Finding the right amount of dosage for the Bacter AE powder to put into your shrimp tank can be somewhat confusing.
You can check out this guide at Aquarium Blueprints to find out what are the official Glas Garten directions to feeding your Caridina or Neocaridina shrimps with this product.
Factors to Consider
The dosage amount for Bacter AE depends on two factors.
The first of which is how long you have been using Bacter AE. Glas Garten, the company behind this product, recommends using half the recommended amount during the first week.
The second factor is regarding how many shrimps you have in relations to the size of your fish tank. Glas Garten have different directions based on a lowly stocked, normally stocked or heavily stocked tank. Unfortunately, the company did not clarify what they considered to be lowly stocked, normally stocked or heavily stocked.
In our opinion, we consider that having 2 or less adult size shrimps per gallon to be lowly stocked. Having 3 to 4 adult size shrimps per gallon should be considered normally stocked while having 5 or more shrimps per gallon should mean that your tank is heavily stocked.
Official Baster AE dosage directions
The official Glas Garten dosage direction is based on a fish tank that can hold 120 liters (or around 31.7 gallons). The company also uses the included measuring spoon, which can hold up to approximately 500 milligrams, as a metric for the dosage amount.
Official Baster AE dosage directions for the first week
For the first week of using Bacter AE, you should do the following:
- Lowly stocked tank: ¼ measuring spoon one time per day
- Normally stocked tank: ½ measuring spoon one time per day
- Heavily stocked tank: ½ measuring spoon two times per day
Official Baster AE dosage directions after the first week
After the first week has passed, you can use the following directions:
- Lowly stocked tank: ½ measuring spoon one time per day
- Normally stocked tank: 1 measuring spoon one time per day
- Heavily stocked tank: 1 measuring spoon two times per day
How to calculate the correct amount of Baster AE dosage
If you don’t have a 120-liter or 31.7-gallon aquarium, then you need to do some calculations in order to dose the correct amount.
First week Bacter AE dosage based on liters
Based on the official directions, you should dose the following amount for the first week if you are losing the metric system:
- Lowly stocked tank: 1.04 milligram per liter one time per day
- Normally stocked tank: 2.08 milligrams per liter one time per day
- Heavily stocked tank: 2.08 milligrams per liter two times per day
For example, if you have a 10-liter aquarium, then you need to multiply it by 1.04 milligrams if you have a lowly stocked tank to get a dosage amount of 10.4 milligrams. If you have a normally/heavily stocked 10-liter tank, then you need to multiply it by 2.08 milligrams to get 20.8 milligrams.
First week Bacter AE dosage based on gallons
If you are using the U.S. measuring system to measure your aquarium volume, then you need dose Bacter AE based on the following instructions for the first week of usage:
- Lowly stocked tank: 3.94 milligrams per gallon one time per day
- Normally stocked tank: 7.88 milligrams per gallon one time per day
- Heavily stocked tank: 7.88 milligrams per gallon two times per day
If you have a 10-gallon lowly-stocked tank, for example, you should be dosing 39.4 milligrams. For a 10-gallon normally/heavily stocked tank you should be dosing 78.8 milligrams.
Post first week Bacter AE dosage based on liters
After the first week, you can use the following calculations, which is based on liters, to dose Bacter AE:
- Lowly stocked tank: 2.08 milligrams per liter one time per day
- Normally stocked tank: 4.16 milligrams per liter one time per day
- Heavily stocked tank: 4.16 milligrams per liter two times per day
Post first week Bacter AE dosage based on gallons
You can also use the following calculations, which is based on gallons, to dose Bacter AE after the first week:
- Lowly stocked tank: 7.88 milligrams per gallon one time per day
- Normally stocked tank: 15.77 milligrams per gallon one time per day
- Heavily stocked tank: 15.77 milligrams per gallon two times per day