lights on or off?

[tony53176]

Ok I'm going to be setting up my 55gal reef tank soon (about a week or so) and I'm going to be using the live sand and rock to cycle the tank. there will be 80lbs of live sand and 45lbs of live rock.

My question is, should I leave the lights off during the cycle period, I will have a 6 bulb t5 light with both 10k and actinic bulbs. I have heard and read that I should leave them off but I wanted to get the opinion from the folks here at RC.

Also will the live rock and sand be enough to cycle the tank or should I add some kind of accelerant like a piece of raw cocktail shrimp or some flake food to get the nitrification process going?

 

[Reefmedic79]

Leaving them off will lessen the amount of algae that grows. The LR will be enough to cycle especially if it's not fully cured.

OT: I'd save your money on the LS, and just get regular dry sand. LS typically doesn't have as much life it as initially thought unless your harvesting it from the sea bottom yourself.

 

[Agu]

I'd suggest lights on at least partially. You want to encourage growth of coralline algae that will thrive under your lighting set up. Leaving the lights off 24/7 does nothing to help the life that you paid good money for survive.

As far as an "accelerant" goes I'm not a fan of ammonia spikes, so large quantities of food like a big chunk of dead shrimp is not in my tool bag. Adding a small pinch of food daily will help the cycle along without creating an ammonia spike and still help cycle your tank. Somebody on RC referred to it as "ghost feeding" and I like that description.

 

[tony53176]

Leaving them off will lessen the amount of algae that grows. The LR will be enough to cycle especially if it's not fully cured.

OT: I'd save your money on the LS, and just get regular dry sand. LS typically doesn't have as much life it as initially thought unless your harvesting it from the sea bottom yourself.

no live sand at all? or maybe half and half?

I'd suggest lights on at least partially. You want to encourage growth of coralline algae that will thrive under your lighting set up. Leaving the lights off 24/7 does nothing to help the life that you paid good money for survive.

As far as an "accelerant" goes I'm not a fan of ammonia spikes, so large quantities of food like a big chunk of dead shrimp is not in my tool bag. Adding a small pinch of food daily will help the cycle along without creating an ammonia spike and still help cycle your tank. Somebody on RC referred to it as "ghost feeding" and I like that description.

I like the idea of "ghost feeding" I think I'll do that. As far as the lights go, the fixture does have a timer maybe what I could do is 3 hours on then off for another 3 or 4 and then on again for another 3? or just 6 hours a day perhaps? or should I go the full 12 hours and maybe only have them on every other day?

 

[aleonn]

I would only turn on lights during a cycle if I had some corraline-encrusted live rock. Otherwise, you're just encouraging further algae growth IMO.

 

[tony53176]

I would only turn on lights during a cycle if I had some corraline-encrusted live rock. Otherwise, you're just encouraging further algae growth IMO.

ok so when I get my live rock if I see some good coraline algae on it then leave the lights on for how long/day?

if not leave the lights off for the full 4-6 weeks it takes to cycle the tank?

 

[aleonn]

Put the LR with coraline algae higher on your rockwork, and start off with 4-5 hrs/day of lighting. Otherwise, I'd leave the lights off for the entire cycle. JMO though.

 

[thebkramer]

I'm with Agu here
plus... you will have other life in your live rock other than coralline that will need its share of lighting during the cycle imo
def don't use live sand.. waste of money!!! I recently transferred tanks and decided I wanted a touch more sand for my ss goby.. so I bought ls thinking it be better for my tank being it was 5yrs old... yea :lol: that was a joke.. nothing significant imo with ls
just my 2 pennies :lol2:

 

[Zappo]

I'd go with lights off. Though there may be things on the rock that want light, none of them are good. Bacteria doesn't care, and most (if not all) of the critters are nocturnal. Coralline is more of a pest than hair algae once the tank gets older, so I wouldn't be too worried about preserving that either. You'll have more of it than you want a year from now.

 

[tony53176]

lol two people say on, two people say off, I guess I'll let my LFS be the deciding factor

I did have another question that just popped into my head. The live rock that I'll be using I'll be getting from liveaquaria.com I will be using this to cycle my tank, should I only put the rock in the tank at first and let it cycle and then put the sand in? or would I be safe putting the sand and rocks in all together while running the skimmer, powerheads and filter?

 

[thebkramer]

I personally would put your sand in with your LR.. this will allow your critters to start establishing your sand during your cycle.. plus.. won't have to worry about a sandstorm later!!