dallas
New Member
I have been cycling my 55 gallon tank for about 2 weeks now. I have wet/dry filtration w/protein skimmer, 2 powerheads,etc. I have crushed coral substrate(2-3 in.) and about 30 pounds of rock(not live). I am cycling the tank with clownfish. In the past few days I have developed brownish-gold algae on the substrate and rock. It is not growing on the aquarium itself and is not OVERWHELMING the tank but is rather abundant. The books I have say that this is good. I was wondering if I should purchase some small hermit crabs to help control this or if I should wait until the tank is completely cycled. I DO eventually want some small hermits but I don't want to get them if they are going to die through the cycling process. Im basically wondering if this algae is OK as the book states and if I should wait on purchasing the hermit crabs. Thanks in advance for the responses, your thoughts are appreciated.