Help please! Larvae getting trapped in the brown algae

[Ksenia]

Hi everyone, I’m still at the egg level of experience so seeking advice from the experts. My aquarium gets filthy quite fast with all those brown algae growing all over. I tried to remove some of the substrate to clean it but every time I do it, my shrimps become super stressed. The moment I left my pets alone though and went on a 2-week holiday, a miracle happened. I got back and found out that I have 2 berried shrimps but the aquarium looks like a complete mess. Berried shrimps are happy shrimps (I suppose?) but the algae keep growing. The previous time we’ve got several larvae trapped in the same algae and only 1 made it out of 4 at the end. Any advice on how to get rid of all that excessive organic stuff without disturbing the shrimps and losing babies? I feel like if I start cleaning it now, the females will get stressed and might lose the eggs but going through the same issue with babies getting trapped does not sound like a good idea. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Vorteil]

For starters you should not have that piece of driftwood in there. I would remove it. It's great for FW shrimp tanks but not Opae ULa. Also what type of substrate is that? Looks like an active one.

[Ksenia]

Thanks for the advice. Although they like hiding under the driftwood, I guess I can easily find alternatives as I was not aware that it can actually be a concern and affect the pH. As for the substrate, yes, it’s active volcanic soil, which I am guilty of using. They recommended it at the pet shop, and we did not do much research back then as the idea was to free the shrimps from the sphere that was received as a gift. Shall we consider setting up and cycling a new aquarium with a different substrate in the future?

[Vorteil]

You should not be using an active substrate, Fort starters that's going to drop your PH a lot lower that what's suggested for Opae Ula. Break it down and start all over.

[Ksenia]

Somehow it did not drastically affect the pH (always stable at 8.0) but it looks like we won’t need to feed them for another year Will follow your advice and start cycling another tank. Thanks for your help!