Finishing Cycling

[toddwess]

I've just finished cycling my 40 gallon tank with a raw shrimp.

I'm going to add 30 lbs of LR on Tuesday.

Question - when do I turn on the protien skimmer and lights?

I'm assuming that I should wait until the rock have cycled, and parameters are back to normal.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
Todd

 

[reefrunner69]

Question - when do I turn on the protien skimmer and lights?

IMO, you should turn on the skimmer when you add the rock and turn on the lights after the rock has cured.

The skimmer will help remove nutrients from the curing rock, the light might possibly cause an unwanted algae bloom due to the high nutrients of they curing process. Some recommend running just the actinics during curing to maintain the coraline and any photosynthetic inverts.

 

[got bait?]

Some recommend running just the actinics during curing to maintain the coraline and any photosynthetic inverts.

Nice advice, I was wondering about the coraline my self.

I have heard that coraline likes low light, but on all of these beautiful extremely lit tanks, the coraline is just everywhere. So I guess my question is, does coraline like minimal light or does it matter?

 

[reefrunner69]

Depends on the species of coraline, just leke everything else different species (colors) have different lighting needs. Coraline, generally speaking, does best in less than reef lighting but better than minimal 2-3 watts per gallon is usually plenty for most of the aquarium species.

 

[srgetz]

btw, where are you getting the lr?

 

[reefrunner69]

btw, where are you getting the lr?

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=17181