do i keep my filter/ protein skimmer running during cycling?

hey i was wondering if i should turn off my filter and skimmer when cycling my reef tank or do i leave it running?

 

leave filter on. Turn off skimer for first few weeks.

 

yes filter should be on and skimmer after ammonia spikes

 

I agree but I have seen arguments going the other way also. IMO, the skimmer with slow the cycling process.

 

The filter material will need to cycle along with everything else. If you left the filter off until after the cycle, and then installed it, it would start another smaller cycle because the media inside it allows bacterial growth, like your rock. Any porous material in your tank will hold the ammonia battling bacteria in it. Filter needs to be "on".

The Protein Skimmer removes dissolved waste from the water before it can decompose into Ammonia and so on. If you ran your skimmer, you would have a very minimal amount of waste and ammonia being formed. However, you need ammonia to cycle your tank properly, meaning you need waste of some sort being formed (either through a decomposing piece of shrimp, poop from a fish, pee in your tank, whatever) to allow the bacteria bed in your rock and filter to grow to what you need it to be. Skimmer off until the cycle is totally complete, or else your cycle will slow to a crawl and take forever to complete itself.

Happy cycling

 

thanks guys! your the most helpful group of people i have ever met in a fourm. thank you all so much! ( by the way.. sorry about the mis spelling on the title of the thread). MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

 

Oh I feel ya on the title stuff. You can edit everything in a thread...except for the title. Bleah.

 

oh, do i need to buy additional media for my filter? i have just the basic one that came with it.

 

and do i have to switch the filter pad out often? or should i leave it with the bacteria growth ( obviously i will rinse it every month). i have more than minimum live rock so i should have enough filtration.

 

do i need to have extra media in my filter or is the one that came with it enough?