Cycling with or without light and skimmer.?

[Grath]

Hi everyone,

 

I started my IM Fusion 20g 17 days ago.

So far i have not turned on the skimmer or the light.

 

But what is best practice.?

 

Should i turn on the light during the cycle.?

 

Thank you in advance

[LebaneseDlight]

I would. If you have live rock, not cycling with light may lead to more die off. If you don't have LR, you'll find pros and cons to both.

No skimmer needed during cycle. Let the bacteria populations grow without protein removal.

[Azedenkae]

Hi everyone,

 

I started my IM Fusion 20g 17 days ago.

So far i have not turned on the skimmer or the light.

 

But what is best practice.?

 

Should i turn on the light during the cycle.?

 

Thank you in advance

I wouldn't. Lights promote algae growth, skimmers remove nutrients that the bacteria can use. So why bother.

[Grath]

Yes i forgot to say that i´m cycling with dead rock.

I am using live sand though (bought a new wet bag of new live sand).

 

Thanks guys, i´ll make sure to keep both turned off.

[Murphs_Reef]

My cycle (and I guess is still going) has been fine and "standard" with readings 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and nitrate of 15 currently with lights on, I don't have a skimmer but have done 2 x water changes since ammonia dropped off. This tank has been cycling since feb 10th. I now have CUC of snails and hermits, a few bristle worms are roaming around.

The acid test was to find a red mushroom had grown from less than a cm to just over an inch now, and I have a palm tree polyp (my pal has just broken down his tank and donated rock and some kit) which started 2 weeks ago looking pretty bad, which has now opened up 12 polyps...

[Grath]

Sounds good Murphych, i can´t wait to get mine finished.

For now i´ll leave the lights off.