Lighting during cycle

[mtaswt]

Do I need to run my lights during my cycle?

[AaronM]

What kind of rock are you using? LR or dead rock? If dead rock then i don't think so. If LR then you could. I would. I guess it depends on whether you think you can preserve life by running the lights.

[floydie83]

Its not really necessary. Although, I would run you lights for a reduced time (6-8 hours). Its a good time start getting used to the temperature swings they may cause, etc.

Theres a lot to learn as you go and you don't to put corals in in the future and see that you're having crazy temp swings or any other issues.

[Palting]

What kind of rock are you using? LR or dead rock? If dead rock then i don't think so. If LR then you could. I would. I guess it depends on whether you think you can preserve life by running the lights.

+1. Biggest reason to run lights while cycling is to preserve any photosynthetic life forms that may have hitchhiked on the live rock. Goes without saying you also have to do water changes then. I ran my lights, did water changes, and still see all kinds of surprises several months later.

[sullyfish]

I did not run my lights for the first few weeks. I had cured live rock. I read somewhere that this will help keep algea bloom to a minimum and it seemed to do the trick. I only had a slight diatom bloom which my cleanup crew took care of.

[israel.kendall]

I ran my lights during cycle because I wanted to be sure to keep any hitchhikers alive. Didn't have any major algae problems, just a bit of brown diatom.

[Reverend Reefer]

i didn't run lights for the first month. i had live rock. i just wanted to avoid the green hair algae but it came anyways...

[Michael]

Do I need to run my lights during my cycle?

No you don't need to have the lights on, In fact it will help to pause nusience algae if they are not on for this period, However in saying that I always like to stick the lights on for an hour a day when starting a new tank to study the rock layout and ensure pumps etc are working, and its exciting to take a look at any potential life which may be in the tank.

[rayn]

No you don't need to have the lights on, In fact it will help to pause nusience algae if they are not on for this period, However in saying that I always like to stick the lights on for an hour a day when starting a new tank to study the rock layout and ensure pumps etc are working, and its exciting to take a look at any potential life which may be in the tank.

Agreed. I ran the lights in my 55 from day one and fought ha constantly. Waited when I upgrade and that seemed to help keep the algea down. I also ran my GFO from the beginning and that was another beneficial tool that helps pull trate and phosphate that fuels algea.

[lordofthereef]

IMHO you aren't really going to have much appreciable life on your rock that is photosynthetic. It is really up to you if you want to run then but I say you don't need to. I know lots of people like to have the lights running at least for a short time just because it feels good to see the tank having progressed to that stage!

[Palting]

:) I guess it's one of those things. Nobody's really wrong or right. Everyone has their own experience. Like I said before, I left lights on when I started my 150, and I continue to find baby shrooms and zoas/palys popping up in the rocks several months later. There's is even a clump of what I thought was just growing red coraline, but it is starting to really grow out with some hint of polyps and I now think it might be some sort of chili coral :D. No GHA problems to boot. OTOH, some people are reporting tons of GHA, blaming the fact that they left the lights on while cycling.

I guess the best way to find the compromise is to see a pic of your live rock. If the rock has a lot of coraline, that increases the chances there may be some higher life forms, possible photosynthetic, hitchiking in there. So for that kind of live rock, turn the lights on, and then do water changes to decrease the chance of a nitrate spike and also decrease the chance of GHA takeover. If the live rock does not have much coraline, then leave the lights off, no water changes. When the ammonia is zero and the nitrates are high, start doing water changes to bring the nitrate down again so you don't get GHA takeover.

Sound logical to you all?

[israel.kendall]

That does sound logical.

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[AaronM]

It depends on the rock you're cycling. I think blanket yes/no is incorrect. IF its dead rock, then no. IF its LR, then probably, though it may depend on how high quality the live rock is.

For me, live rock comes with coraline, hitchhiker corals, anemones, macro algae, shrimps, crabs, its basically replete with levels of life. The rock already has the bacteria workhorse established. Its not a matter of building up nitrifying bacteria, rather its waiting for transportation die off spikes to finish and preventing anymore die off.

With proper LR, lighting and water changes during curing IMO is necessary. Lighting helps prevent photosynthetic organism die off, like coraline algae and coral, whilst water changes minimises the severity of the spikes further preserving life.

Once die off has finished and your cycle is done, i guess its time to ramp up all filtration, stabilise your system at a low nutrient level, and consequently watch the nusance algae starve and recede.

[sowellj]

This is one of those questions where you are going to get 50% saying yes/no. The good news is that it is really hard to mess up a cycle ... and lights on/off really won't make much difference. I have always run my lights during my cycles. However, this was done more just to get an idea of how the tank was going to perform ... temp swings. etc.

[aleonn]

My new 180 will have 90% base rock and 10% live. I'm probably gonna run the lights for a few hours starting a week into the cycle. Although impossible, I want to minimize as much algae as I can.

[Bellotti]

By the way, I´d like to know if you have had a good result with DA ReefKeeper ALC and dimmable PM ...
I intend to have one (PM) but I have doubt if it works.
Tanks

[Michael]

I can't see the point of needing to have lights on, as my first post, its for pleasure, but too much light before Tank stability is asking for trouble IME.

[streak]

I can't see the point of needing to have lights on, as my first post, its for pleasure, but too much light before Tank stability is asking for trouble IME.

I agree about lighting but i had hitchikers and some very very pretty rocks.. heres the rocks in may when first put in.. Most were brs rubble about tennis ball sized and pics from LFS about 5 lbs that i babied..

along with some ity bity star..
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/clstreak/0013.jpg
i ran the lights about 5 hours a day went threw all the diatoms and even a massive red cyno outbreak before..
now 7 months later same rock look how much more purple
this is now how it looks
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad85/clstreak/0044.jpg
much purpler is that a word lol..
need couple new pics that was almost 1 and half ago..