Vegetable matter does not contain the animal protein's that fish food does so you can leave the vegetable matter in the tank for a day or longer without much harm.

 

Anything organic that you put into your tank will result in nitrate. Even the shrimps eat them all, their still become nitrate at the end.

 

Oh I understand the fish will produce the nitrate. I'm just choosing between other shrimp foods and zucchini, that doesn't meltdown and produce the nitrate if left for a period of time. If I feed algae wafer, it breaks down before the Shrimps eat it all and thats not good.

 

depending on the size tank and amount of shrimp in it you might not even need to feed that much.

plant matter as it breaks down also turns into nitrate. and there may still be bits of it in the substrate since shrimp like to scatter food. one thing you might look into and i have to admit now that i have tried i really like is snoflake food

 

Tank is 17g with 100+ cherries. It takes them 2 days to completely eat all of it, I see that they're getting it all. It takes them that long because when I put them in the tank, the slices are still hard and they like it a little soft, although I microwave them for a minute. Once they get on it, they eat them quick. I'll check on the other food you mentioned, I also have algae wafer and hikari shrimp pellet, but I don't feed those as much. Also the cherries share the zucchini with the guppies, they're best friends

 

Nitrates with an (A) in planted tank's are much ado about nothing for they are major food source for plant's.
Lot's of folk's add nitrogen or nitrates to their tank 's daily as a macro nutrient often times exceeding what those running unplanted tank's would be comfortable with .
These same folk's also keep shrimp's and fishes .
As mentioned ,,the vegetable matter does not contain animal protein's which contribute to ammonia level's rising if in excess.
This would for me, be of more concern.
It is not so much the nitrate level's to fear, but the process by which they arrive ammonia,then nitrites which both have negative effect on fauna and finally nitrates.
Nitrates from inorganic mineral salt's like KNO3 are quickly assimilated by the plant's and cause no harm at perhap's higher level's than normal for they do not go through the nitrification process that fish food, poop does.
Does this make sense?
Food's with animal protein's that go uneaten must first produce ammonia that bacteria work on then nitrites,and finally nitrates.
In tanks where maint and condition's are maintained well..the ammonia can also quickly be assimilated by the plant's but it is when we don't figure for not just the bioload from fish, who produce ammonia as byproduct of respiration ,but we forget to account for excess food (many over feed) and waste produced (poop) that ammonia level's can rise long before nitrates appear at level's to be concerned about.
Does this make sense?

 

I totally agree, its good to know the comparison on fish food against, let's say zucchini, the way they breakdown and how fast the conversion to ammonia etc. if left untouched in the tank for the same amount of time. Now I don't worry as much leaving the zucchini for 2 days without fouling the water. I dose EI but not kno3 (nitrate) fish food and waster take care of that. I just feel so bad when I see the shrimps get so excited when I feed the fish and they don't get anything. And we feel guilty and feed them anyway, and that's the problem, and that's why we complain about algae.

 

I tend to feed bottom fishes and shrimp's at night a couple times a week.
Then I feed the fishes during the day a couple times a week.
50% water change on the weekend.
I do over feed a bit ,so I don't feed everyday.

 

I know I overfeed, twice day, although its just a pinch each time, it's still too much. I don't know if I can just feed twice a week, the guppies will kill me.

 

just keep up with water changes. what are your nitrate reading any way you didnt post them? if they stay in the 5-10 range i wouldnt worry about it. if they get 20 + it could cause a prob for the cherry shrimp.

 

I do 30% water change twice a week but that doesn't seem enough. I just checked the nitrates and it is at 20ppm, and I just did water change two days ago. I'm doing a 50% water change tomorrow, and I notified my fish especially the guppies, that meal time is going to be just once a day lol! It's not easy to do because my tank is in the bedroom four feet away from me. All they do is watch me get up and beg for food, oh well, that's going to change because it's not easy doing 70/30 RO/TAP, it's wasteful and exhausting.