Equilibrium or GH booster

[Jimmy]

Anyone have problems with equilibrium or GH booster being cloudy? Is there anyway around this or is it a matter of waiting several days for it to fully dissolve? Asking for a friend.

[Aqua junky]

only Stuff I've used is the Salty shrimp GH booster or the Salty shrimp gh kh booster and it seems to dissolve fairly quickly for me. I add it to my jugs' than add the water. 

[Mmiller2001]

Saltyshrimp is a better product but unfortunately way too expensive. 

The best option is to use CaSO4 and MgSO4 to build GH and potassium carbonate/ bicarbonate for KH. Baking soda can be used as well but salt might be undesirable in some situations. 

[Jimmy]

On 2/14/2022 at 9:47 AM, Aqua junky said:

only Stuff I've used is the Salty shrimp GH booster or the Salty shrimp gh kh booster and it seems to dissolve fairly quickly for me. I add it to my jugs' than add the water. 

I’ve considered that product. I may get out of guppies I really don’t want to alter water

On 2/14/2022 at 11:05 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

Saltyshrimp is a better product but unfortunately way too expensive. 

The best option is to use CaSO4 and MgSO4 to build GH and potassium carbonate/ bicarbonate for KH. Baking soda can be used as well but salt might be undesirable in some situations. 

Im lazy lol

[CT_]

Depending on how much you add, you can premix it in water.  I'm a fan of equilibrium because it adds plant specific minerals like potassium.  shrimp people hate equibrium for the same reason.  it raises their TDS more than just pure calcium/magnesium salts would for a given rise in GH.  I personally suspect TDS doesn't matter as much as they say but with anything that's so finicky like shrimp it sometimes becomes hard to tell which "rituals" are critical and which are just superstition.  I'd say go with equilibrium if you have plants.  pick another product if you don't like/can't work around the cloudyness, or if you don't have shrimp.

 

The lazy thing to do is just throw in a wondershell. 

[tolstoy21]

The answer to the is equilibrium cloudy question is YES YES YES.

When I used it in the past I would premix mine in the change water a few days in advance, circulating it with a small powerhead. This helped a lot. Adding it directly to a tank had horrible results in terms of cloudiness.

Equilibrium is a good product otherwise. Worked well for my planted tank.

i use salty shrimp for caridina tanks. 

Edited February 16, 2022 by tolstoy21

[quikv6]

If its not too heavily planted, you can use Seachem Replenish instead, which immediately dissolves in as a liquid. It does contain some level of salts....but with livebearers, that should be fine.

[The Goatee]

On 2/14/2022 at 12:47 PM, Aqua junky said:

only Stuff I've used is the Salty shrimp GH booster or the Salty shrimp gh kh booster and it seems to dissolve fairly quickly for me. I add it to my jugs' than add the water. 

What is your ratio of SaltyShrimp Gh+ added per gallon to achieve desired TDS?

[Aqua junky]

For my Salty Shrimp GH booster I shoot for a TDS of 75 which is usually a GH of 5* to 7*.  When you buy that specific brand it comes with a little measuring spoon. To achieve my desired TDS is about a 1/4 spoon.  And that is for my Caridina species.  Now my Neocaridina I use the Salty Shrimp GH KH booster and I try to get the TDS as close to a TDS of 200 +/- 20

Sorry and that is using RODI and 5 gallon colligan jugs