snails/cleaner crew

[cravinmohead22]

im having diatoms show up in my tank now also. is it too early too see this happening during the cycle period. its been 15 days since i added the live rock and live sand? can i add any snails during the cycle or will the high levels kill them. thanks

 

[Melonbob]

my advise to you is to ride it out. The cleaners were never really enough to handle the diatoms in mine, now they do a great job keeping the tank clean, but outbreaks are just too much at once. Keep up with the water changes, and when you are draining, use the vaccuum and suck up as much as you can. It will go away, and then you are ready for green hair algae. Once you manage to rid yourself of that, get ready for red slime algae.....lol it never seems to end!

 

[Bifferwine]

That's totally normal. Diatom outbreaks are really common during and after a cycle, unfortunately. And there's not much you can do about it, like Melonbob said. Adding any inverts while you still have ammonia, nitrites or high levels of nitrates will kill them. If your ammonia and nitrites are both at 0, then your tank is done cycling. In that case, you can do a water change to get nitrates down and then add a small cleaner crew.

 

[cravinmohead22]

thanks