Brightwell Aquatics FlorinVolcanīt Rio Escuro-F – Volcanic Substrate for Freshwater Planted & Shrimp Aquariums – Boosts Root Growth, Lowers GH & pH, 15lb

My plants grew like crazy with this stuff

Great product as always no complaints

Rio Escuro-F excels at maintaining a stable, acidic environment ideal for Caridina shrimp. It naturally buffers the water column, keeping the pH in the sweet spot of 5.5 to 6.0. This eliminates the constant need for harsh chemical adjustments and creates a more stable environment for my shrimp to thrive.While the primary focus is on its buffering abilities, Rio Escuro-F also provides a surprisingly good base for plants. The fine grain size allows for easy root growth, and the substrate itself holds onto nutrients without releasing them excessively. This creates a healthy environment for both Caridina shrimp and the plants that share their habitat.

This soil has done wonders for my water parameters and looks so pleasing. Pricey but high quality

Stay far away from this product. It does NOT lower your PH anywhere near enough for Caridina shrimp. I have a brand new 5lb bag of this in my shrimp tank in a UGF box and it will not lower my PH any further than 6.5ph which is WAY too high for Caridina shrimp. I was told by Flip Aquatics that this was a good product. Obviously that guy is a liar and a paid shill for this product. This product is completely useless if you want to breed high grade Caridina shrimp. I use reverse osmosis water and remineralize with salty shrimp GH+ to between 100-115TDS. No matter what I do, I can not get my water down to 5.5ph where it is required for breeding Caridina shrimp.The ONLY way I have found to get my PH even close to 5.5ph is to inject insane amounts of CO2 during the day but at night my PH just goes right back up to 6.5ph.I wish these companies would stop lying about their products. I've gone through several substrates already trying to find one that can hit 5.5ph without tons of co2 injection.I will be purchasing and testing Amazonia substrate next.You can see in my photo the big UGF filter box and my co2 indicator that is blue meaning no co2 at the moment of this picture. You can see the ph is all the way up to 6.5ph

I am using this to set up an aquarium for Caridina shrimp. I was waiting for an ammonia spike which never happened. I have set up an Asian style UGF box with this soil and have only good things to say. The price was right with a subscription. The look is great. I expect only the best from Brightwell.

What was good? Everything lower ph and my shrimp look healthy

Used it for a 5.5 gallon nano tank and so far so good. Didn't cloud up the water. It hasn't lowered my pH at all so far having been in the tank for 3 weeks now. It's easy to plant in but sometimes the roots can come up easy, I think cause the particles are bigger. The color however is dark brown not black and it is noticable but I really like it. All in all I would definitely buy it again.