Photo period for new LR

[Reef_Ready]

Just a quick newbie question guys. I just picked up my live rock at J&L's on Friday. They said it was about 75% cured. Should I leave the lights off for a few days or keep them on only a few hours a day???? Suggestions?

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

IMHO, I would keep the lights off and turn the skimmer on full blast. Although the rocks may be cured, your tank/sand is not cured. So, I would also monitor the nitrate, nitrite and ammonia levels. When ammonia and nitrites are zero, then your rocks and tank are cured.

Hope that helps.

- Victor.

[Reef_Ready]

Hmmm, sorry Victor... I'm still confused. From what I've been reading this is "cycling" the tank. I put the rocks in and tossed in a shrimp (the food variety). The ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are indeed rising. My understanding is that the ammonia peaks first then starts to drop, and the nitrates peak a little later and then decline as the critters that break that stuff down begin to multiply on the rock and in the sand. After a month or so all three should be down to 0. Now to restate the light question. Are you suggesting that I keep the lights off until all ammonia, NO2 and NO3 are down to 0? i.e. in a month?

[Shadetree]

Ray,

Not to help confuse this anymore but...I cycled my tank with the lights on. I thought why would I want to cycle the tank and then turn on the lights only to have to go through the algae cycles. With the lights on, I maximized the life on the rock and had the hair and other micro algae cycles occur faster.

Scott

[Troy F]

I cycled with the lights on. There are many ways to skin a cat.

[Jack]

I am currently cycling with my lights on.

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

My reasoning for turning off the lights is that I don't know if my rocks have been cured properly. They may have been in the curing tank for 1 week. So, there might be some die off in the rocks and that could (remotely) lead to an algae bloom.

To your questions...yah...for a month or until nitrite and ammonia are zero. I know it is kind of wierd. Some people cure LR in the dark, so it is not too wierd. IMHO, I believe that the important criters that we want from the rock are not photosynthetic. Since we are not suppose to have any fish or corals during the curing stage, I felt that I didn't need light for the curing. Coraline might die off a bit...but it will grow back. Make sense ?

Hope that helps.

- Victor.

[Reef_Ready]

Yeah it does Victor. And thanks for all the replies guys, much appreciated.