Next step...want some opinions

[dansemacabre]

Ok, my sump will be completed in about a week, and I'm going on to the next step to start the aquarium. The only 2 things on my list until I can actually START the cycling process are:

1) Lighting (4x96w PCs, 3x250w MH, on a 120/125gal tank)
2)Some LiveRock to seed my baserock/kick-start my cycle

Should I buy the lights first, or go ahead and get the LR and have the cycle begin prior to buying the lights? Thanks for the opinions!

 

[mrrrkva]

I would have both simply because in my opinion your going to have more die off without the lights. How long do you plan on leaving it in the dark. If it is GOOD liverock, it wont take as long as you think to cycle and you willl lose some life without the lights. Even if you could get JUST the PC's first with the live rock and than add the MH's. That should be fine

 

[dansemacabre]

Wow, I'm a complete moron. I completely forgot that I wasn't buying a complete hood setup, and that I can buy them seperately now. LOL. That's what I'll do. I'll buy the PCs (they'll only be actinic/03 supplements though...is this ok?) now, then the LR, and then the MH when I rebuild the reef fund. Cool deal.

 

[cmor1701d]

How much base rock and how much LR are you planning?
What's your substrate and what filtration are you using?
Most recommendations I've seen are to cycle LR with lights OFF to prevent algae growth.

 

[bizzybeas]

I cycled my tank with partially cured liverock only and no lights. It took about 4 weeks. I did not get any algae growth until I added the lights. It saved some work.

 

[dansemacabre]

I've got about 140lbs. of base rock hangin' out (not using all of it, and it is ULTRA porous). I'm going to use enough of it to just about fill the tank, and then I'll add the LR on top of it. Substrate is aragonite sand, approx 4-5", and filtration is DSB, LR, and a Berlin XL powered by a mag-drive 9.5. I know about leaving lights off during cycle, but if I get any hitchhiking corals or anything, I want to at least have _some_ light available if I want to kick it on. I've got an RO/DI 6-stage and I'm hoping this will inhibit at least some of the algal growth.