Adding livestock to a fresh cycled tank

[DarrenCar]

Happy Memorial day to all! Tank you to all the veterans and current military personnel who keep us safe.

I am 1 more dosing of ammonia away from having a cycled tank. Id say in about a week I will be ready to add something alive. My wife and I are going away in the beginning of July for a week and will have someone to monitor my tank temps and water levels. I plan on doing a 30 day quarantine for fish so I am not really wanting to get any fish until I return home as then I can monitor them with my own special eyes. In the meantime I suppose I can just keep dosing ammonia to keep my bacteria alive OR is there any addition that can be recommended to add in the tank that's not going to need a 30 day minimum quarantine process that will feed my bacteria? Can I add a certain coral or critters that will feed my bacteria? I have no algae in the tank yet and I have been cycling it without lights. This leads me to the next question. Should I start cycling my lights on/off ? How long per day should I run them? I am using the VIPARSPECTRA Timer Control Series LED Aquarium light 300w hanging 12 inches above a 65 gallon display. How long for blues, Blues/whites then I assume blues again.
Any help and suggestions are appreciated.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Unless you have someone to watch and monitor tank for you, I personally would continue cycle process and wait for first stocking upon return as we are talking 4-6 weeks more. Do start your light cycles and create a schedule for on/off times and make adjustments to components such as heater, auto feeders, etc.

 

[DarrenCar]

What would be the appropriate time to have lights on for 6 hours ? More, less?

 

[vetteguy53081]

What would be the appropriate time to have lights on for 6 hours ? More, less?

With nothing in tank- 6 hrs sufficient. Once stocked, 12-15 hrs. Go easy on the whites and heavy on the blues.+

 

[DarrenCar]

Right now I have the intensity set on 5 for blues and whites both. Sorry to sound redundant but should I have the blues only come on sat an hour prior to the whites? Then an hour after the whites turn off?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Right now I have the intensity set on 5 for blues and whites both. Sorry to sound redundant but should I have the blues only come on sat an hour prior to the whites? Then an hour after the whites turn off?

Yes on the blues and try to balance at 89% blue and 20-25% whites on a regular daily schedule

 

[KorD]

Right now I have the intensity set on 5 for blues and whites both. Sorry to sound redundant but should I have the blues only come on sat an hour prior to the whites? Then an hour after the whites turn off?

When cycling my tank I started my blues and whites at the same time.. when cycling it doesn't really matter.
Now my schedule is:
Moonlights 8:30am
Blues 9:30am
Blues and whites 10:30-7:30
Blues off at 9pm
Moonlights off at 10pm

My blues are run at 84% and whites at 6%
Moonlights are just three deep blue LEDs.

Everyone's tanks are different. You will find what you need by what your corals want and act like.

 

[KrisReef]

The light will only be growing algae until you add corals or fish, so the spectrum duration and wavelength selection now isn't too critical. Do you start with live rock or dead rock? You need some coralline algae present to grow more of that.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Moonlights are meant for night not day. Have them go on at 10p and off at 7am. Blues at 8am off at 10pm and whites : on at 9a off at 7:00p

 

[Soronus]

I don't run any White while cycling, I don't want to deal with anything more than Diatoms. Plus You should not have coal yet.
Also use Dr. Tims 1 and only this stuff is Magic!

 

[DarrenCar]

I don't have any moonlights so I need not worry about that setting. No coralline present since I started with dry rock. If I am to continue dosing ammonia how often should I be doing that to maintain my bacteria population before I add fish? Would once a week be sufficient?