Grow more biofilm / algae, etc

[beanbag]

Hello folks,

I have a Taiwan Bee tank running for several months now, and generally things are ok.  Most of the shrimp are going around and grazing, especially the juvies which are about 6 months old by now.  However, over the last few months, I suspect the tank has something slightly off where there isn't enough biofilm and algae growth, and overall the "bacterial activity" seems kind of low.  The evidence  for this is:

The wad of peacock moss is very branched and growing quickly, so maybe sucking up all the nutrients?  I trimmed it back just 3 weeks ago, but it already grew back.

Nitrates are always stuck at zero.  No fertilizers added.

DHG, MC, and S. Repens are stunted and yellowing.

Driftwood is sparkling clean.

Nothing grows on the HMF sponge, and so shrimp don't graze there

Stuff (algae) doesn't seem to grow on the walls anymore.

IAL don't start breaking down until 3+ months later, despite 10 minute boil.  Shrimp don't graze on it much.

Occasionally the adult shrimp will "take the afternoon off", where it seems they get bored of grazing and just stand around.  But then if I add food they quickly come over.

Current batch of baby shrimp survival rate seems really low.  Maybe because they are starving?

"Dead" things like mulm or dead algae (from a H2O2 treatment) or leaves don't break down and just persist.

 

At the moment, the tank gets about 10 hrs of light per day of "medium" intensity.  I think if I turn up the lights more, I'll start to get hair algae.

Maybe start dosing fertilizer?

Maybe add something like Dr Tim's Eco balance?  (Probiotic bacteria)  A few months ago I tried adding Waste Away (waste-removing bacteria) which immediately killed off a few baby shrimp, so I won't do that anymore.  Uhh, but I guess there's still Seachem Pristine (does the same thing)?

Anyway, the goal is to have a tank that grows visible algae - the kind that shrimp actually eat.  Sort of like what I see in tanks where they have a "wall of algae" full of shrimps grazing, or where shrimps are grazing on the sponge filter.  Also, where the IAL breaks down quickly and shrimp are actually eating away at it.

Feeding schedule for a 5 gal tank with about 15 shrimp: About 2mm worth from a shrimp pellet 3x per week.  about 1 square inch of mulberry or spinach 2x per week.  Dab of Bacter AE, about the size of half a grain rice, 3x per week.

[sdlTBfanUK]

It all sounds similar to what my tanks did at the start, and as they settle algae reduces, BBA disappears, fubgus dusappears etc.

I woildn't use chemicals myself or ferts! I see you are using bacter AE which is good.

I would (did) use a baby shrimp food every other day (it is usually powder) in addition to what you are already feeding, and if the shrimps are that hungry they rush over I would increase the feeding a bit as well maybe. They only usually dash for food if they are hungry and if there is plenty of biofilm they will sometimes even ignore other food in favour of the biofilm. As they graze it will be unlkely you will see algae grow as they probably eat it as quickly as it grows (like sheep in a field)? I can't say I see algae in my tanks either when there are shrimps in the tank? It is a fairly small tank so the amount of area for film to grow is limited and as the population increases yu will need to increase feeding etc!

It is good that you aren't losing any shrimp so I wouldn't change much, as long as you are getting some babies the numbers will soon grow. Everything else looks good to me, so I would just get some baby shrimp food so maybe you will get a better survival rate of the babies and increase adult shrimp feeding a little bit.

Simon

[beanbag]

Well, I am a bit unhappy the baby shrimp survival is bad (this time around).  During the first batch of babies back in February, I would often see them grazing along the walls.  Now I really don't see that anymore, probably due to less stuff growing there.

I agree with your observations of tanks changing with time, although I have never witnessed BBA myself.  But I think those pictures I see of tanks with "wall of algae" and shrimps grazing on the sponge filter are old tanks.

Edited August 4, 2020 by beanbag

[AresGr]

Its summer so No1 question is the temp. High temperature [emoji2410] decrease oxygen and stuns plant growth.
Try some blanched veggies.

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[beanbag]

68F in this tank

[AresGr]

So i guess temperature is not an issue. Also dry leaves help microorganisms to grow.

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