different points of view

[glenn10]

I'm getting different info on my cycled tank and would welcome clarification.

Protein skimmer and lighting On or OFF during cycle?

Uncured live rock has lots of orange algae, hard corals and one orange sponge that came on it.

Thank you

 

[wickerj]

Skimmer on, Lights on but not a full lighting cycle maybe 4-5 hours day depending on what kind of lighting you have.

Jeff

 

[O P Ing]

hi.
Ditto. Except that I will have longer photo period.

 

[liquid]

I'd opt to keep the lights on around 5 hrs / day during the cycling along with frequent waterchanges to keep the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in check.

hth

Shane

 

[saltjunkie]

above sounds great!

 

[fishfarmer]

I'll also add, occasionally inspect your curing rock of dead things and scrub them off.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

I would cure the rock under as normal condition as possible. That means normal light, temperature, salinity, and anything you can do to keep Ammonia down to as low as possible.
Minh Nguyen

 

[Markymarklar]

like fishfarmer said, be sure to clean off teh decaying stuff on the raoc and syphon it out everyday. this will help the cycle go faster and make it less toxic for some of the hitchhikers on your rock. more of them wil survive that way.

 

[Anonymous]

along with frequent waterchanges to keep the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in check.

Doesn't that defeat the point of the cycle?

 

[Anonymous]

well, rove, it would seem that on one hand it would. but, i do believe some hard coral frags were mentioned, thusly, i would conclude that they might be desirable.

if these things weren't present, then i'd suggest nixing the lighting altogether, l/r doesn't require light, nor do the benthics. but, if it's really good l/r (and it sounds like this is), then you'd probably want to keep the "freebies" that came along with. thusly, i'm with the others, keep ammo oxidation readings to levels that you won't kill off all these goodies, and use the lights.

 

[Mogo]

Glen.
Skimmer full tilt. Photoperiod very short. When I cycled my tank I bought some mollies that will adapt to saltwater (gave them a gradual sw drip over a few hours first). Gave me something to gawk at and probably helped the cycle.