should lights be on during cycling?

[azure bones]

I've heard both ways just wanting to here what u guys think should the lights be on or off during cycling and try and tell me y thanks

 

[Zer0]

Off. Save the life on your bulbs. They DO NOT need to be on at all during a cycle. It won't benefit you if you have your regular light cycle going while cycling the tank.

 

[azure bones]

Off. Save the life on your bulbs. They DO NOT need to be on at all during a cycle. It won't benefit you if you have your regular light cycle going while cycling the tank.

Ok thanks

 

[mr_X]

+1. lights off. this is a time when your tank will be full of nutrients. an abundance of nutrients + light = rapid algae growth.

i would love to hear the reasoning behind leaving the lights on while the tank is cycling.

 

[azure bones]

+1. lights off. this is a time when your tank will be full of nutrients. an abundance of nutrients + light = rapid algae growth.

i would love to hear the reasoning behind leaving the lights on while the tank is cycling.

Don't quote me on this but I think the reasoning behind y I've been told to leave them on b4 was to let the algea grow to give your cuc a welcome home but I agree with leaving it off

 

[heyz0os]

Don't quote me on this but I think the reasoning behind y I've been told to leave them on b4 was to let the algea grow to give your cuc a welcome home but I agree with leaving it off

Yeah i've been cycling my first tank and through the research i've done with these forums is that you don't require the lights on during the cycle. Only thing you're going to win yourself is a trip to the lfs for a bulb

 

[azure bones]

Yeah i've been cycling my first tank and through the research i've done with these forums is that you don't require the lights on during the cycle. Only thing you're going to win yourself is a trip to the lfs for a bulb

Yea same here just wanted to hear some opinions

 

[mr_X]

Don't quote me on this but I think the reasoning behind y I've been told to leave them on b4 was to let the algea grow to give your cuc a welcome home but I agree with leaving it off

i think it's because they feel that the live rock needs light to survive, when it does not.
if that CUC theory was true, wouldn't it make sense just to skip the CUC and leave the light off then?

 

[SAAVE853]

if that CUC theory was true, wouldn't it make sense just to skip the CUC and leave the light off then?

Assuming the theory is right...At some point your going to have to run your lights so by running a few hours of light during cycling you have food for your CUC.

That being said I think once you put stuff in there and start running your lights the CUC will have plenty of food very fast!!

 

[mr_X]

but as i said, the nutrient level is high during the cycle. it's not supposed to be high after that point. if you keep the water clean you won't have a need for a cleanup crew. furthermore, if you don't keep the water clean, a cleanup crew isn't going to help anyway. ultimately, you'll have to lower the nutrient level to correct what ever side effects are brought on by bad husbandry practices.

 

[ShMacKDizZLe]

I like to leave them on for 4 hours a day during the cycle and scrape the coralline off some of my live rock so it can begin to spread through the tank and grow

 

[ShMacKDizZLe]

Any more than that and you risk massive algae growth

 

[Krypt]

+1 for leaving the lights completely off. If you run lights during your cycle the algae bloom will be bad....very bad. You'll then proceed to fight it for a following 3-6 months as you have sporadic out breaks of hair algae, cyano bacteria, and diatoms. As one species dies, it will release the nutrients back into the water and other species will take hold of them and grow. By leaving the lights off you deny any of them the ability to start up and allows you to remove the excess nutrients through water changes.

The whole premise behind a CUC is to keep up with the growth and keep it from getting out of hand. If you add a CUC after the tank is already in full bloom, you'll end up getting a CUC that's too big and after they clean it up, some will die and if you don't notice them, they will release nutrients back into the water through decomp and then your back to square one again.

Basically leave lights off, do water changes after cycle, add CUC slowly when cycle is finished.