Hello,

I am new here, and new to shrimp keeping and have done a lot of research before setting up a Crystal red shrimp tank, and after watching a few videos online, some people said that we can use "Glas Garten Bacter AE" under the substrate when starting a fresh tank... so I did.

After reading more online, a lot of people are saying that you CANT do that, and it will rot and cause the tank to be foul.

In a 17 gallon tank, I only used a little, about 1.5 -2 small scoops. Will I run into any possible issues?

 

Currently, the tank has been up for 3 weeks, no ammonia, TDS = 90-110 and nitrate around 5-10 max.

 

Thoughts?

Hi @Memphis118,

welcome to SKFA.

It does not look like you have run into a problem with your tank. The tank looks cycled and should be ready to be home to new shrimp. 

However, if you ever use Bacter AE ,or any other bacteria in a bottle product, be aware that these bacteria need oxygen to survive and grow. That is, they are aerobic. So by placing them under the substrate, they are starved of oxygen and won't grow to optimum. Probably why you have heard people say it will rot.

When you add more Bacter AE, just dissolve it in your change water and pour it into the water column next time.

Just remember, if you ever start a new tank in the future ... minerals go in the bottom of the tank, then substrate on top. Bacteria additives you buy in a bottle needs to go on top of the substrate, or at least in the top 1cm of the substrate where it will get the most oxygen.

If your tank is still relatively empty of ornaments, plants and shrimp, you could give the substrate a stir to promote more oxygen to the lower levels of the substrate. Otherwise, just leave it as is and add your shrimp.

Good luck with the CRS.

 

As far as I know, Bacter AE is rather a food than a water supplement. As a food, it is not a good idea to put in inside/under the substrat.

Just dissolve it and add it to your water tank, this will greatly improve the biofilm.

As a help in cycling or maintening your tank, use rather "live bacteria" products such as Bio Nitrivec (SERA) or even Mosura BT9, they do agreat job ;)

1 hour ago, Matuva said:

Bacter AE is rather a food than a water supplement

Careful. Bacter AE is not food. It adds microorganisms, enzymes and amino acids to help develop biofilm.

The biofilm might be food but the bacter ae itself is not food. 

Glass Garden themselves  describe their product as such. 

http://www.glasgarten-aquarium.de/english/bacter_ae.html

 

Awesome Thank you so much for the response! Appreciate it

@jayc

Looks like I was wrong about the tank being done cycling. After 2.5 /3 weeks, I tested again right before putting shrimp in, and got .50 Ammonia / 5ppm Nitrate.

I suppose it just took longer to "start" the cycle.... I noticed over the last 2 days, my tank is a very slight but faint smell, almost like sulfur.

Currently the plants in the tank look good and thriving, is the smell part of the cycle // because of the ammonia? It's pretty faint overall, but if you put your nose up near the tank, you can smell it.

Is this something to worry about, or just part of the process?

@Memphis118,

I doubt you are able to smell 0.50ppm of ammonia in the water. 

So I'm not sure what you are smelling. It's definitely not sulfur ? everything would be dead.

Maybe it's not sulfur as you describe but the smells of a cycling tank. Your cycle seems to have at least started if you are detecting nitrates.

 

If you need more tips on cycling a tank, I gave others some tips on that in the Water Parameter subsection of this forum. Search for it and have a read. 

Gotcha, thank you.

The smell... can't really describe haha. It's more like plastic burning / something. 

I thought maybe its the bacter finally decomposing, but i poked the substrate real fast to see if bubbles came out, and it didnt.