Qwedfg

Hello everyone,

I have been doing some reading and finally decided to try out a NPT for a 2 gallon shrimp tank. So far I have gotten miracle grow organic potting soil and a bag of calcium carbonate. My main question is how much calcium carbonate should I add? The pH of my water out of the tap is about 6.5 +/- 1 and I have read if your pH is under 7 you should add some.

I was also wondering what steps I should take before adding the soil. I have read some people just put the soil in the tank and others soak it and then add it. I currently have some duckweed, fissidens and java moss ready to go in the tank...will this be able to survive the "dirting". Thanks again.

Michael

Hell, and welcome to APC!

I suggest that you soak and drain the potting soil several times before using it in the tank.

Sprinkle a thin layer of calcuim carbonate on the bottom of the tank before you add the soil. You should be able to see areas of glass through the dust--think of heavily salted food and you will get the idea.

Qwedfg

Hi Thank you for the reply and welcome!

I purchased the larger rocks of calcium carbonate like you would use in a salt water aquarium...will this work or no? I will definitely give it a good rinse a couple times and run it through a window screen. thanks for the advice.

edit

Also can you rinse the dirt with tap water or should it be treated first?

Michael

Yes, tap water is fine for the rinse.

How large are your calcium carbonate rocks? Could you break them up? If you can't get them small enough to put under the soil, maybe just a few lumps in your filter would work.

Qwedfg

The rocks are the ones you would use for a substrate so they are fairly small and will fit in the substrate. I am going dirt the tank tonight so Ill probably just spread some across the bottom and hope for the best.

Michael

That will work.

D9Vin

I recently set up a 75 gallon npt, and one thing I think you should take into consideration is that dirt can release quite a bit of ammonia at first. Keep an eye on it and be prepared to do pretty regular water changes at first.

Qwedfg

Update...

So the tank has been dirted and I added some calcium carbonate under the dirt layer. I just purchased a new low ph test for a drop checker on another tank since I was running low and decided to test out the new tank with this test. The test didnt even think about changing from bright blue...which means 7.6 ph? I just tested my tap water as well and it came out to about 6.6-6.8. Will this balance out as the soil decomposses or am I going to have to rip everything out and start over???

edit

I have a high ph saltwater test kit that I just used and it is telling me its lower than 7.4? What gives?

Jark

Unless you are stocking very sensitive shrimp I wouldn't stress ph too much unless it is extreme. If your water is very soft you might look into a GH booster like seachem equalization, but only if you notice symptoms of calcium or potassium deficiencies (holes in leaves or odd twisting). Everything sound like it is ready to go though. I wish my water was 6.6-7.5. The tap here is 8.5, high bicarbonate hardness, but nothing useful like calcium of potassium.

Qwedfg

Hmm interesting you mention holes and twisting...

I have a high tech tank that I have had problems with new anubias leaves being crinkled and recently with my c undulata getting holes in it. I may have to look into doing something about that...

Will I have the same problem in this tank or will the calcium carbonate balance that out? Are there any shrimp supplements that they make for this?