cleaning crew

[anthonyjmorale]

hey guys. im in the middle of my cycle. im starting to get brown spots all over my sand and rock. when should i consider getting a clean up crew. im gonna order from reefcleaners.org so it will take a few day for them to get here.its a biocube 29 to cycle the tank i used live rock and the red sea reef mature kit.



salininty = 1.026
amm = .25ppm
nitrite= 1.0 ppm

[thegrun]

Not until your ammonia drops to zero or you will kill them. I would wait for the initial cycle to complete (ammonia and nitrites drop to zero) but if you pulled the trigger before your nitrites drop you should still be okay.

[bnumair]

hold on my friend its too early to cuc with those numbers. let ur cycle finish meaning ammonia and nitrites 0 and nitrates need to be under 20 ideally 0 to be able to have cuc. brown pacthes u see are diatoms probably which will go away after some time anyways,

[anthonyjmorale]

ya i wish i never used this red sea max reef mature pro kit. im not getting any of the readings its saying i should get and i did everything to the letter. its a 21 day program im on day 12 they wanted me to put the cleaning crew in on day 10 and there saying i should put a fish in on day 14. it also said i should see stuff growing by day 4 and i didnt see anything till day 10. it was a waste of money

[anthonyjmorale]

also should i be running cheato right now?during the cycle?

[anthonyjmorale]

bump for that question. should i be running cheato during the cycle. will it help reduce nitrates. will it help or hurt me?

[Ngoodermuth]

I don't add chaeto until after the cycle, usually once I've added a fish or two. Basically, I don't put anything in the tank that I want to stay living (besides LR and sand) until it is done.

I've never used a kit either, not necessary :( Sorry, the marketing people got you with that one I think.