Mosura Mineral Plus 'Ultra'

I just started using this product in order to remineralize RO water's lack of needed nutrients for proper molting.
I'm aiming for 180-200 TDS with a gh of 4-6 in my CRS tank.  When reading the description of Mosura Mineral Plus 'Ultra', the instructions it gives you is rather vague and tells you to just keep dosing until you hit 100 TDS or so.
So naturally, I wanted a more specific answer to how much to dose to get the proper parameters I'm aiming for.

Here's what I used:

1 gallon of water (Approximate)
5 ml of MMP
HM TDS meter

I simply added 5 ml of MMP into a 1 gallon container and shook it.  Tested the water for TDS levels and it came out to be 263~
Doing the math, 1 ml of MMP 'ultra' will increase the TDS by 52~.  So approximately 3.5 ml would get me to 180+/- TDS.

Make sure you test your RO water first to make sure it's reading 0 TDS or somewhere close to zero (less than 10).  Then go from there.

As a reminder, the reason we test for TDS when doing MMP is because it correlates with gh.  180-200 will give you an approximate gh of 4 or 5.


UPDATE (March 26, 2012)
I have been using this product for a couple months now and so far, this product has been amazing.  I need to update this post however.  I am now currently only adding enough MMP to get 100 TDS when remineralizing my RO water.  I find that I am hitting the right gh levels (4-6) with less amount of MMP required.  So test your gh every now and then and add MMP accordingly.  I suspect that the concentration of the gh booster in this product has increased, the more I used this product.  It could be because the liquid is not completely mixed and lies at the bottom if you don't shake it before use.  This is just a hypothesis!

Mosura Products

Ordered some Mosura items a few days ago and they just came in today.  Christmas came early for me I guess!
I'm pretty cheap, so I try to keep my item levels low and cost efficient, but without skimping on necessary things.
With that being said, I decided to get a bottle of Mosura Mineral Plus 'Ultra' and Mosura Specialty Food.

Mosura Mineral Plus 'Ultra' 250ml bottle

Let's begin with why I picked up the Mosura Mineral Plus 'Ultra'.  For starters, there's a regular Mosura Mineral Plus type (We're gonna start calling this MMP) and there's an 'Ultra' variant.  Both are the same, I believe.  One is just a tad more concentrated than the other, so whichever one you get, it really doesn't matter.  They both do the same thing.
The description of MMP is that it will put "minerals" into the water because it claims we lack certain minerals.  This is only true in some cases, as not all water lacks minerals!  Depending on your local water source, you may or may not need to use this product.  However, I need to use it because my local tap is too rich in minerals for the Red Bee Shrimp (Crystal Red Shrimp).  Therefore, I have resorted to using 100% RO water when doing water changes or when filling up aquariums.  The downside to this, is that RO water contains no minerals in it, thus, requiring me to "remineralize" it to the right parameters. The pros to this, is that you have full control of how much minerals you want to put in.  Cons?  You have to remineralize it yourself, forcing you to buy products for remineralization.  If your local tap is perfect, meaning you have the proper ph/kh/gh/tds levels, then great for you!  If you're like me, then doing the 100% RO water + remineralization may be the path you have to take.
MMP will raise GH/TDS but ignore KH and PH.  This is great because that's all you really want to do anyway!  I prefer my GH levels to be around 4-6 and TDS at around 180-220.  So with that being said, all I have to do is trickle small amounts of MMP into my RO water until I reach proper TDS levels.  I test TDS levels only because with the use of this product, TDS and GH correlates with each other.  TDS up = GH up.  But to be safe, when first using this product, I recommend testing your GH level as well as your TDS level.  So you have an idea of around how much your GH levels are when your TDS levels are "X".
*Note*
How do I test TDS levels?  With a simple electronic and handheld TDS tester.  Some aquarium stores will have these available for you to purchase.  They shouldn't cost more than $30.  If you can't find it locally, ebay or amazon will probably your best bet and should be fairly cheap.

Mosura Specialty Crystal Red Shrimp Food

Now, here we have Mosura Specialty food.  This product claims to enrich the overall health of your shrimp, giving it a richer and more vibrant color.  This equates to better white coloring.  Furthermore, this product is suppose to compose of mostly plant/algae ingredients, as opposed to protein (meat).  The exact ratio is unknown and exactly what is thrown in isn't listed either.  So you kinda just have to take their word for it.

However, this product has been around for some time now.  A few years ago, the most prominent food product for shrimp was Mosura and Shirakura brands.  Shirakura got less popular and Mosura trumped them eventually.  So unfortunately, Shirakura pellets are harder to come by now in the United States.  With that being said, I decided to try my hand with Mosura this time around.  Upon opening the bottle, I found that the bottle was literally packed with small sticks of Mosura food.  Each stick varies in length but it's approximately 1/3 of an inch.  Now, because I only have 13 shrimp, I know by experience that there is no way my shrimp can finish a whole stick.  So with that being said, I broke it up and only tossed in 1/3 of a whole stick.  It's a small piece that is more than enough for them to go at.  In less than 5 minutes, my shrimp were going at it already.  

 Images below show that 7 of the 13 total came swarming for it in less than a minute of adding the Mosura food.  Impressive!

The question whether or not the shrimp's coloration will improve upon feeding this product still lingers.  However, they do seem to really enjoy this food.  I've tried Hikari shrimp bites before and the shrimp don't even really care for it.  They'll eat it if they walk past it but they don't actually go searching for it like they do with this Mosura food.  I should also note that Shirakura food also has the same effect as Mosura, in terms of shrimp behavior.  They'll sense it in the water and search for it.  You'll see a lot of your shrimp swarming in one location soon after with both Shirakura and Mosura food.  I highly recommend either one.  

Tank Pictures!

Just some tank photos.

Crystal Red Shrimp tank photos.  I'm an amateur photographer, excuse the crappy images.
A total of 13 Crystal Red Shrimp (SS) were added on December 11, 2011.

Tank Stats:
20 gallon LONG
Sponge Filter
CO2 injection (very light)
Aquasoil Amazonia
Compact Fluorescent Lighting 27W

Water Stats:
PH - 6.6
KH - 0~2
GH - 5
TDS - 180-220

Introduction

"Oh, just another shrimp blog.  Big whoop."  

Yes, this is another blog, but not specifically to just freshwater shrimp keeping.  The purpose of this blog is to help all hobbyists, from amateurs to experts on keeping their aquariums happy and healthy.  

I have been in the hobby for a while now and it bothers me that there is never really enough information that fully satisfies my queries.  People will read general information off a book or from an internet source and pass it on like it's the ONLY truth, without doing experimental methods themselves.  Because of this, there are many myths on the internet.  Now, not all internet information and/or sources are false.  Many are true, which is great, but they sometimes forget to tell you why you are doing certain things they tell you to do.  

In example, some commonly asked questions would be:

"What's cycling a tank and why do it?"

"Can I keep Crystal Red Shrimp with other types of shrimp? ie. cherry/yellow/tiger/etc"

"How do I acclimate new inhabitants?  What is the purpose?"

Most often times, you will get simple answers that kind of lead you to the right road.

In example:  

Q: "What's cycling a tank and why do it?"

A: "Cycling the tank takes about 2-4 weeks.  Add fish food, let it rot and check for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate.  When you no longer get ammonia or nitrite, do a water change and consider it cycled."

Q: "Can I keep Crystal Red Shrimp with other types of shrimp? ie. cherry/yellow/tiger/etc"

A: "No, they require different parameters and some can interbreed"

  However, for people like me, these answers are not enough.  They are simple and direct, but I want to know the WHY of it all.  I want to know the science (the basics at least!) of it.  

Now, let's try doing the Q&A again.  Furthermore, lets debunk some fallacies.

Q: "What's cycling a tank and why do it?"

A: Cycling a tank is the process in which most aquarium keepers require to do during their set-up of a new aquarium.  It's called a cycle because it's a cycle of chemical compounds that is created through organic waste (fish poop, shrimp poop, fish food and anything else that can rot).  When organisms in your tank poop or release waste, the waste is then converted into ammonia/ammonium.  Ammonia is toxic when ph levels are above 7.0, but becomes a harmless form of ammonium at levels under 7.0.  Nonetheless, it is generally not a good thing to have in the tank because again, it is toxic in most people's cases.  It is also an indication that the tank is not yet mature, especially when you have just set the tank up.  Luckily, there is a bacteria that thrives off of ammonia.  They consume ammonia and then convert it to nitrite.  Nitrite, slightly less toxic than ammonia, will then be present in the tank.  Now that we have nitrite, another bacteria will consume it and convert that into nitrate.  Nitrate is the last stage of the cycle, before it repeats itself.  When you test your water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, your results should show you have zero (0) for ammonia and nitrite and anywhere from zero (0) to twenty (20) on nitrates.  Exceedingly high nitrate levels can become too toxic for fish and shrimp.  So do a water change if it's past twenty (20).    Nitrate is a compound plants vigorously consume to promote growth.  Many planted tank keepers want nitrate to keep their plants healthy.  A generally accepted range for nitrate is somewhere between five (5) - ten (10) ppm.  More does not hurt but it does depend on what you are keeping in the tank.  If you are keeping delicate inhabitants such as shrimp, you may want to keep the nitrates down as they can be slightly more sensitive than fish.  In my experience, fish have a higher tolerance to the toxicity of ammonia/nitrite/nitrate than shrimp and other invertebrates.  

In my own shrimp tanks, I prefer to keep nitrate levels from zero (0) to five (5).

Q: "Can I keep Crystal Red Shrimp with other types of shrimp? ie. cherry/yellow/tiger/etc"

A: "The answer is YES, you can keep shrimp of various species together!  However, you must understand what you are getting yourself into.  Some shrimp can and will interbreed with each other.  Take cherry shrimp and yellow shrimp for example.  These are two different colored shrimp but of the same genus and species.  Putting the two together will result in the possibility of interbreeding and thus, you will eventually lose the pure red and pure yellow coloring of these shrimp's offspring.  Instead, you will end up with their original wild colors of brown/black and anything in between.  When putting two or more shrimp together, you should look into that shrimp's exact genus and species name, if possible.  Or at the very least, the genus name.  Shrimp of the same genus can interbreed with each other, so proceed with caution.  ie. cherry and yellow are Neocaridina sp. Crystals (red and black) and Tigers (blue tiger, black tiger, tangerine and red tiger) are Caridina sp. 

Furthermore, each species have their own water preferences.  For example, red cherries are generally known to be more tolerable to a wide array of parameters.  Ranging from ph of 5-8, though ideally somewhere between 7.0-7.8 ph with a temperature of 70-76 F.  Crystals on the other hand, prefer somewhere between 6.0-7.0 with a temperature of 68-74 F.  As you can see, there's a bit of a conflict as their overlap is rather small.  So keep in mind of the shrimp's preferred parameters when choosing to mix.  

Bottom line, you can mix.  Just be careful with what you are mixing and be wary of what your parameters are.

*note* - I did not go too in depth with parameters with the shrimp.  Lack of gh/kh/tds info.  Those were very general guidelines.

------

Yes, that was a long read but at least it goes into more depth.  For me, I function better when I know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.  I never liked the idea of doing things just because others told me so.  I want to know WHY I have to do it, because perhaps there are other ways of doing it.  Perhaps easier ways at that!  

So basically, take everything you read with a grain of salt and do your own experimentations.  Push the limits and record your results.  

And now, since everyone loves pictures.  Here!