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Can I cycle a new tank with snails?

Kinda depends on the snail species and you won't get much of a cycle. I did cycle a little 5g with trumpet snails and heavy feedings before adding a few small sparkling gouramis. I cut feedings for a few days when I added the fish and tested the tank almost daily for a week to make sure everything went ok. Applesnails are a little more sensitive to ammonia and nitrites and you might lose them. Works ok in a small tank and if you stock very very slowly with small and preferably hardier fish but it's not very effective. Unless you have alot of patience and certain circumstances where you don't want to use a fishless cycle or can't seed from another tank then I don't suggest it. I'd suggest a fishless cycle. If you haven't read much on fishless cycling try a search both on the forums and google.com. There's alot of very effective methods for cycling a tank that don't put any fish or critters in danger.