Cycle almost over ?

I have kept my lights off during the cycling phase of my 125 tank, the tank is near completion of the cycle process here in a week or so ( been over 3 weeks ) The water is crystal clear and no diatoms visible, my question is Once I turn on the lights 3 150 watt Halides 4 96 watt PC Atenics ....will I still have a diatom bloom?? Should I just run the lights now anyway ??

I ask this because I have no idea where my Temps are going to run with the full light package on for 10 hrs a day, I know it will increase due to the halides alone and was wanting to work on this, but was wondering if I should wait for the cycle to be fully complete? or if it will still bloom even after the cycle ??

 

I would wait for the cycle to end. Also, what are your params? At 4 weeks your cycle should be around half over, not nearly complete

 

isnt it good to let a tank cycle for a minimum of 6 weeks? 8 is even better?

 

Its reading

Ammmonia 0
Nitrites little over 0
Nitrates under 10
PH 8.4
PO4 0
Salinity 1.024

I guess a week or so and it will be over But not rushing it , no fish only LR / sand ( 100lbs rock, 140 lbs sand ) that I nuked. and I added a small amount of LR / ammonia a few weeks ago to start the cycle.

Just was wondering if I was saving myself the huge cleanup crew by not running lights until it was all over.....or if it was going to bloom anyways even after the cycle

 

your will probably have some degree of a diatom bloom what ever you do, i think. usually i just work around the algae and run lighting during cycle, skimmer also.

but there is logic to not running the lights. thinking about the lack of available light. it will allow the bacteria to bloom and use nutrients instead of algae. it probably would short cut most of the bad algae.

but with that said your tank wont explode or be sucked into a black whole if you turn them on.