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Aquaristic Water Conditioners and Minerals


Minerals and trace elements are vital for shrimp, crayfish, snails and fish, as well as for a functioning biosystem in a tank. A lack or an imbalance may lead to severe problems, manifest in poor plant growth, algae growth, odd behaviour of the tank inhabitants or even losses.

SaltyShrimp mineral salt water conditioners prevent this. These salts have been designed and manufactured especially for the use in a freshwater tank. They improve the water condition and provide your tank inhabitants with all the essential minerals and trace elements via the water, for their health and wellbeing. Moreover, SaltyShrimp mineral products support the activities of the all-important filter bacteria and improve plant growth - for a stable, healthy biosystem in your tank.


Find out more here
re-mineralising, trace elements, vitamines, Chlorides and sulfates






Bee Shrimp Mineral GH+

Specially for keeping and breeding shrimp, aim for a pH of under 7, like Bee, Shrimp, Tiger and Bumble Bee Shrimp...

Can with screw-on lid available in 110g, 230g, 850g and 3000g





Sulawesi Mineral Series

According to scientific analysis of water from the Malili Lake System on Sulawesi developed mineral salt, specially produced for Shrimps from Lake Poso, Matano and Towuti (like Caridina dennerli, Caridina spinata and others).

Can with screw-on lid available in 100g, 250g and 1000g


Softwater Mineral GH+

To prepare aquarium water for Fish
from soft water biotopes

Can with screw-on lid available in 90g, 230g and 1000g


Aquarium Mineral GH/KH+

To remineralize and increase the
total and carbonate hardness

Can with screw-on lid available in 85g, 200g and 850g


Shrimp Mineral GH/KH+

To remineralize and increase the
total and carbonate hardness

Can with screw-on lid available in 100g, 200g, 750g and 2550g
 


Black Water Powder SE/Fulvin+

Trace elements, Humic and
Fulvic acid for fish and shrimps

Can with screw-on lid available in 65g and 130g


Easy Filter Powder

100% natural filter powder for clean
and crystal clear aquarium water

Can with screw-on lid available in 40g and 100g
 


Leaves & Bark

Extract from catappa leaves and various barks
for healthy animals an good water quality

Bottle available in 100, 250 and 1000 ml


Herbal & Bacter

Extract from herbs and living microorganisms
against fungal infection, germs and putrefaction

Bottle available in 100, 250 and 1000 ml



Community - www.wirbellotse.de Resellers welcome





Some interesting facts about re-mineralisation
and the use of trace elements in re-mineralising salts
The SaltyShrimp team consists of a biologist/agricultural engineer and aquarists/breeders who have been in the hobby for many, many years and who have a heart for their animals and the aquarium hobby in general. We soon realised there is much room to improve in the field of re-mineralising salts, and thus we started producing our own blends. For our recipes we fell back on our experiences and the know-how about biochemical processes in the metabolism of our aquarium inhabitants and the filter bacteria in order to get the best possible results for our breeding tanks. These improvements were so significant that we offered our blends to fellow breeders, and now they are also available in trade.

Animals in natural waters fine-tune their physiology with the water that surrounds them. Aquatic animals do not have an impermeable skin, and their well-being depends directly on their environment, i.e. the water in which they live. They have a certain tolerance against fluctuations, however, this tolerance may be very small. Physiologically speaking, all life depends on the functionality of a complex chain of interlinked chemical reactions. These reactions are often regulated by enzymes, whose functions are controlled by the properties of the internal cellular environment. The internal cellular environment in turn directly depends on its surroundings. If the water composition changes, for example, changes in the cellular metabolism will follow, with a direct influence on cellular functions. This is especially true for metal ions. The right concentration of metal ions is crucial for well-functioning enzymes. However, if these ions are present in the wrong concentration (or if the mixing ratio of different metal ions is wrong), the three-dimensional form of the enzymes is changed or even destroyed. In both cases, their functionality is compromised. It is thus not sufficient if you know which elements are necessary and to add them. The right mixture and dosage are decisive. "More is NOT always better", it may even do grave damage! For example, minute traces of copper are essential for crustaceans and snails, as their breathing pigment hemocyanin is based on this element. However, even a slightly elevated copper level in the surrounding water will lead to a proportional increase in the direct cellular environment of these organisms, which denatures other cellular enzymes, leading to the death of the animal.

Besides a possible overdose there is also the danger that elements with a comparable radius or similar properties are erroneously used as substitutes by the organism. For example, calcium is substituted by strontium, however, this leads to brittle bones or calcareous shells (in aquaria this happens frequently to snail shells). Potassium is substituted by caesium. Caesium is always found as an accompanying ion of potassium in nature, however, this has to be considered an impurity rather than beneficial. An organisms metabolism cannot always differ between caesium and potassium, however, if it uses caesium there may be grave malfunctions. Another example would be cadmium. It is highly toxic as it acts as a strong antagonist of copper and zinc. Anyhow, it is quite frequently found in analyses of synthetic re-mineralising salts. Maybe because this element was found in natural waters, and salt blends were produced according to these analyses. In these cases, however, the physiology of the animals was considered as little as the fact that nowadays, many natural waterbodies are polluted. Many of the elements found in these analyses do not really belong in an aquarium … and on second thought they do not belong in natural waters either. No living being needs even mere traces of cadmium or arsenic, never and nowhere! Many substances are toxic, first and foremost aluminium, one of the most frequently found elements of our planet. It is mainly brought into our natural waters by human actions (anthropogenically), and yet it is found in many synthetic re-mineralising salts. We could enlarge this list by many more trace elements that do not belong in a re-mineralising salt designed for the aquarium hobby, as they have no beneficial biological function whatsoever.





How many trace elements are really essential?
Depending on the criteria according to which you judge the biological value for animals (fish are different from invertebrates), plants, corals or microorganisms, only a maximum of 22 trace elements are needed (or 24, there is no scientific proof that the two additional ones are really essential). The rest are considered to be "impurities". They are substitutes or other substances that may well be used in the organism but are not essential, as we have explained above.

Of course, our products are also based on analyses of natural waterbodies, however, we leave these impurities out and optimise our salts based on what science has found out about the substances the animals and the filter bacteria in our tanks really need. Thus our products enable us to create an environment in our aquaria that is even better than many animals would find it in their natural habitat. This is of some real advantage for the development of e.g. invertebrate larvae.





Chlorides and sulfates
Think twice before you use chlorides and sulfates in your DIY re-mineralising salts. They may dissolve very readily in the water, which is good for the user (the aquarium hobbyist), however, depending on the quantity, they have been suspected to cause problems e.g. for some shrimp. Lake Towuti, for example, from which many of these beautiful Sulawesi shrimp originate, has only very low levels of chlorides and sulfates. Our water analysis has proved that. As a natural consequence, there can be no readily-dissolving re-mineralising salt that can be used to produce water as close to that of Lake Towuti as possible. The high pH created by our Sulawesi Mineral 8,5 is a positive side effect, however, the true knack seems to lie in totally avoiding sulfates and especially chlorides for tanks dedicated to shrimp originating from Lake Towuti. Maybe, after many generations, the offspring will be able to adapt to the presence of chlorides and sulfates, as the shrimp from Lake Matano/Sulawesi have managed already. For them, our readily-dissolving variant Sulawesi Mineral 7,5 is a great alternative.





Vitamins in re-mineralising salts?
Vitamins are essential for fish, shrimp, snails and so on, and they cannot live without them. However, they cannot absorb them from the water, but exclusively from their food. We thus consider the addition of vitamins to re-mineralising salts superfluous. The vitamins our aquarium animals need are present in almost all the usual foodstuffs.