Water changes during cycling process

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xkornstarx2

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 12, 2006
Messages
42
Location
Maryland
During the cycling process, do you still perform water changes every week or two? Also......do you cap it off every night during this process?
 
Depends on whether you are doing a fishless cycle or not. If using shrimp then doing a pwc will just prolong your cycle, best to just top off water (with fw, not sw) and keep the lights off. If you do have fish then you will have to do a pwc when levels become unacceptable for them (usually anything more than .25 ppm).
 
I did water changes and cycled with a few damsels. The water changes spared the damsels' lives but prolonged the cycle. Had I done the necessary research prior to starting my tank, I'd have gone the fishless way without any water changes...
 
You may not have enough “fuel” to start your cycle depending on the quality of lr and whether or not it’s “cured”. How long have you been cycling your tank or have you started? What are your nh3, no2, & no3 readings now and have they been above 20 ppm if you have started? If you don’t see a spike of at least 20 ppm for nh3/no2 then you may have another cycle later when adding fish.
 
havent started cycling yet....i ordered 12lbs of LR and 20lbs of livesand from satlwaterfish.com......should be here on Wednesday....is that enough "fuel"?
 
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