Category: Products

This posts category is intended to feature products offered on Aquasnails.com

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VIMI Reminamin – a balanced approach

vimi reminamin 250g

Depending on the type of aquatic plants that you keep, you may already be using Reverse Osmosis (RO) water and/or Deionized (DI) water. However, you should not overlook the need to add minerals back as plants (and even livestock) won’t do well otherwise.

One way of doing that is to use remineralisation powders – like VIMI Reminamin. This is a mixture of minerals ideal suited for RO (reverse osmosis) or DI (deionized) water to grow aquatic plants. Composition involves additional substances which increase aquarium plants resistance to stress when the conditions in aquarium change quickly. Safe for aquarium fish and invertebrates. Sodium (Na) salt free.

What are the advantages?

Its composition involves minerals, amino acids and other substances which increase aquarium plants’ resistance to stress when the conditions in aquarium change quickly, stimulates faster recovery after transplantation, cutting, fast change of aquarium conditions during the water change.

Calcium (Ca) to Magnesium (Mg) ratio is ideal for aquatic plants demand. Composition involves potassium (K) so there is less need of additional supplement of this element. Composition is Sodium (Na) free, which can stop healthy plant development.

The product has a balanced amount of carbonate hardness necessary for healthy plant growth. VIMI Reminamin composition involves essential micronutrients as well: iron, chloride (not chlorine), manganese and others.

Due to its special manufacturing technology, VIMI Reminamin is particularly readily soluble in water.

For more information on composition, dosage and other properties, take a look at the Product here.

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Thou shall not pass!

Aquapoda prefilter options

How many times have you opened your hang-on back filter or your external canister filter to clean it and find shrimplets, fish fry or any other tiny creatures you breed or keep in there? A common occurrence, right?

Specifically for shrimp keepers, it seems to be quite challenging to find filter intakes that are the right size to avoid this problem. More often than not, we have to resort to two types of pre-filter sponges or sieves/guards that cover the intake pipes.

Speaking of pipes, we also love to use these when doing water changes for the exact same reason. I don’t want to grow shrimps or fish in my dirty water change tank (which I incidentally use to water my garden as plants live nitrates – win-win :-))

While some manufacturers provide add-on sieves, mesh guards or sponge foam, we found that a simple (and cheap) generic alternative will do the job well for most commonly used pipe sizes.

If you visit our AquaSnails shop, you will find two types of useful product for this purpose

Aquapoda Pre-filter Sponge Foam

Aquapoda Pre-filter sponge foam that is available in two sizes: 15mm and 22mm.

Aquapoda Stainless Steel Pre-Filter Filter Guards

  • Aquapoda Stainless Steel Pre-filter Shrimp Guard
  • Aquapoda Stainless Steel Pre-filter Shrimp Guard
  • Aquapoda Stainless Steel Pre-filter Shrimp Guard - 12mm
  • Aquapoda Stainless Steel Pre-filter Shrimp Guard - 16mm
  • Aquapoda Stainless Steel Pre-filter Shrimp Guard

These filter guards are sturdier options with a very fine mesh that makes them perfect for shrimp breeding tanks.

They are available in two sizes: 12mm and 16mm.

If you do need some additional supplies (J-Pipes, U-pipes, flexible pipes, taps, etc…), take a look at our Accessories section in the Aquasnails shop.

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Botanicals: Balance, Beauty and Story

botanicals set

As I sit down to prepare another customer’s order of botanicals, I find myself thinking that there is something special about every order of botanicals – every single piece of woody seed pod, leaf or thick fruit has its own individual texture, pattern, shape and colour.

This is only one aspect of botanicals that makes them so special. Botanicals are nowadays increasingly used in a large variety of aquariums for different reasons. Some of us try to re-create the fish’s natural habitat whether through the use of leaf litter, dried seed pods, wooden structures or simply by adding botanicals to release tannins in the water – turning it anything from a light yellowish tint to a dark brown/black colour.

A distinctive beauty captured,
a natural story told, and a form-fit-function balance reached.

Botanicals can also be used to condition the water (e.g. to lower the pH). Alternatively, some aquarists use them to create foraging grounds for their invertebrates. Biofilm forms on botanicals after a day or two underwater.

Botanicals are known to have anti-bacterial or anti-fungal properties and can help protect your fish or help them recover faster from disease.

As I finish preparing the customer’s order, I tell myself that there is one undeniable truth about them. They are unique: a distinctive beauty captured, a natural story told and a form-fit-function balance reached.

  • botanicals set
  • botanicals set
  • botanicals set
  • botanicals set

The above gallery shows the unique pieces prepared in this last order for one of our customers. This set costs €31.25 and is ideal for a 60-80L tank. Next Day Delivery is also possible for circa €4 to any location in Malta. You can also pick up this set from our Fgura hub and get a discounted total price of slightly less than €30.

Thank you all for supporting us – stay safe and take good care of each other!

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Feeding frenzy

amano shrimp (caridina multidentata)

Today, I decided to capture the moment when we fed the Shrimps Forever Biopowder to our shrimps. The XL Amano shrimps just go nuts for it.

Biopowder is made can either be premixed in water and poured in the aquarium. Alternatively, the powder can be scattered on the water surface and it will sink slowly. In this video, we did the latter.

Shrimps Forever Biopowder

Take a look at the amanos feeding from the surface!

Amano shrimps feeding frenzy

Get in touch if you are interested in the Shrimps Forever range or the Amano shrimps.

Shrimps Forever BioPowder

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We got BALLS!

Yes we do and they come in different sizes from 2cm to a whopping 7cm.

Marimo Moss Balls are algae balls (although they are referred to as moss balls due to their visual look). They are interesting decoration suitable for smaller aquariums.

They are also available in larger sizes and in nature reach up to 20-30 cm. They are not demanding in terms of conditions, but they do better with medium light. Together with stones and roots, you can achieve an attractive aquarium design.

Interestingly, this algae usually forms carpet surfaces at the bottom of lakes in Japan and Northern Europe, but if a piece of it separates, it is carried away by waves, which eventually make it a ball. Even in the aquarium, it is good to turn them from time to time to maintain their shape. When they grow to a certain size, they can be split.

They grow at a rate of 0.5cm per year and are often used in shrimp tanks and are useful to control the growth of unwanted algae as they compete for the same food source.

Check out our product page for more information on the selection of available sizes here.

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Hold your hoses!

ista multi-function hose holder

Good morning all.

If you are like me, you have aquariums everywhere. Undoubtedly, you will have some aquariums where you cannot easily set up an automatic water change setup. You resort to using water pipes or hoses running across your rooms. If you do so, you may have already had a couple of ‘accidents’ and you can feel those not-so-happy pair of eyes on the back of your head!

This nifty little accessory has been a game changer for such situations. First of all, it comes as a twin-pack so you can use one at each end of the pipe.

ISTA Multi-function hose holder (twin pack)
ISTA Multi-function hose holder (twin pack)

More importantly, it mounts easily to the aquarium (and/or cover, a bucket, etc.). The clamping mechanism adapts flexibly to objects with a thickness of up to 20 mm.

The holder can be used to fix hoses from 13 mm (12/16 mm) to 17 mm (16/22 mm) thanks to the adjustable mechanism.

The ISTA Multi-function hose holder twin pack is available in our shop. You get a pack of two hose holders for €4!

I hope you find this useful!

Nathan, obo Aquasnails Team