Lights on or off?

[rferraro21]

In the second week of cycling my first tank. Starting seeing nitrites yesterday. I have not been running any lights and am wondering if that is the right thing to do. When are you supposed to start running lights?

 

[pugcrush]

In the second week of cycling my first tank. Starting seeing nitrites yesterday. I have not been running any lights and am wondering if that is the right thing to do. When are you supposed to start running lights?

There's no 'right' answer IMO. I've done both, but keeping lights on at a minimum maybe 6 hours a day. I did this on a tank I used mostly dry rock. I wanted the micro fauna/pods to get a head start & didn't add any livestock for 4 months. Plus it knocked out the hair algae phase you get with dry rock (no matter how much you treat it).

 

[Reefing Madness]

I'd run them now, because when you finally do turn them on, watch the diatoms come. Better now than when your tank has cycled and you want it looking good.

 

[rferraro21]

Ok so I have 50 lbs dry reef saver rock coming in tomorrow for my 72 gallon bowfront. After I get that in then I'll start running the lights for 6 hours. I have a coralife light with 2 t5 and 2 actinic, I also have a thin LED bar that goes across the top, should I be using both?

 

[Reefing Madness]

I would

 

[rferraro21]

Ok thank you