Well. I have the sand set up and plants in and decor and such. Its been running for about a month with platy culls to cycle the tank and lo and behold!!! I have my first diatom bloom! At first I thought it was red algae then realized it looked nothing like slime. I have this lovely stuff all over my glass and new, well cleaned sand ( I realized its the sand that caused it; excess silicates ) and I have decided to leave it there for now, because the platy culls seem to love the stuff. They are always going to the one densely covered area of it and picking it off the glass. They act like it is a delicacy O-o