That's why I posted this thread, to find out from others more experienced than I. It is as much about learning some of the specific and unique needs of the shrimp versus other tropical fish. I also want to know, as I have said earlier, how much they affect TDS upo0n use. I am certain there are at least several who use these products who can answer my question, but for some reason are choosing not to with the exception of wicca 27 regarding Salty Shrimp products.
I have googled about these products and haven't found anything specific as of yet. I'll look again.
Not trying to be difficult. Just looking to make sure I get the right info about shrimp needs before I get something that would be completely wrong or not essential. And just the opposite as well, things that are essential.
Understood. nor am I, but as Wicca said and others have said in other similar threads there is no specific number, each person seems to have their own experience in regards to TDS/kh/gh/etc.. with the products you listed. What I have noticed is we all have slightly different results and a big part of that is based off the differences in water all over this country. Yes even though most use RO there are still slight differences that cause variances in how TDS/GH/KH/etc.. is affected with the products for each person. Does that make sense?
Of the 4 products you listed, 3 are some type of old sea mud. Now this being a powder you generally place beneath the soil during initial setup I'm pretty sure they raise the TDS, but I could be wrong. I dont see this as a problem because during cycling you will be doing water changes which will reduce your overall TDS if you are doing correctly. During cycling this is the trade off to get beneficial bacteria colonized and biofilm growing.
It may be my method but I dont typically add any sort of remineralizer during the first couple of weeks. I'm sure others do things differently during this time also.
I feel the best option is to go with one of the trusted proven products (which you listed) and work out the mixture that results in the parameters you are looking to get.
As for the Seachem Equilibrium, I have no experience with this or never really noticed anybody posting about it for shrimp tanks. So its not a product I can really comment on.
We want you to have success, but I feel that you are over thinking things. There are a lot of great products out there and lots of great threads to read up on from experienced people who've gone through success and failures they share so we can all learn together.