When do I turn on the lights in a new system?

[Shobloth]

I just bought 3 new tanks, an IM 30 for fish only, IM 16 for quarantine, and a 55 gal pseudo pond for pipe / seahorse, clams & corals.

Put live rock in all, should I hold off on the lights for a few days to prevent a bloom?

 

[E46Twist]

I would wait for about a month of even until you start to add inhabitants. You will have to deal with some outbreaks no matter what. They pass

 

[Titans_Reef]

For me from experience, I would start your lights after your cycle is done and you start to add livestock. It can be a week to 3 months for the cycle to complete since every tank is different. My 125g and 14g biocube I never saw it cycle even after waiting 2 months to see if anything changed but I only saw nitrates. My 40g breeder I saw nitrites after a week and the cycle lasted a month and a half.

 

[Waters40]

I personally would start the lights from day one. You will get the diatom bloom anyways....may as well get it over with as soon as possible. I have always started everything from day one to get the tank on a normal cycle from the beginning. If you are adding established live rock, you probably won't see a cycle anyways and the light will help anything that is growing.

 

[thegrun]

Unless there are corals on your live rock that you are trying to get to survive the cycle, I wait until the ammonia drops to zero before I start the lights. That is usually a week or two before the cycle completes (the nitrites drop to zero), which gives the tank a little time to start growing algae for your clean-up crew to eat. Once they are introduced at the end of the cycle.