When should diatoms appear?

[Tyguy35]

Hey, my tank has been set up for a week. The tank yesterday was at .50 ammonia, I put a shrimp in the tank last night and as of right now I’m reading 2.0 ammonia over night. The tank is a 20g Red Sea. I have no signs of diatoms as of yet. Is this normal? Should I remove the shrimp now that my ammonia has spiked?
Thank you.

 

[lapin]

In a reef tank diatoms will not usually appear until your tank has gone thru the cycle and you show ammonia can be prosessed fairly quickly.
You can remove the shrimp or leave it. If you remove it, you will need to feed the bacteria something for the first 4 weeks.

 

[Tyguy35]

I could swear when I did this a few years back I had diatoms within a week.

 

[lapin]

It can happen but its not usually the case. I have seen them on cycling rock after about 2 weeks before.

 

[waterskiguy]

Perfectly normal. When diatoms show is dependent on a lot of different variables.

I would personally leave the shrimp in. It will continue to keep the cycle going until your tank can process enough of the ammonia to keep up with future livestock. The bacteria that you're trying to populate need a food source.

 

[Tyguy35]

Ok great thanks guys

 

[Qasimja]

yea leave the shrimp in and my diatoms in this last tank didnt show up til maybe 2 weeks after my cycle ended and they went away another 2 weeks after that