cycling tank

[Zoacoral]

I am going tobe setting up a tank, and am starting from scratch.. I will have dry sand, and dry rock.

So im wondering:

Do you do water changes during cycle?
Do you run your skimmer?
Do you run your lights?
When do I add my clean up crew?

Is there anything I need to do to the tank while it is cylcing?

I havent bought the skimmer or lights yet, and if I dont need them till the cycle is over, that is something I can be happy about lol. Less money right now to blow!.

 

[Zoacoral]

anyone?

 

[Saulsa]

When I cycled my tank personally I ran everything from day one. Lights were only on an hour a day. I'm sure it's anecdotal of me to say i think it promotes bacterial growth but don't quote me.

Skimmers aren't necessity to run it from day one. It will however help clear the water from all the sediment that will get stirred up. You can go ahead and shop around for a week or 2 but I would definitely get one going within 2 weeks of setting it up.

I always like to go slow, so I would add a small clean up crew 3-4 weeks after startup. And I mean small it will take time for their food sources to build up so don't throw a ton of critters in all at once.

As far as water changes, I never did them during cycling.

There are a million ways to do this and I'm sure someone else will give you another method.

 

[Saulsa]

Oh and it's always beneficial to seed the tank with some mature live rock or a cup of sand from a mature pest free system.

 

[florida reef]

I would run everything as usual, with the exception of the lights. Still run the lights, just not as long as you would usually run them on an established tank. Also, pay attention to algae growth...if you start to get a lot of hair algae and cyano (which is almost inevitable as these are part of the cycle) cut your lighting back. I would do a 10-20% water change every two weeks...bc you will have a ton of nutrients in your tank and things won't begin to clear up until those nutrients are exported. Also, you can consider using Brightwells microbacter 7. It will help jump start the bio filtration in your tank...many people use it permanently.
I'm not sure what size tank you're looking at, but if I were to do it all over I would get a Reef Octopus skimmer and TEK t5 lights. They are both good pieces of equipment and won't kill the wallet.

 

[boxer]

Heres what I do: Put new sand in the tank a small amount of mature live rock about 10-30 pounds. Then i add the water making sure its at 35ppt i also try to keep it at this salinity during the cycle or maybe a touch lower. Turn on the pumps and let it go for 2 weeks then test it. Thats it no lights no skimmer works great.

 

[Zoacoral]

I would run everything as usual, with the exception of the lights. Still run the lights, just not as long as you would usually run them on an established tank. Also, pay attention to algae growth...if you start to get a lot of hair algae and cyano (which is almost inevitable as these are part of the cycle) cut your lighting back. I would do a 10-20% water change every two weeks...bc you will have a ton of nutrients in your tank and things won't begin to clear up until those nutrients are exported. Also, you can consider using Brightwells microbacter 7. It will help jump start the bio filtration in your tank...many people use it permanently.
I'm not sure what size tank you're looking at, but if I were to do it all over I would get a Reef Octopus skimmer and TEK t5 lights. They are both good pieces of equipment and won't kill the wallet.

Im going with a tank similiar in size to your tank. I havent decided if I want Rimless and such yet. I was looking at 48 x 24 x 20, or a 48 x 24 x 18 tall. Either way, for Lights, I am planning to go with a ATI sunpower, love the look of these fixtures. For skimmer, I am planning an SRO 2000.

 

[florida reef]

Sounds like a good setup!

 

[beaslbob]

I recommend you start the tank with macro algaes to balance out and stabilize operations. Usually in a refugium but you get the idea.

For initial cycling I use some common male mollys to get things going.

my .02