cycling with or without filter?

[Tentacles]

should i be running my ac20 while its cycling? thanks

[Daemonfly]

I can't think of a single reason not to o_O

[darkmuncan]

should i be running my ac20 while its cycling? thanks

 

one main point of cycling a tank is building up the beneficial bacteria

 

the filter is where they live.

 

so yes

 

you need to have the filter on.

[Tentacles]

ok, good then, one guy said just let the rock do its job and i thought maybe it should have some flow and whatnot????! so thanks for the reassuring words

[Tentacles]

now some people are also saying dont use any of the media and run it empty, and others are saying use the sponge and run it with live rock. I think im gunne remove the ammonia and carbon stuff since none of that works after a while anyway but should i keep the sponge and just use live rock rubble? sponge or no sponge is really the question

[Mr. Fosi]

Dump the sponge and run it empty.

 

You don't want to culture nitrifying bacteria on the sponge (like in FW) because you will lose a lot of them everytime you empty the spnge (which will be every week). Instead, run the filter w/o the sponge to encourage the bacteria to grow on you LR.

[aquakevem]

whats your setup?

[Tentacles]

2gallon pico with 2.5 lbs of live rock and 4 lbs of live sand with an aquaclear20 and a 14w.