will it hurt-Reef Lighting-3reef Forums

dlaclo · 04-13-2007, 01:33 PM

ok i was going to buy my lights and my protien skimmer today but money has become an issue. so i was wondering if it will be ok for me to just buy my skimmer and then buy my lights in a month or so..... I have no livestock and i am curently cycling 60lbs of l/r in my aquarium will it be ok if i leav no lights on my aquarium for a month or so... i know i am supposed to put a clean up crew in my tank after the cycle is over... can i do thois without lights? or should i just go ahead and buy t/5's instead of mh lights but money is an issue until next month..... thank you for your help....

jtReef · 04-13-2007, 01:52 PM

I see no issue.
You can also cycle with no skimmer as well. Just make sure you have some water movement. Your tank will get plenty of light already with the summer starting where your algea may take off. I say the worse is cycles the stronger your tank will be in the future.

dlaclo · 04-13-2007, 01:54 PM

ok ty

dlaclo · 04-13-2007, 01:57 PM

ok but will i be able to put a clean up crew without lights?

jtReef · 04-13-2007, 02:23 PM

Yes as long as they have something to eat such as algae and other debris that will be coming off of the live rock. That is why you typically should wait a while before adding the clean up crew. If you just put in live rock and maybe life sand then the tank will cycle. What that means is a bunch will die off and the surviving bacteria and creatures will slowly eat the dead material.
So if you add the clean up crew too soon then your tank won't have as large of a cycle being that the clean up crew is helping as well. So my thoughts are the clean up crew may help keep this "cleaner" to the eye yet may not help you in the long run of establishing a biological natural filter that will be able to handle and control swings that will happen with adding new livestock or poor water conditions should they arise.

These however are just my thoughts and beliefs. I prefer a cycling tank to look like hell in a handbag where people walk by and are shocked at how bad it looks. Knowing that in a few weeks it will cycle itself through on it's own thus creating a system that now can handle about anything.

Sorry for the long reply.

dlaclo · 04-13-2007, 02:32 PM

hey np... and thanks for the info

Blade_Runner · 04-13-2007, 03:09 PM

What were you planning on adding as a clean up crew at this time? Be careful that what ever you add won't get killed off during the spikes.

And I concur with JT. Lights are not a big issue during cycling. T5s on a 60 may be all you need depending on what you are planning on growing and how deep the tank is.

Personally, I like to skim while cycling. I just feel that the more organics I can pull out of the system, the better off I am and I'm not as brave as JT.

dlaclo · 04-13-2007, 03:31 PM

well i was going to buy a clean up package from an internet site..... but i was not going to until the cycly was over but i can not afford lights for a while so i just wanted to make sure the crew would survive without lights

nemo79 · 04-13-2007, 06:22 PM

You can wait for the lights, I too prefer skimming or any filteration during cycling but the lights can wait. I personally prefer t5ho over mh. What do you plan on keeping and how deep is your tank? If your tank is under 20" you can go with t5's. People are learning that MH are more for real high light demanding corals and for deep tanks.