Just built a drop-off with a beach for my 40 gallon. I have 2 bamboo shrimp and 2 vampire shrimp. Y’all… these things poop like I’ve never seen anything poop before. And I am only noticing now with the new light-colored sand. This is one afternoon. ONE AFTERNOON. I literally cleaned it up THIS MORNING.
I did buy a very large bag of sand and only added a very thin layer for the beach. I built the beach in a way that I could just siphon up the dirty sand once month/as needed and replace it with fresh sand BUT AGAIN Y’ALL THIS IS ONE AFTERNOON WTF AM I SUPPOSED TO DO 😭😭😭
Posted by EyeTheSwan
6 Comments
I use Malaysian Trumpet Snails. They churn the substrate which aerates it and works in the mulm and poop. It’s a slow starting method but it helps balance the ecosystem to be more natural
I use dark color sand and Cory cats. They snuffle through the sand enough to mix everything up.
Depends on the tank.
1) dark sand and using an old turkey baster to spray the poop up into my filter.
2) in my axolotl tank, I siphon out their poop everyday and often stir it up so the lighter poop particles go up into the filter.
In your 40gal beach setup, shrimp waste piles up fast on light sand totally normal for bamboo & vampire shrimp! Spot clean daily with a turkey baster or mini vacuum to suck up those black pellets without disturbing the drop off.
Skip overfeeding these guys scavenge efficiently. Add 3-4 nerite snails or Malaysian trumpet snails they devour detritus and aerate sand.
Add a small powerhead for better flow so debris reaches your filter.
Your thin layer monthly siphon plan is smart just hit daily spots at first until the tank balances. It’ll calm down soon hang in there! 😂
Cory’s and Shrimp. That’s what I would do
I don’t. Let nature take its course. I do have snails tho. My cleaning crew. Including mts as another commenter said. Helps work things back in the substrate for my plants to enjoy.