Cycling Question

[Conski]

Seeing as though i am doing all new LR, i wanted to know how i should do this..

Ive read that the live rock will have dead fall off which will in return start the cycle. when my reading read zero for ammonia and nitrite (im kinda assuming i might not even see nitrite or ammonia i didnt in my other tank) i add the clean up crew.. ( at this point im wondering where my diatoms will come becuase i never got them in my other tank) once the nitrates start to show i can add corals and fish..

any input is nice sorry for being asking repetitive/"newb" questions im just trying to make sure

[Amphiprion]

I actually recommend doing plenty of water changes during any cycle. The idea is to minimize toxic compounds so that you can preserve as much life as possible on the rock (despite the fact that most of the life that is still there is pretty tenacious). Only add a clean-up crew if there is something there for them to eat--otherwise you will starve them. So when you start seeing the first signs of algae, throw an extra small number of snails (say 2-3 to start). Wait a few weeks and see what the algae situation is and add one or two more as needed. Just be aware that once the tank settles down, you are likely to have less algae than before. This is often overlooked and again just leads to starving animals. Just take that into account when you are stocking them.

[Conski]

when is it that the diatoms come? i never got them before

[Amphiprion]

No concrete, identifiable answer there. You'll have to rely on observation, since the appearance of anything will vary from tank to tank. When I set up my 40g, I didn't see any algae for months, whereas other tanks may have it in less than a week.

[Conski]

oh okay! ill do it then

[Ken b]

The tank I set up recently bypassed the diatom phase and went direct to hair algae. But I used dead dry rock and added a couple of pieces of new live rock to seed the dead. I definietly expected to see a diatom bloom but...