Is water change required for <1 gallon setups with snail?

[cf21]

I know that the shrimps themselves have very little bioload so water change isn't really needed. I'm thinking of adding a snail, probably a zebra horned nerite during the cycling to give my macroalgae some nutrient and eat the dead bits of macro. There is currently biofilm but no signs of brown algae. Do water changes need to done in the future because of the snail's bioload or does it not matter?

[Vorteil]

It does not matter. You don't have to do any water changes going forward.

[cf21]

I added an onion nerite today since the lfs didn't have the horned ones. It it normal for them to stay completely still? It barely moved during the acclimation too. As for food should I add some Seachem Flourish to stimulate algae growth?

[Mustafa]

Don't add any fertilizer. You'll most likely kill your shrimp. Also, I don't generally recommend any nerites as they eat up all the algae and pollute the water if/when they die (they are rather large snails), but a nerite in a less than 1 gallon tank is a death sentence for the shrimp waiting to be executed (sooner or later). A large, dead snail in a small amount of water is toxic. Most people don't discover a dead snail in time. As for why it is not moving...who knows...nerites tend to rest a lot too.

[cf21]

I don't have any shrimps in there at the moment. Should I swap the nerite out for a MTS from my fw tank or no snail at all and cycle with fish food?

[Mustafa]

Yes, MTS is better. Make sure to acclimate it over several days. Don't just drop it in there. Also, don't put any food in the tank. Supershrimp tanks don't go through a "traditional" cycle with ammonia sources and spikes etc.. Just wait until algae grows and you're good to go. Nothing else needed.

[cf21]

Sounds good. For the acclimation do you raise the salinity each day by adding salt into the MTS water or drip brackish water?

[Mustafa]

Never add salt, use saltwater/brackish water.