shrimp question

[sharuq1]

Recently I had to completely re-do my 5g shrimp tank do to a ton of pest snails and hair algae that I just could not look at anymore. The gravel for some reason stagnated in that tank. Not sure why but that particular gravel every time I have used it has ended up with sulphur and nasty pockets forming--so this time I just threw it out and put in the laterite/gravel/sand mixture I had left over from a different planted tank that is no longer running.

I cleaned out the tank completely, soaked it in vinegar water and let the plants sit in a Cu solution for a while to (hopefully) kill of the snails hiding there that I couldn't pick off manually (there are always ones you just can't see seems like). Anyway, even after rinsing the plants, that tank still has 0.10 Cu in it so is unsuitable for the shrimp for now until I get it out (going to try poly-filter and maybe cuprisorb).

There weren't many shrimp so they were put temporarily into a 2.5g with a small piece of wood and java moss. I want to stick them in an 8g I have been working on but the light fixture for it is broken and the java moss is also filled with pest snails and I really want them eradicated for good this time.

Will my shrimps (cherries) be able to breed in a relatively dark tank with only sand and drift wood or do I need the java moss? I also have a couple of crystal reds. Doubt they would be breeding, but would it be detrimental at all to lose the moss?

I have algae discs I can feed them, is that enough?

[Vallisneria]

When I first started my shrimp tank it was a bare bottom with clay pots/rocks, no plants. They bred fine without plants, as long as there is enough hiding spots for the babies. The tank should also be fine without a light. Since there is no plants, the ambient room light should be enough.

[sharuq1]

Awesome, just what I wanted to hear. I'll post pics of the tank in the pics section