My name is Roxanne and I'm from Southern California.
I have 10 opae ula and 10 MTS in my 1 gallon tank. I don't see a single speck of algae even though it's been about a month or so since I set up the tank... Should I be concerned? Did I put too much macroalgae in there? ( I bought 2 clumps of algae from mustafa ) Is it possible that the abundance of macroalgae prevented the growth of other forms of algae in my tank?
Another reason I could think of is the light. I'm using a desk lamp as a source of light as seen here. I leave it on for 12 hours a day:
I couldn't find a proper light for 1 gallon tank here in the US... so I bought " aqualighter pico " led lamp from a store in Ukraine. Shipping is going to take a while.
By the way, I am also worried about the snails since I don't want them to starve and die. What should I do?
Its pretty hard for these guys to starve, as there is always at least some biofilm to feed on (a lot of it is an invisible coating of bacteria and such on surfaces), and they require very little food to live. Even if you see no algae they should be fine provided you feed them every month or so (just make sure the amount you feed is finished off within a couple hours).
Keep in mind the surface of the macroalgae itself also supports biofilm and will be scrubbed for food by the shrimp and snails.
The snails will also probably not starve, though they may not breed much and grow very slowly. That's good in a small tank though.
Hi and welcome! Like varanus said you should be fine. I waited like 5 weeks or so and I never saw algae. It was until like a month or two later that I finally saw a specs on my tank walls using a magnifying glass. For your lamp situation just get any regular lamp with a bulb attachment. Then buy a regular daylight bulb from Home Depot and get a timer if you like. That’s what I did for my two tanks. And the 2 macroalgae balls was too much for my 1 gal. It grew really big so I gave one away to a friend who’s going to start their own tank
