30g FOWLR cycling...
 

Hey all- This is my first post here & any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I set up a 30g FOWLR about 2 weeks ago. Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate all zero still. Good amount of diatom starting to show up on the rock & sand in the last few days. Here are my questions:

1. Any way to control the diatom during cycling (light levels, etc.) or will this be taken care of over time & a good clean up crew after cycling?

2. What kind/how much of a clean up crew should I use for this size tank when ready? (I've seen some conflicting opinions about blue leg crabs & astrea vs trocus snails...)

3. Aside from my KENT superbuffer is there anything else I should be using to ensure healthy live rock? (Coral Vital, B-Ionic, etc.)

Here's my full set-up:
30g tall
25 lbs cured live rock & ~10 lbs base rock
SmartPaq Daylight 10000°K/Actinic 460nm - on 9 hrs a day
1 1/2" aragonite sand
Eheim Professional II canister w/ carbon & ehfimech
Eclipse hood will be running with Purigen
cycling with 2 dead shrimp

No protein skimmer since I plan to keep up with water changes, but feel free to slap my wrist about that or my use of a canister as well...

Thanks in advance for the help!

i can help you with 2 and three. 2 you only need about 1 hermit and 1 snail every 5 gallons right now becuase there is virtually no algae. three the only thing you need for live rock is buffer and prime(if your nitrates are high).

Thanks for the help dallops.
Anyone out there think going skimmerless for a FOWLR is a really bad idea?

You dont need one if you are good at weekly WC's. The PS wouldn't hurt in a FOWLR, though. Of course, if you slack on your WC's, I would reccomend getting one.

Dallops, from what I heard, I thoguht it was a snail for every 2-3 gallons, and a hermit for every 5 gallons. I have a thread on the Nano Reef forums I should find for you, Aqua.