i believe i have diatoms do i do water change and add cleanup crew?

[gfk]

i had little brownish white things on my glass which turned to a brown film. the sand got a little brown.
i tested my water like 4 days ago and my nitrates were spiked really high, now they are about 40
nitrites are at like .5-.10
ph is like 8.4
so if my nitrates were high and now are at 40 is it time to do the water change and add my cleanup crew?

 

[gfk]

.

 

[essop3]

You must wait for trites to be zero, then do your water change.

 

[vlondi]

Yes, wait for nitrites to zero before doing anything. I would still do nothing for 2-3 days after nitrites zero then do a 10-15% water change and add just a portion of your clean up crew. If you are getting a bad diatom bloom you could add four or five Mexican Turbo snails for about a week to clean up most of that then add your real clean up guys.

 

[gfk]

ok. i have 2 or 3 blue legged hermits and 1 or 2 snails in my old 12 gallon wiht no heater, and the water is half filled, im just waiting for the time to stick them in my new tank so i can ditch that old one