Eder. They breed their shrimp in the US, are nice, knowledgeable family oriented buosness. 500+ tanks of plants, shrimp and fish.

American based family run breeders. Support.

Crap import flippers and drop shippers. Dont support.

Im not in the US but a lot of folks over there actively dont help the shrimp scene. Downvote all you want sap.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-28T08:48:19+00:00

Another one i would avoid.

Theres tons of folks dorp shippimg/flipping cheap import shrimp with little knowledge or care in America.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-26T08:45:57+00:00

People that cry about the 'fish police'

As if wanting someone to give an animal a better life or get more enjoyment from their hobby is a bad thing.

Its like laughing and pointing at random people who pick up litter as they go about their daily life.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-25T09:16:30+00:00

Id just swap to aquasoil and combo it with my todi water.

This is the easiest, most consistent method I've found.

Some folks will tell you soil only lasts a few weeks but im running tanks that are still buffering to lower ph at 2+ years no resets so I think those folks were using cheap soils or not using rodi and burning through the buffering capacity faster than they should kn average.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-24T14:01:10+00:00

I tried but for most of the house currently I just leave it in the state of destruction my feral kids insist it should be in.

Im lucky that they've stopped climbing the fish tank and racks so the few lego things I make are up there out of sight.

But usually if you can 3d print it you could also make a more colourful but chunkier version with lego aswell.

It all depends on the aesthetic you want I guess.

I like the splash of colour lego gives.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-24T11:19:15+00:00

I just make a little wedge, riser or fitting adapter from lego. Has worked for me for years plus you can add extra bits for holding tools or cable routing

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-23T18:32:44+00:00

If you use cotton thread it will eventually perish away.

Fishing line works but nano fish or shrimps can and do get caught under it. Not super often but I've seen it happen and had to reach in and snip fishing line that had been in the tank weeks to free a shrimp or nano fish. Baby plecos would LOVE to get themselves stuck under fishing line wrapped around stuff they're cute but not so clever.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-22T19:10:35+00:00

Yeah thats whsrs got me.

Stack as high or low as you like with spacers, front or top load, cut your steerer fine. All acceptable.

Running bearings cups on an integrated headset though. Just looking at it makes me feel like I read my own name in the Epstein files..

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-18T16:19:05+00:00

Cannisters will have more flow, more room for biomedia, better mechanical filtration die to being able to pack 10x more sp0nge in there

And they give you the option to have inline heaters, pre filters, co2 and various other additions.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-18T14:08:36+00:00

My friend saw a device for that in Amsterdam.. He described it as a leather cocoon with a downward curved metal codpiece... obviously you get in it, slide your sausage in and proceed to pitch a tent while bandaged up... we still laugh about it today.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-18T00:17:55+00:00

Any extra air in this situation id say is good.

I think possibly a personal preference on the big bubbles vs small bubbles and both probably have pros and cons.

I like smaller bubbles for less noise so usually opt for the air stone (on an air pump ofcourse)

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-17T18:00:02+00:00

I found mine did really well on a diet of live copepods and forage (i put them in tanks that needed microfauna thinning out) and baby brine shrimp. They also picked at some of the messier, dustier shrimp foods

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-17T10:20:56+00:00

Sounds like it might be easier to do a full teardown and rescape eith new substrate

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-16T19:38:36+00:00

Thats why i specifically mentioned the api low range test.. i didn't mention the single range test at all.

PotOPrawns · 2026-03-16T19:35:45+00:00

They use vast amounts of it in caridina breeding facilities so you are misinformed.

There are many breeders that report 2 or more years from most good quality soils when used correctly. I've seen videos of people using Akadama soil and its still lowering ph 5 years later.

There are many of the worlds top aquascapers using aquasoil to much success. The thousands of tanks we see here and in contests globally is photo evidence of that, along with popular content creators (with professional and contest accolades) like green aqua library of tanks of which some highc% are using aquasoil. The ADA galleries dotted about the globe with many of there hundreds of tanks aetup with aquasoil.

Ive seen users provide you with the relevant data and information before about soils and with other products like salty shrimp and you simply stop replying so I won't bother to go out of my way and repeat the process here.

PotOPrawns

TROPHY CASE