Plant fertilizer in shrimp tanks

[Neil]

Hi,
I started a 2.5 gallon tank a few months ago, and I am now working on a 15 gallon. The 2.5 is going fine, but I have never had vigorous algae growth, I am assuming because the shrimp just don’t generate lots of waste. Is there any kind of supplement I can add to my tanks to help push algae growth, or is this a bad idea?

[Dch48]

It is not advisable. The shrimp are eating the algae as soon as it appears and that's why you never see any. The aquarium fertilizers like Seachem's Flourish might be safer but I still wouldn't use it. I have never seen any algae growth in my one gallon tank (except for the macroalgae that now has almost reached the surface and might have to be trimmed back soon) and have about 60 shrimp of varying sizes after 18 months. I started with 16 shrimp.

[Bryan]

I do use Flourish. Two drops per week in my 2.5 gallon tank. Over the five months I’ve done this I have not had any issues. Shrimp are breeding, algae is growing and the macro algae has gone nuts. The other thing I have done is turn down the lighting which certainly helped.

[Neil]

Very interesting in knowing more about the lights. I’ve been pumping in as much light as possible without overheating the tanks. Can you please tell me more about this? The seachem flourish product sounds interesting. I was also thinking about adding a tiny bit of spirilina just to add some organic matter to the tank. My plan is to start moving a few snails over around the first of February.

[Bryan]

Sure. I lost my first batch of macro algae. I was told it was because my lighting was too bright. Bought more, turned down the lighting and now everything is growing well. Seems counterintuitive but it worked for me.