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I would definitely get the dwarf blue legged variety if it's for algae. I have a fishless tank so I drop in some food for them now and again, but you probably wouldn't need to do that. If you want a price comparison, my LFS sells 5 for a tenner.
Try just the hermits for now.. if they are doing well after a week then give the shrimp another go. I would also try buying the shrimp from another LFS if at all possible just out of curiosity. I've noticed the cleaner shrimp in one of my LFS don't seem to do well in their tanks.
I run Rowa in my external & normally change it once every 3 weeks (250ml) But thats cos I also change the poly filter & carbon in there at the same time....
According to the makers it doesn't leach anything back in, so if you want maxium value from it leave it in & test your tank for PO4 & once you detec some then change the rowa
Edit: If you didn't know when you first put rowa in your water will turn a chocolate brown, don't worry as it will clear & its supposed to do that
Luckily my water didn't change brown at all. You know me, I'd be worried if it did
What I did was put the rowa in, and it seemed to work straight away. It killed off the majority of the algae in my tank straight away so that I could just get rid of it and it didn't come back.
But after a couple of months, the sand started getting a lot more undesirable with algae, so I've just changed it for some new rowa. That's the best way to do it I reckon
After a couple more times I'll know exactly how often I'll need to change it for my tank, so that I don't get the algae coming back at all
On a side-note Shelton: as you're in the UK, any ideas where I can get mail-order dry base (Calcium Carbonate based) rock from?
Hmmmm, my local LFS does mail order & if he hasn't got something then he can normally get it as I real good price, there's only about a third of his stock listed on the website though!!
give him an email, I think he's still about today as he is going on hols for a few days, tell him you've spoken to me & also you are a member of ReefPark for a discount!