Remove algae or leave it

[attygirl]

Hello! I have been on and off this forum for 7 years. I currently have a 1.5+ tank with 6 shrimp, snails and plastic plants. The tank was on my desk at my office. However, with COVID-19, I decided to bring my tank home so I can continue to add distilled water as it evaporates. My 6 shrimp have never reproduced. I decided to freshen up my tank and ordered from this site 15 shrimp and macro algae. My tank has a large accumulation or ball of algae at the bottom - picture below. Should I remove this algae before the new shrimp arrive? I see there are some snails intermixed in the algae. I don’t know if the are alive. Thanks for any advice.

[sabbylina]

It looks like your snails are still gripping the walls, which means they are alive. I'm not sure about other clumps of algae but my shrimps do just fine with the macro algae from here. If you want to take it out and the snails are still stuck, it's ok. They can be out of the water for the time it takes you to peel them off and plop them back in.

[attygirl]

Sabbylina - thanks for taking the time to comment and your info about the snails. I added 15 shrimp and the macro algae a couple of weeks ago and removed a little of the brown algae. The tank is now next to a window and gets indirect light as well as my 12 hour on/off cycle light. So I will have to watch the algae growth. I hope I will be lucky like you and the shrimp will eventually start to breed with the newcomers .....

[sabbylina]

I find in the summer I often have to lessen the timer on the light - or just turn it off - otherwise my macro algae gets way too big. I do live in California though so we get lots of sun. Good luck on your babies!