Ok so tomorrow I am going to the pet store to get some fish and shrimp. My 20 gallon tall is already cycled (got fish in it now that are going to the LFS) I am buying 12 pygmy cories, 3 otos, and a couple shrimp (hopefully berried!) My questions are:
1) Does Ocean Nutrition food have copper in it?
2) Do I need to add calcium for the shrimp and if so how?
3) If my ph is 6.0 will shrimp survive
4) Will any of these fish clean my PFS of green algae?
I also plan on getting a couple MTS. Please reply so I know this stuff for tomorrow!
Thanks and God bless!
1. Don't know, never used it, but probably not. People tend to go overboard on the copper thing, lots of foods and ferts have trace amounts of copper. Copper is essential for life in trace amounts, so it has everything to do with concentration rather than presence.
2. Not really, but you can supplement them if you really want to. Some people use everything from plain Tums ( i dont recommend that) to crushed calcium pills, I usually just add a sprinkle of dolomite every now and again. I probably wouldn't mess with it unless you see an issue arising because of it.
3. Yeah, they actually do well in slightly acidic water. However, if the water is lacking buffers I would add something to boost the gh/kh a bit.
4. Maybe, it just depends on the type of algae and how fast it is being created. Manual removal and finding the source of the algae growth is the best method.
You can add live plants, and it'll work out fine if your lights can support them.
You can't be certain they are any safer for the fish and shrimp than...well, the fish and shrimp. They all come from the same LFS probably so I wouldn't worry about QTing them. If you mean plant toxicity, I don't know of any common aquatic plants that are toxic to fish or shrimp.