Do I need lights on at all for cycling?

[Kryptikhan]

Heard both sides...some say yes, some say no......got about 25 lb of cured liverock sitting in tank.

Lights or no lights. And how much lighting if yes

thx

[Sk8r]

No...not for the cycle. But take this interval to stabilize your temperature at 80 degrees, day and night: it's challenging. Trust 2 thermometers, not 1, and never trust your heater thermostat.
Hint: remove all lids in the system, sump and display, set your lights to their daily cycle on timer, and look at your temperature multiple times a day.
Also: take this interval to learn to stabilize your salinity: get a refractomether, an optic instrument used to gauge salt content, and figure out how much fresh ro/di water you need to add daily to keep it bang-on 1.025. Or the salinity of your local fish store, which can be quite convenient: ask them.
Hint: an autotopoff unit will save your sanity. I use autotopoff.com.
You can be quite busy during your cycle: there's a lot of basic balancing needed that won't interfere with your cycle at all.
Noted you're a 75g tank with only 25 lbs of live rock. You need 50 more lbs real soon, like asap.

[sir_dudeguy]

well for starters, if your rock is cured that means its cycled. You dont cycle the water, you cycle the bacteria that grows on the live rock (or filter media, depending on what you're using for filtration). That bacteria is what filters the water.

Anyways, I say leave the lights on regular hours during the beginning (or shortened hours if you want to save a bit of bulb life). Some say to leave them off due to the diatoms and other algae that grow in the beginning, but i say leave them on because even if you leave them off, right when you start turning them on that algae will just start growing again.

The way i look at it, the quicker you get rid of the diatoms and stuff the better. So by leaving them on right away the diatoms come right away and then go away faster.

[superedge88]

sir_dudeguy, I don't agree. By leaving lights on while trying to cycle your tank you are creating an algae filtered system, which is why we see the diatoms and film algaes start to grow. With lights off you are letting bacterial colonies get a foothold. Make sure that your nitrogen cycle is over by doing water testing and a water change, and then you should be good for starting a photoperiod.

[papagimp]

Need to have lights during cycle....Not at all. But I still keep em on during my cycle, for an appropriate photoperiod as well, around 8-10hours. I'm with Dudeguy on this one, I like to get all my algage out of the way and never had a massive algae bloom in any of my tanks past the initial diatom/hairalgae/cyno phases and those have typically lasted less than 2 weeks for all in my tanks.

I will disagree about the cured rock thing. I don't like to take someone elses word when it comes to rock being cured or not. Because of this, i always expect some cycling and/or spike when i add any rock. If it doesn't happen, yeah! , if it does, i'm prepared for it.

And definatly need more rock ASAP. I've got close to 150lbs in my 75g. Granted my other 75 that i'm cycling at the moment only has a few chunks until I can get more. Just make sure the tank has enough prior to sticking bioload heavy livestock in the tank.

[Kryptikhan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11202114#post11202114 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by papagimp
Need to have lights during cycle....Not at all. But I still keep em on during my cycle, for an appropriate photoperiod as well, around 8-10hours. I'm with Dudeguy on this one, I like to get all my algage out of the way and never had a massive algae bloom in any of my tanks past the initial diatom/hairalgae/cyno phases and those have typically lasted less than 2 weeks for all in my tanks.

I will disagree about the cured rock thing. I don't like to take someone elses word when it comes to rock being cured or not. Because of this, i always expect some cycling and/or spike when i add any rock. If it doesn't happen, yeah! , if it does, i'm prepared for it.

And definatly need more rock ASAP. I've got close to 150lbs in my 75g. Granted my other 75 that i'm cycling at the moment only has a few chunks until I can get more. Just make sure the tank has enough prior to sticking bioload heavy livestock in the tank.

I thought i was ok on adding rock in increments..it's not the cost, its more me waiting on styles and shapes when rock shipments come in......when everyone says asap, I feel like if i don't add the remaining 72 lbs + of rock i'm doomed lol.

Also, how long should I run white lights for, and blue lights for......split them between 4 and 4 hours?

Thx

[uscharalph]

I know I had mine on when I was home in the beginning. This is my 1st saltwater tank and I was excited to see how things were looking. But that was just me and not necessary.

[sir_dudeguy]

By leaving lights on while trying to cycle your tank you are creating an algae filtered system

not necessarily... The diatoms usually show up no matter what. Its normally just a given. Some people can get lucky at times and not get them at all. But for the most part they always show up. I've cycled many tanks and i've left the lights on regular schedules for the last 10 tanks or so (not all my tanks of course, but tanks i've set up), and in each of those tanks the diatoms and other algae have come pretty quickly, and then gone away pretty quick too. In every tank that i havent run lights during the cycle, when the cycle is over and i start running the lights, all that algae starts then. For me, i like the look of a diatom free tank when i actually start adding fish/corals to it, so the sooner its gone, the better IMO.

I will disagree about the cured rock thing. I don't like to take someone elses word when it comes to rock being cured or not. Because of this, i always expect some cycling and/or spike when i add any rock. If it doesn't happen, yeah! , if it does, i'm prepared for it.

Very true. Only way to know if its cycled/cured rock though is to test yourself. I normally get rock and put it in a separate tub or something for a week or so first. While its in there i'll throw in food and stuff to see if it causes amonia (or to see if the rock had enough die off on its own to cause amonia) because if there is amonia, its obviously not cycled and needs to sit longer.

when everyone says asap, I feel like if i don't add the remaining 72 lbs + of rock i'm doomed lol.

Well you'll be fine not adding it all at once, but you really have to be careful when adding more rock later. Whenever you add new rock after your tank is cycled, i highly recommend doing what i said just above...putting the new rock in a separate bucket or something for a while and constantly testing it to make sure its good. If it keeps testing good for a week or so, you should be fine putting it into an already cycled tank.

[Kryptikhan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11204084#post11204084 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sir_dudeguy
not necessarily... The diatoms usually show up no matter what. Its normally just a given. Some people can get lucky at times and not get them at all. But for the most part they always show up. I've cycled many tanks and i've left the lights on regular schedules for the last 10 tanks or so (not all my tanks of course, but tanks i've set up), and in each of those tanks the diatoms and other algae have come pretty quickly, and then gone away pretty quick too. In every tank that i havent run lights during the cycle, when the cycle is over and i start running the lights, all that algae starts then. For me, i like the look of a diatom free tank when i actually start adding fish/corals to it, so the sooner its gone, the better IMO.



Very true. Only way to know if its cycled/cured rock though is to test yourself. I normally get rock and put it in a separate tub or something for a week or so first. While its in there i'll throw in food and stuff to see if it causes amonia (or to see if the rock had enough die off on its own to cause amonia) because if there is amonia, its obviously not cycled and needs to sit longer.



Well you'll be fine not adding it all at once, but you really have to be careful when adding more rock later. Whenever you add new rock after your tank is cycled, i highly recommend doing what i said just above...putting the new rock in a separate bucket or something for a while and constantly testing it to make sure its good. If it keeps testing good for a week or so, you should be fine putting it into an already cycled tank.

So if I do happen to get Diatom algae strike....What do I do to get rid of this stuff? Wait and Watch? Or start adding clean up crew......

Thx
Gonna try running lights white 4 hours blue 4 hours for a week..so far my parameters are near perfect.

[sir_dudeguy]

For me... i dont really have too much trouble just waiting it out. Diatoms are pretty much always gonna happen and then go away. Plus i get too lazy to do anything about them :lol:

But no really, keep your water good (nitrates/phosphates down) and when you're sure your tank is fully cycled/cured, add a small cleanup crew. If you get lots of diatoms, i suggest getting mostly cerith snails. They were the best for me at getting the diatoms gone. Then some astreas, maybe a few turbos, and a few nassarius. I'd stick away from hermits though. They dont do much as far as cleaning (they're just scavengers really. Mine end up eating food instead of algae) and they just kill snails. Not worth the money IMO.

[superedge88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11204084#post11204084 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sir_dudeguy
not necessarily... The diatoms usually show up no matter what. Its normally just a given.

I guess I would then say that your nitrates and phophates were so high as to grow diatoms. What I have success with is no lights on for the cycle. After cycle is established do a large water change to bring nitrates down to near zero (testable) Turn the lights on and no diatom or algae bloom. Many other variables though, it's what I have success with anyways.

[sir_dudeguy]

Thats what i figured, but usually the nitrates are less than 10 and phosphates never show up on tests??

[Sk8r]

Or...if you can get rock from somebody else's tank, like a tank breakdown, that's NOT cured, then you can put it straight in. You'll get every parasite they have as well as the rest of the life, but it can be interesting. I counted 50 species of sponges, worms, snails, algaes, microstars, etc, that came in on my rocks, which were not cured. Mind, the hitchhikers can include ich, flatworms and other pests, so know who you're dealing with, and whether they have a 'clean' tank.

[Kryptikhan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11208372#post11208372 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
Or...if you can get rock from somebody else's tank, like a tank breakdown, that's NOT cured, then you can put it straight in. You'll get every parasite they have as well as the rest of the life, but it can be interesting. I counted 50 species of sponges, worms, snails, algaes, microstars, etc, that came in on my rocks, which were not cured. Mind, the hitchhikers can include ich, flatworms and other pests, so know who you're dealing with, and whether they have a 'clean' tank.

Well, I'm doin 4 hours of white, 4 hours blue tonight.So far all parameters still show same as prior to rock being intro'd. Actually I'm showig amonia at 0 now before was at .25. Ran 4 tests each ust to double check. I'm gonna wager this rock was really cured....got it from a good source...i think. I currently see no spikes or any changes at all. Temp is at 80 stable as well. Everything else is at 0 that should be. Just running API tests atm.

Water is getting much clearer as well. Seems it can be overwhelming once I start seeing things I have no idea what it is...and will be posting ID here in the future. Is adding What sir dude guy proposed for clean up crew next weekend too early? Or, if all paramaters are fine by next weekend, is that too early to add a clown? I will only be buying -cured- rock, and I'm more sure than not the rocks are really cured, since this is a reputable place I am buying them from, from my own research.

From here, I will be adding rock I like the design of, little by little...be it Tonga, Fiji, or whatever is there I prefer the design. I actually want variety in my tank, something proposed in the newbie stickies for a nice plethora of species....

Thx again