cycling question

[djmx2002]

Hey everybody,

i am going to start cycling a new tank this week, and i wanted to know if it's ok to start the cycle of no or little light

thanks

[Shooter7]

yes

[djmx2002]

Great, i am moving this week, and i am starting a new 150gallon, and i can't yet afford a good lighting system, so anyway i want to have like a month at least for the tank to cycle

Thanks

[Blown 346]

Having no light will also aid in algae growth of the cycling process.

[djmx2002]

also i am planning to run the system with dead rock and live sand for 2 weeks, than add my 135gallons from my old aquarium and add the other 90#s of lr from the old tank

would it be ok?

[Shooter7]

So, you're going to fill up the new tank system, run it, then drain it and add water from a different tank into it to fill it back up?

I don't see a lot of reason to do this. When I moved into my 120g from my previous 26g, I simply mixed up the water and added the live rock from the smaller tank, some established rock I bought from someone local, and some base rock to the tank and went with that. Because the rock was already long established live rock, I never had a true "cycle" in that tank, and there was not reason to add water from the previous tank. All it had was nasty stuff stirred up from removing the rock and such from it. I got some of the typical new tank syndrome stuff in the larger tank like a little algae and cyano, but that went away pretty quickly. I would just go with the water you have in the tank, get the live rock in there as soon as possible (allowing for water dispersal due to the rock volume, of course), and you may avoid having much of a cycle to deal with. I don't see any real benefit in moving the water from the old tank into the new.

[djmx2002]

ya that's make sense

[demonsp]

Use your tintics and restrict the mains. Use the mains for an hour or so at first the add more time untill cycle over around the same as full lighting. Help reduce algea outbreaks and lets tank adjust. This is also good advice if you ever upgrade your lights. Add time slowly.