Setup suggestions needed for newbie

[pelletube]

Does anybody have comments on how to control the algae? The water is not as clean as before. I keep the tank under low natural light. There are 10 shrimp and about 10 snail (plus baby snails). Size of container is about 1.4 gallon.

[Super Jess]

Does anybody have comments on how to control the algae? The water is not as clean as before. I keep the tank under low natural light. There are 10 shrimp and about 10 snail (plus baby snails). Size of container is about 1.4 gallon.

How much/how often are you feeding? The water should be crystal clear unless there are to many nutrients in the tank.

[pelletube]

Hey Super Jess! Thanks for your help again!

I’m actually not feeding them much at all. Maybe every 2 weeks at most, mostly once per month. And I remove the leftover food.

Not really sure how it got to this algae stage, the tank now looks completely differently from when started—clear. Here are some pictures:

as pics above show, I think the water looks fine/clear (?); it’s just the glass wall. Most of the algae (making it not so pleasant to look at), are on the glass container. The shrimp are red and seem happy (at least to me).

Some factors leading to the algae I can think of include:
1. The seashells and rocks I picked up from snorkeling. I added them beginning of January (it’s been about 1 and a half month) and that was the start of the visible algae.

2. I have left the tank/container near the window, so daily natural sunlight (until 2 days ago, when I think I should slow the algae growth, now tank is away from sunlight). not sure if this would cure the problem. (If yes, how long this might take from looking at the stage of my current algae growth?)

Now, not sure what I should do.
A. Other than not looking as nice, Is there harm to having this much algae?
B. Regardless, how can I minimize the algae? Carefully clean it with sponge on a stick?
C. Get some horned nerite snails (as some folks have advised in this post? (My major concerns here are the short lifespan of the horned nerite snails and potentially introducing contamination’s to my current shrimp. (I really hope to eventually reach minimal maintenance, have the 10 shrimp and 10 snails (plus newborn snails) “self-sustained” in the tank.

Any suggestions would be great! Thanks so much!

[sliphorn]

Hey Super Jess! Thanks for your help again!

I’m actually not feeding them much at all. Maybe every 2 weeks at most, mostly once per month. And I remove the leftover food.

Not really sure how it got to this algae stage, the tank now looks completely differently from when started—clear. Here are some pictures:
117A6D3E-6FFE-4CC8-8D3A-141BB4AB40FC.jpegA5CF69B9-6494-4129-A62E-24BE82AB7F37.jpeg8482268F-0726-494F-B037-690B326680D6.jpeg

as pics above show, I think the water looks fine/clear (?); it’s just the glass wall. Most of the algae (making it not so pleasant to look at), are on the glass container. The shrimp are red and seem happy (at least to me).

Some factors leading to the algae I can think of include:
1. The seashells and rocks I picked up from snorkeling. I added them beginning of January (it’s been about 1 and a half month) and that was the start of the visible algae.

2. I have left the tank/container near the window, so daily natural sunlight (until 2 days ago, when I think I should slow the algae growth, now tank is away from sunlight). not sure if this would cure the problem. (If yes, how long this might take from looking at the stage of my current algae growth?)

Now, not sure what I should do.
A. Other than not looking as nice, Is there harm to having this much algae?
B. Regardless, how can I minimize the algae? Carefully clean it with sponge on a stick?
C. Get some horned nerite snails (as some folks have advised in this post? (My major concerns here are the short lifespan of the horned nerite snails and potentially introducing contamination’s to my current shrimp. (I really hope to eventually reach minimal maintenance, have the 10 shrimp and 10 snails (plus newborn snails) “self-sustained” in the tank.

Any suggestions would be great! Thanks so much!

..
Looks ok to me but it was probably a good idea to take it out of the sun. I think leaving it alone and stop feeding would be helpful.
..

[pelletube]

Thanks Sliphorn.

Does any one know if the algae would get clean/eaten up by the shrimp eventually? (While away from sunlight to slow the algae growth?)

These (in pic) are GREEN algae (not brown) right?

[sliphorn]

Thanks Sliphorn.

Does any one know if the algae would get clean/eaten up by the shrimp eventually? (While away from sunlight to slow the algae growth?)

These (in pic) are GREEN algae (not brown) right?
420AA468-E67D-47A3-8F03-79ACDC9EDF22.jpeg

The shrimp should do a good job of reducing the algae.

[Dch48]

Reduce is the word. I don't think they will completely clean it up and maybe they shouldn't. A Nerite snail would eat a lot of it but you want some to be left.

[Vorteil]

The algae growing on the sides of the glass looks lie the start of a tank cycling. It's brown right now but should change color over time. You can always get a new toothbrush and clean the sides of it. One thing to keep in mind algae needs a food source to grow. Granted sunlight or light does help as well. What are you feeding? There's nothing wrong with the algae in there but I'm sure you just want it off the glass.

[Super Jess]

I second Vorteil's new toothbrush suggestion to clean up the view. I'd also stop feeding for a while—that algae shows they have plenty of food. They'll eat up whatever falls to the bottom. It's also possible the shells retained some tiny bits of organic matter that helped feed the algae and the tank just needs to balance out over time.

[Mustafa]

I got mine at PetSmart. They don't breed much and not at all in freshwater. You may get them to breed in brackish. They live about a year or so and get slightly bigger than a pea. Other Nerites get larger.Horny.jpg

They can actually live much longer than a year...more like 5-10 years, but in a Supershrimp tank they do not find enough to eat. Nerites usually eat *a lot*. If your current one dies, I would not get a new one to see if the coloration of your shrimp will get better over time. The smallest of disturbances (like a large nerite moving around and eating everything in sight) can disturb the shrimp and the tank ecosystem enough to cause issues with coloration. These shrimp need to feel like everything is close to perfect for them to show their full red coloration.

[pelletube]

Thanks to everyone for insightful comments. I ended up using the new toothbrush to clean the algae. Thanks for the suggestions and advising that there’s nothing wrong with algae (that once they go to the bottom, will just get eaten up; also that it’s a sign of cycling!)

Thanks to everyone again!