5gal Shrimp Tanks - Snails?

[Vircomore]

Morning all,

For some background, I recently picked up a 5gal Hex that I'm planning on making into a RCS tank, but I have a question for all of you:

I put a black sand substrate into the hex, and I'm wondering if I should invest in some trumpet snails to keep the sand churned. As of right now the only other inhabitants I'm planning on having in the tank are RCS, some Java Moss that I have growing out in my main tank, and some small stones.

This isn't something I've had to worry about with the 26gal because it's a gravel substrate that gets vacuumed regularly - and as I've already experienced, gravel-vaccing a 5gal sand substrate is pretty much impossible.

 

[BigJim]

MTS are good additions to shrimp tanks. They'll keep the sand stirred and eat leftover food. Rotten leftover food poses more threat to your shrimp as anaerobic sand.

You can vacuum a small tank. You just need a small vacuum.

 

[DanDamage92]

I have used a gravel cleaner before in a tank with sand, basically instead of putting it into the sand hover above it and while it is flowing etc. do small circles which raises all the dirt which then gets sucked up...