Cycling with Skimmer and Carbon?

[celticsfan]

When cycling your LR you should remove your skimmer right? Is it OK to cycle with carbon (and a mechanical filter to trap debris)?

[Marteen]

It's best not to cycle with carbon. You can leave your skimmer in there just don't run it. If you want you can run filter floss just to catch large pieces of debris but other than that let your tank do it's thing for a few weeks.

[bagoegg]

Like Marteen said, just let it sit for awhile with no skimmer and no carbon. Definitely have some mechanical filtration though like floss or filter pads.