First Saltwater Tank - Cycling Questions

[psimhan]

Hi everyone,
I am finally getting started on my first saltwater tank. It s been a long time coming and finally I am ready to start. I have been lurking the forums for a while now and been doing my homework.

I am getting most of my equipment from the US, the skimmer from another member right here in RC. However the equipment won't be here in India till mid June.
The tank is a 36*18*18 which comes out to around 50 gals approximately and atm hasn't got any lighting.
The tanks will probably be a FOWLR for a while and maybe someday I will get some corals in it, bearing in mind most corals are illegal to keep here in India.

I was planning on running the tank with only LR for around a month once I got the skimmer and lights up, but have been told I can do it without either of these, just need the filter and powerheads.
I can save a month, cycling ahead of time and have the tank ready for fish by the time I get my equipment.
I 'ld be really grateful for any advise.

Thanks, Pradeep

[Danables]

yes all you need is the LR and a powerhead. I like to start the cycle by adding 2 fresh uncooked srimp from your local market. once the srimp start to decay your ammonia will rise and begin your cycle. once your ammonia and nitrates are zero it is safe to add fish. good luck

[psimhan]

Thanks. I wasn't so sure about the lighting part. Unfortunately the test kits are also coming only in June so I can't check parameters. But I don't plan on putting anything other than the LR in there till then.

[bertoni]

I'd skip the shrimp, if you have live rock. They're just unnecessary pollution, in my experience. I'd also have a heater and a protein skimmer when curing the rock.

[psimhan]

I won't be getting the skimmer till June - AquaC Remora, btw.
Can I cycle skimmerless and then aggresively skim for a week or two before putting in the fish?
Would I need heating ??
Water temp is right now around 26 - 27 c(80 f) in the other tanks and its the middle of summer.

[bertoni]

Okay, if the water runs 80 F normally, you'll be fine. The goal for the protein skimmer is to try to keep the stress level on the organisms in the rock as low as possible, but it's not necessary. An aggressive water change schedule should help in that regard, if you want to go through the effort.

I would start feeding the live rock when the ammonia hits zero. Personally, I feed DT's, which is a live phytoplankton product.

[psimhan]

Thanks , Danables and Bertoni.
Needless to say , I will be back with more questions :P