Substrate choice shapes your water. Active soils such as GEILEE Aquasoil are commonly used for Caridina because they help buffer the water soft and slightly acidic, while inert sands (ANS, Sudo, Prodac) and volcanic substrate leave parameters largely unchanged and suit Neocaridina, Sulawesi and biotope tanks.
Active soil does not last forever. Our post Shrimp soil dying? explains when to replace it, and Setting up a tank walks through a full shrimp tank setup.
Whichever substrate you choose, rinse inert sands before use, give a new tank time to cycle before adding livestock, and keep an eye on pH and TDS as the tank matures.
