Yo is my macro algae dead or not or just unhealthy. If it is looking bad what should I do. The tank has been running for a few years and I just noticed how light it was. Here Are some photos: https://imgur.com/3bWWHrA https://imgur.com/hoCWszF
The tank is a 2.5 gallon and the light is slightly tinted yellow idk if it's supposed to be completely white. Also in the case a snail were to die (not that I've seen any dead) would it affect the ammonia or would the shrimp get to it. Anddd the shrimp don't overpopulate their space right? Thanks
One snail death shouldn't cause a dangerous level of ammonia. The kind Mustafa sells are simply too small (and yes the shrimp will eat it if they can get to the body).
As for the macroalgae, Mustafa has said that they do fall apart like that in some tanks for sometimes unclear reasons, but often come back at some point instead of being truly dead.
Mihiraan Gangisetty wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 11:30 am
Thanks mate. I feel like it might be the lighting though but does too bright light kill the macroalgae? If it does give me some lighting suggestions
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The tanks I have in a north window and receive indirect light all day seem to do the best for me. Though I do have a couple in a west window that are doing great too, but I have to draw the shades half way in the afternoon because that afternoon sun can be brutal.
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Mihiraan Gangisetty wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 6:00 pm
Ahh so you don't use lighting besides the natural light that's cool. My tank is in a corner and barely receives any natural light.
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Some of my tanks have lights because they are not near a window. They are doing fine too.
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Vorteil wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:18 pm
I think it's dead. It's definitely not getting any iron. I would suggest siphoning it out. More than likely used up all the nutrients in there. Probably not enough in there to support it.
Oh damn. How do you get more nutrients in there and if it's dead will it affect the amonia?
Vorteil wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 8:18 pm
I think it's dead. It's definitely not getting any iron. I would suggest siphoning it out. More than likely used up all the nutrients in there. Probably not enough in there to support it.
Oh damn. How do you get more nutrients in there and if it's dead will it affect the amonia?
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As the algae breaks down the shrimp will consume it. If you have alot I would remove most of it and leave some for the shrimp to consume.
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Minerals really shouldn't get depleted so much as recycled (especially assuming you have a calcium source in the tank, namely limestone or aragonite). I'm not sure why the macroalgae fell apart, but I don't think lack of nutrients would be the reason.
Yeah that's what I was thinking about the minerals, they get reused. The calcium source is aragonite as the substrate and I'm pretty my lighting may have been too bright.
It's a 2.5 gallon and I think it's been almost 3 years since I've started it. I'd say there's 35-40 shrimp and and like 20 snails. Very rough estimate though. The last time I fed it was probably around 3 months ago and a total of 3 or 4 times before that. I fed one or two flakes of normal fish food and that's that.
