When should I Get a Clean up Crew?

[tykill]

My 75 gal tank has been cycling for 2 weeks now. I'm hopeing It will be done in 6 weeks.
I'm currious in when I should look into buying some crabs and snails. should I wait till I see need for them or should I just get them after the cycle is complete?

 

[fixitdude2001]

Hi , get them on the down side of your cycle. when the brown algea[Diatoms] starts this is usually the time for all the critters,also your nitrates should be significatly comeing down at this time. cya..fixit

 

[tykill]

Lets see if I can Tell you a little more about My fish tank. Its 75gal with LS and I already have two blue damsels in the tank. My Ph is perfect, my amonia is above the lowest level and my nitrite are still high even after a 20% water change yesterday. I have no signs of alge anywhere.
Today I stoped by the pet store near where I live and they told me to go head and do another 20% water change to lower the nitrite and the amonia. I asked this person if nitrites levels could go down if I just let it run its course for a week. He told me that it wouldn't and it would more likely climb higher. What do you think I should do? Is another 20% water change going to hurt my cycle any? or am I just going to wind up killing my first two fish?
next question is....how do I know when the cycle is complete?

 

[scy]

Hello,If it was me,i would let the tank cycle on it's own,i would'nt even do a water change till the end of the cycle.After the cycle i would then put a clean up crew in.Take your time and everything will fall into place.

 

[tykill]

I do thank you Scy for your. I believe that is what I"m going to do. If anybody else has another opinion about it, please let me know, before I kill something.

 

[tykill]

I do thank you Scy for your insight. I believe that is what I"m going to do. If anybody else has another opinion about it, please let me know, before I kill something.

 

[fixitdude2001]

Ty, I would be leary obout any info from your lfs. as scy said and I also ,I would not do any water changes during a cycle as this will prolong it. you want the nirites to build and amonia then nitrates and then its time to enjoy your cycled tank...fixit

 

[flydan]

Hey,
Are you running a skimmer or UV filter? They will only delay your cycle. Don't know your set up so can't even begin to guess why nitrites are high. Water changes will lower the nitrites but they will go back up unless you locate the source. (ie. Overfeeding?)
Dan'l

 

[tykill]

I'm not running a UV filter or a skimmer. My set up is a 75gal tank with one Emperor filter with bio wheels which holds carbon and the white beads and one aquatech 30-60gal filter that just has carbon filters, along with one powerhead. I was told this would be fine for filterization,but I do plan on getting another Emperor filter to replace the aquatech filter and another power head. "Overfeeding" might have been the problem before I did a 20% water change, I was feeding my two blue damsels 2 times a day, but have corrected that by only feeding them just two flakes a day and not feeding them one day out the week(recommended by someone,hope this is correct). I'm still not clear on knowing when my cycle is complete,
when and how do I konw its complete?

 

[tykill]

Any Suggestions would be helpfull