curing liverock with lights? and timing it all.

[sipe]

setting up my 75 gal this weekend with 30 gal refugium, but trying to figure out timing issues...

I plan on running the sump, skimmer all with saltwater to make sure no leaks, etc before adding anything. I have a coralife aquapro (2 150w HQI & 96 actinics)

Then I'll put in 90+ lbs. LR from either liverocks.com or reeferrocks.com (heard the oceanproaquatics.com was good too). This will sit on plastic grate from Lowe's. Then add 40 LS from same sites and 60 more lbs of caribsea aragamax sand.

Should I run the MH during cycling?

I have a 30 gallon sump with compartments for refugium of caulepra and miracleMud. Do I start the refugium life at the same time as I am curing my liverock above?

When should I add snails, hermits, etc?

 

[grimlock3000]

I would not run MHs while cycling as it can lead to huge ammount of unwanted algae. I would reccomend running your actinics though. 6 to 8 hours a day should help along anything on the rock that requires lights.

Cycle the tank with just the live rock, then add clean up crew and critters in the refugium and start using the MHs. Just a couple hours a day, then ramp up to a light cycle that works well for your tank.

 

[SeriousDude5]

I bought rock from www.seatrademarine.com the thing I did was I put it in a 20 gallon tank "50lbs of LR" and I let it cycle for about 3 weeks to a month till all the tests stoped spiking trust me it was a long wait then I added it to my already established aquarium. I did run a 110w light over it while it was curing to keep all benifial coralline and alage on it. I also had a protien skimmer and heater attached as well as a power head to both cycle and clean the water. One thing to remember is to NOT change the water cahange 25% once a week I did this twice and you will break your @$$ trying to change the water everyday when you get the same result waiting. Not sure if this helped you or not but to anyone else that needs help curing to a preestablished aquarium it should.