A Few Questions About My Shrimp Tank

[Birds'nBunny]

I have a 10 gallon planted tank that has been up about 2 - 3 months. It is low-light, with a plain sand substrate, and beginner-friendly plants. I've only been keeping fish for about six months, so I wanted to keep it simple. Actually, this was supposed to be my quarantine tank... yeah right...
The only inhabitants are Red Cherry Shrimp and some mystery critters that look like teeny snails.
Until recently, I was adding Excel every day, adding Flourish once a week, and doing weekly 25% water changes. Everything was going fine, but after reading the no-CO2 method thread (all 23 pages of it, sheesh...) I decided to experiment wiith eliminating the Excel and the WCs, just to see what happens.
I'm now on week 3. Nitrates are now at about 10ppm, up from basically zero. I started dosing some Flourish Potassium, after I noticed some pinprick holes on the anubias. Other than that, the plants look fine, and the shrimp are doing great.

Do you think it's a good idea to continue on with the No Excel, no WC's, or should I resume my former routine? Should I be concerned about the elevated Nitrates? I'm guessing that 10 ppm is fine, but will they continue to rise if I don't change the water?

Here is a picture of the tank. It's kinda amateur, but I really like it : )

View attachment 744

 

[Gerryd]

Hi,

Your tank looks fine, no need to disrespect yourself

Many folks do 'natural' style tanks with minimal water changes, if any. I know there are threads on this method if you do a search.

You can always try things and go back to what you are doing now if it doesn't work out for you or you don't like it.

Many methods can work, it depends on what type of tank you want and how much effort you can/want to put into it.

Hope this helps.

 

[Birds'nBunny]

After some thought, I decided I should revise my questions:

Since this tank is so lightly planted, is the no WC method feasible? Or is it likely that the nitrates will continue to rise? (I have this sinking feeling that I am misunderstanding the principles of no CO2, so please feel free to illuminate me on this!)
Also, because the bio-load is so low, do the plants need supplementation?

I guess I'm confused about how to figure out what's best for both plants and shrimp, while keeping the tank as low-maintenance as possible. Also, in a few weeks I am moving up to Canada for four months and leaving this tank in the care of a friend with even less experience than I have. I'm hoping to decide on a simple maintenance routine that he can follow.

ps to Gerry: Thanks for your kind words. I actually really like the look of this tank. The sand substrate combined with the mound of plants reminds me of a desert island. However, I felt compelled to include a disclaimer because I'm guessing that a more trained eye might view it at as nothing but a clump of weeds! ha ha