water change in a new shrimp tank, advice needed

[Geoshrimp]

Hi everyone.

 

A month ago I made 6 gallon ( 23  liter ) shrimp tank, took 7-8 litter of water from my other cycled fish tank and filled  rest from the tap water ( kept it in a bottle for 24 hours ). i have 5 grown RCS in my new tank and 20-25 baby shrimps ( 5-6 mm ) from one female which is already pregnant for a second time. I also got 2 new small anubias side by side, 2 small  Malaisian snails  and a waterfall type filter, which works on a low mode and circulates water just a bit. 

 

I haven't changed water from the gravel yet, I only add  0,5- 1 liter  every 2-3 days, to replace evaporated amount. 

Should i vacuum gravel/replace some water from the bottom? As I know Red cherry shrimps don't have considerable bio-load and also anubias might absorb most of it anyway, Am I wrong? 

 

Maybe taking water from the gravel will be bad for anubias, so they wont have anything to benefit from. 

 

Abit older picture of the tank is attached on this topic.

 

I really need your advice

 

[Wygglz]

I'm sure you will recieve many opinions from this group as we have a bunch of experts (I am not one of the experts). We have a large setup of 8 20l tanks all on the same filtration for stability with a large number of plants, yet vacuuming the substrate (we use sand) makes a big difference in the health of our tanks. It isn't easy with new shrimplets always arriving, but really has been worth it for survival rates.

[Geoshrimp]

I'm sure you will recieve many opinions from this group as we have a bunch of experts (I am not one of the experts). We have a large setup of 8 20l tanks all on the same filtration for stability with a large number of plants, yet vacuuming the substrate (we use sand) makes a big difference in the health of our tanks. It isn't easy with new shrimplets always arriving, but really has been worth it for survival rates.

 

I hope so. Hope my anubias will grow bigger, that's why I hesitate on cleaning bio-load which these 5 shrimps can produse, Mabie there is a way to calculate bio-load, how much is it enough for plants and how much is too much for shrimps.

 

I thought sand was problematic in terms of vacuuming, it gets into tube when u start cleaning and also in terms of aeration of gravel

[Wygglz]

I hope so. Hope my anubias will grow bigger, that's why I hesitate on cleaning bio-load which these 5 shrimps can produse, Mabie there is a way to calculate bio-load, how much is it enough for plants and how much is too much for shrimps.

 

I thought sand was problematic in terms of vacuuming, it gets into tube when u start cleaning and also in terms of aeration of gravel

I have plants growig a bit too well at this point and am regularly trimming and throwing spares in the refugium which is more than a bit over crowded now. Unfortunately, I know nothing about aquatic plants, so it isn't like I can post "6 trimmings of hydrocortifulcate anubis trincate for sale" because I don't know what they are.

Anyway, with regard to sand, I'm the "girly" half of the shrimp venture inthis house and my other half is the brains in terms of chemistry. I liked the look of sand and he figured out that a simple kink in the cleaning hose will control the flow dictating what gets sucked up. He manages to control it enough to lift muck without lifting sand. I'll see if he has time to give you a more technical explanation (look for gillznglass) but he is quite busy so please forgive us if not.

[Louie]

I do not vacuum the gravel in tanks where plants cover the entire bottom of tank as no need to clean it .  However in that set up with only 2 slow growing plants I would vacuum the gravel because waste accumulates in the gravel and not enough plants to ''eat it''.

 

I wouldn't vacuum immediately near the plants as not to disrupt roots .

 

I do a 10 percent water change every week plants or not .

[Geoshrimp]

I do not vacuum the gravel in tanks where plants cover the entire bottom of tank as no need to clean it .  However in that set up with only 2 slow growing plants I would vacuum the gravel because waste accumulates in the gravel and not enough plants to ''eat it''.

 

I wouldn't vacuum immediately near the plants as not to disrupt roots .

 

I do a 10 percent water change every week plants

 

 

 

Than I guess you have more than 5 shrimps in your tank. 

Just  vacuumed my gravel and   almost got no waste. The sponge of the filter was a bit brown though .