Lauren0403

Hi,

I am new to SW aquariums, and I have spent months researching it. I am in the 1st week of cycling my 16 gallon Biorb Life tank with live rock.

What I need to know and cannot find a definitive answer anywhere is when can I add my clean up crew. I plan on getting a couple of bumble bee snails first off, and then one or two shrimps. (Still undecided on which kind).

Do I have to wait until my tank is fully cycled? As some websites say I do, whereas I have also read that you can get them in the 2nd week of cycling?

Thanks

Sonfish

Congratulations on the setup and getting it going, and kudos for reading up on it,
I waited till after the cycle before I added my CUC just to be on the safe side, I read all the different opinions too and figured Id play it safe, nothing worse than have a disaster when you first start out,

Lauren0403

Thank you,

I think I will wait too. And then just get one or two bumble snails first so I know the water parameters are all good. Most places say to wait, it was the Biorb manual that said add CUC in the 2nd week, and I thought this would be too soon!

Thanks for your help, I'm sure I'll be asking more questions soon!

Lauren

Sonfish

Also just add a few things at a time, so you dont overload your Bio system, I kinda added mine as needed, for instance I started seeing an algae bloom so I got chails, then I saw apatasia, so I added Peppermint shrimp and so on, I added the little blue legged hermits last and they get any uneaten food in the rocks and gravel

Lauren0403

Thank you for your help.

There's a running theme on here, and every other website of patience, so I will definitely be taking everything slowly!

charzar-g

I added my cleanup towards the end of my cycle, but i added my hermits and snails first, and then my cleaner shrimp after once the cycle was complete, as he was more valuable to loose in my eyes. I know, I shouldn't favorate haha.