RCS tank problems

[JennyPenny]

Has anyone has problems with driftwood in a RCS tank? I'm not sure what is wrong with my tank.
I had an established 15 gallon tall with bloodfin tetras and a dwarf gourami and decided to dedicate it to shrimp. I returned all my fishes to the store, and bought 7 RCS and 3 amanos. I had a nerite snail which I left in the tank for algae control. The lady at the site tested my water the day of the purchase and said everything was perfect but my ph was a little high. I had crushed coral as substrate and she said that was fine, and that the driftwood would help keep the water stable.
Several of the RCS were berried. Now, a month later, I have zero adult shrimp left, and quite a few babies, ranging from about 1-3 weeks old. About half the shrimp died the first week, and several died during their molts. Since then, the rest have died in little spurts. I read the crushed coral is not good substrate, so I switched it out for plain white sand from the fish store. The day following the change, my remaining three adult shrimps died!
Now my tank is quite bare, but I can still see the tiny babies scooting around if I look closely. Should I remove the driftwood? And can I put in fan coral in this tank?

[JennyPenny]

Here is a picture of my tank. I do have a few live plants and two marimo balls.

[jonesinfershrimp]

hi, can we get some exact numbers to better understand whats going on possibly? it might have been that the GH/KH was too high for them. or possibly switching the substrate caused a mini-cycle and the ammonia spike killed them.

[JennyPenny]

hi, can we get some exact numbers to better understand whats going on possibly? it might have been that the GH/KH was too high for them. or possibly switching the substrate caused a mini-cycle and the ammonia spike killed them.

Thanks for the response. I had a fish store check my parameters today. They used the little strips but said the tank was perfect and registering 0 ammonia. I'm pretty sure the strips checked the gh and kh but they didn't tell me the parameters. I know those are not very accurate, and I did order a test kit today.
After the pet store trip a local hobbyist sold me 25 jueveniles and some java moss for $12 to join my dozen or so shrimplets. They have joined the tank and are running all over. About half of them are red and about half are very pale/clear. The man I bought them from said he fed his shrimps daily, but I removed two flatworms from the moss before adding it to my tank so I suspect he was overdoing it. I have never fed my shrimps since there is a ton of algae in the tank. I wonder if I starved them?

[jonesinfershrimp]

unlikely that you starved them. the strips are inaccurate. you should get some liquid drop tests and use those. they are cheap and more accurate.

[JennyPenny]

unlikely that you starved them. the strips are inaccurate. you should get some liquid drop tests and use those. they are cheap and more accurate.

Do you know how often it's recommended to feed them? My tank has oodles of algae. The shrimp just sit on leaves and seem to eat a lot of algae. I would rather not feed them as long as there is algae in the tank, unless they need another source of food.

[jonesinfershrimp]

once a week maybe less if there is a lot of algea

[mighty mite]

If there's lots of visible algae don't feed them at all until it's gone.

Overfeeding is usually the big problem with shrimp and you can keep a moderate population of shrimp in a planted tank with algae without ever feeding them - maybe 2-3 shrimp per gallon.

[Mustafa]

I've also experienced problems with drift wood shrimp tanks before. Whatever leaches out of the wood kills the shrimp...slowly, not immediately. Only well leached drift wood seems to work in the long run...if at all. And by "well-leached" I mean soaked for months or even years (in the case of mopani wood) until the soak water doesn't turn significantly brownish anymore.