CuC for FW?

[Tmar]

My 10 gallon planted tank is thriving!! Had to trim and replant clippings of my hornwort plant. However, getting a bit of yucky cover on my heater, rocks and driftwood now....
I have 3x emerald eye rasbora & 1 electric blue ram in this tank along with 2x anubias nana, 1 cryptocoryne, 1 amazon sword lace plant and the hornwort.
Can I get shrimp or snails as a freshwater CuC like I can for saltwater? If so, are there any recommendations?
I fertilize my plants only once a week with flourish, excel & iron... all seachem.
Thanks in advance

 

[mistersprinkles]

My 10 gallon planted tank is thriving!! Had to trim and replant clippings of my hornwort plant. However, getting a bit of yucky cover on my heater, rocks and driftwood now....
I have 3x emerald eye rasbora & 1 electric blue ram in this tank along with 2x anubias nana, 1 cryptocoryne, 1 amazon sword lace plant and the hornwort.
Can I get shrimp or snails as a freshwater CuC like I can for saltwater? If so, are there any recommendations?
I fertilize my plants only once a week with flourish, excel & iron... all seachem.
Thanks in advance

I remember something about excel being bad for inverts. It was a long time ago. I'm not sure, but look into it. You may have to cut the excel to put shrimp in.
They will work as a clean up crew, sure. You could add like 10 amano shrimp and a zebra snail.

 

[Mebbid]

The excel is perfectly fine for inverts I dose 30ml daily in my 55g and 10ml daily in my 10g tank both with a ton of snails and shrimp. I would however start dosing it daily as its only effective for about 12 hours after its added.
I wouldn't recommend doing more than the recommended dosing for your tank because any jaw are sensitive to it.

As for the build up, what kind of algae is it? If its brown then its diatom algae which nerite snails are perfect for cleaning up.

 

[Rivercats]

Only some very delicate shrimp are ify with liquid carbon and they are usually kept in species tanks. I've used liquid carbon in high amounts for extended periods with shrimp and snails.

A picture of the algae would be good as algae eaters usually are very specific of the types of algae they eat. And some algae no algae eater will eat. Nerite snails are great for diatoms, green dust algae, green spot algae, and biofilm. Malaysian Trumpet Snails are good for aerating substrate as they stay and move in the substrate during the day and come out at night to forage. Many don't know this but they will eat at hair type algae although they can't put much of a dent in it. Some use mystery and ramshorn snails but I personally don't like them. Amano shrimp are the best of all algae eating shrimp but many as red cherry shrimp do a pretty decent job.

 

[Tmar]

Well the algae looks like a light smattering of light brown dust. It isn't overrunning my tank yet or anything.
Think I will just grab about 6 nerita snails

 

[Rivercats]

If the set up is new it sounds like diatoms. Diatoms are usually found in new setups, they are self limiting and will die off once excess silicates are used up. Keeping lighting down to 6 hours daily will keep as many from forming. Nerite snails are great for keeping diatoms cleaned up in new tanks.

 

[Reaper216]

Will nerite snails grow larger? I was just looking at some at petsmart but they were hard to see they were so small

 

[Batgirl]

My mom promises me my two have grown dramatically, I don't see it though, maybe it's because I watch them everyday.

 

[Rivercats]

Yes nerites grow but there are horned or spiny which are the smallest, olives which are more medium sized, then your decorative tiger, zebra, etc., which grow faily good size. Just be sure they are indeed nerites before buying.

 

[Reaper216]

Any tips on how to tell? The snails I saw were literally about 1/8 of an inch long and half that or smaller wide

 

[Rivercats]

Pull up some pictures online so you can see what they look like.

 

[Tmar]

Ok, so hornwort grows like a dandelion weed! Less than a week after trimming my original it is already grown up another 3-4 inches and the two clippings i just haphazardly planted in my second tank are now up to water level and starting to grow across the top...