Bacter AE is one of the most recommended foods for your pet Caridina and Neocaridina shrimps. However, it can also cause issues if you add too much of this micropower into your aquarium.
So, how much and how often should you dose Bacter AE in your shrimp tank? You can find out in this guide at Aquarium Blueprints.
Quick Summary
Some shrimp keepers find that the official instructions for adding Bacter AE to your aquarium is too much.
If you want to be safe, we recommend only using half of the official dosage amount when adding it to your tank. If you want to be even more cautious, then you can use only a small pinch.
A lot of shrimp keepers also find that adding Bacter AE to your tank daily is too much. Instead, we suggest that you add the powder every other day or even just once a week to keep the added bacteria colonies in check so that they don’t overrun your tank and cause water quality issues.
As long as you are feeding other food to your shrimps, you shouldn’t have to worry about starving them by only using a small amount of Bacter AE.
Glas Garten Instructions
Glas Garten, the company behind this product, has its own official instructions as to how many and how frequently you should be adding to the powder to your tank. The dosage amount depends how long have you been using the product in addition to how well stocked your aquarium is relative to its size.
You can find the official directions with this Bacter AE dosage article.
However, a lot of shrimp keepers find that the official instructions to be too much as some have reported issues in the past about Bacter AE causing issues and even killing shrimps.
Having too much of the micro powder in your tank may depleted your tank water of oxygen. An overdosed could also cause spikes to nitrates.
How much Bacter AE should you safely add to your aquarium?
Because of potential dangers, we along with many other shrimp keepers, recommend that you only dose half of the amount from the official directions at most.
If you want to be extra safe, then you should only add a small pinch, like the amount of powder that can sit on the tip of a toothpick.
Keep in mind that Bacter AE is designed to grow beneficial bacteria for your shrimp to eat. So, even adding just a pinch is enough to get the bacteria colony started.
It is also important to note that Bacter AE should be treated as supplementary food. To provide a proper and balanced diet for your shrimps, we recommend taking a look at the Shrimp King Complete, Mineral and Protein products. If you have juvenile shrimps, then you might want to get Glas Garten Shrimp Baby as well.
How often should you add Bacter AE to your shrimp tank?
Glas Garten recommends that you add Bacter AE once a daily for a low or medium stock shrimp tank. For a heavily stocked aquarium, the company suggest dosing this powder two times a day.
However, adding Bacter AE every day, even in low amounts, may cause a slow buildup of the bacteria. If your pet shrimps aren’t proficient enough to keep these bacteria population in check, then the oxygen in your tank will slowly deplete while the nitrates will slowly rise.
To prevent any potential issues, we recommend adding Bacter AE every other day as opposed to every single day. By using this method, you will give your shrimp more time to consume the bacteria that was added to your tank by Bacter AE.
If you want to be even more cautious, then you can add Bacter AE once a week.
