Lighting during cycle

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xkornstarx2

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 12, 2006
Messages
42
Location
Maryland
I've read some places that lights should be kept off during the cycling period.....is this right or would you leave them on normal 8-10 hrs/day?
 
Well if you want light on the cycle no more then 3hrs a day, I suggest NO LIGHT otherwise expect a huge outbreak of algae.
 
Your Cycling right? If you are you want die off thats what cycles your tank//

TIPS:
Some people do weekly water changes I Suggest let it be and once Ammonia and Nitrites are 0 then do a water change..

Once you do a water change wait 2-5 days and do another test..

Ammonia and Nitrites Should be 0

Nitrates <20 ppm this is the biggest Battle

Weekly brush anything that looks dead on your rock..

Do you have sand or bare bottom?

I would suggest Bare Bottom First..

Then Siphon all the Decayed stuff once its cycled..

I wish I did it like my friend he added PVC Pieces for the rock to elevate it then once cycled he added sand..

You can do it like I did it but its harder to clean sand..
 
Once your Nitrates are less then 20ppm you can then add a cleanup crew.. But its very hard to get Nitrates down for me and I dont know why.. My nitrates are 20ppm..
 
In time Life will come back about 3-6months, My tank has been running for 3 months and Life is coming, I have ton of pods in my tank, Coraline algae, And some corals that came with my rock, I also seen some feather dusters..

Its kind of weird what happens but life goes deep in crevices and survive, some will die but most if not all will come back..
 
i know the LR has to be in contact with the bottom of the aquarium...but wouldnt it be a lot harder to add the sand AROUND the rocks?? but youre right, it would make cleaning up after cycling a bit easier
 
xkornstarx2 said:
i know the LR has to be in contact with the bottom of the aquarium...but wouldnt it be a lot harder to add the sand AROUND the rocks??

That’s why drillsar mentioned the use of PVC to raise the rocks which has tons of benefits other than just keeping them from sinking in the sand.
 
im in hagerstown, way out west......i might take you up on that xenia offer in a few months though....

using PVC to raise the rocks would require too much effort......haha....wont the cleanup crew do a good enough job of cleaning the sand once the cycling is complete? so do i leave the lights on during the day for a few hours or not??
 
Why would you leave the lights on during cycle? You dont want to do that..

PVC to much effort? its easy you take pieces and cut them like 2.5 inches high and place the rock on there. And then after cycle you clean up the bottom of tank then add sand.. If you dont do that basicaly the cleanup crews may not cleanup right at the base of the rock.
 
My experience if you add sand with live rock you will have alot of sie off and very hard to clean up. If you add sand after like the sample i said it will benefit your tank in the long run..

I did 2 tanks my friend 2..

First take No sand at all bare bottom, Pods where little present.. Nitrates <5 ppm

Second Take Mine Sand didnt do PVC trick, Nitrates constant 20ppm, added sand and live rock at same time..

Friends take which im doing soon..

1st tank he did he messed up big time, lOL

2nd tank PVC Trick, Added sand after cycle his sand looks real clean, Ton of Life, Nitrates 0ppm, so I guess this works..
 
well i went ahead and put it all in at the same time......but im going to add a piece of uncooked shrimp, so hopefully not that much die off will fall off the LR
 
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