lights?

do i have to have lights while cycling or will my LR be ok? and without a protien skimmer should i do a 20% change regularly or just let it ride its cource for a week or 2?

 

Question?
Is this your fist cycle?
Do you have any fish ?
Do you have any other live stock?
Do you have any established LR ( nice algae growth)?
Typically, if you only have LR it is fine without light for quite some time….
Let us (or the real pros ) know the details ...

 

I never run lights until about the 8th week then its only the actinic's and as for a skimmer I never add one until about 5 to 6 months nothing to skim really and not enough bio load for the needed 0'2 and the skimmer will remove the coralline spores also.. maybe thats why we never have an issue growing Coraline's and I really won't start to stock a reef until I see them taking hold. And never do any water changing it will disrupt the cycling process

 

Greg...You know my answer!!!!

 

yes i do thanks tom..... oh and yes this will be my very first cycly ever there is absolutly nothing in my tank but water which has been circulating for over a week and a half now

 

Just do nothing and let nature take its course. No water changes and get the skimmer set up asap IMO...
You can get by with the cycling by just using the live rock!!! And you don't need light as the beneficial bacteria, actually is better off with no lighting. The only problem that you will encounter, is that if your rock has macro, sponge or coralline algae, it will die off in a weeks time! But you can grow it back .

 

I cycled my tank with only LR and the substrate, regular fluorescents, and a skimmer. I do believe some filteration should be running to remove the detritus that comes off the LR.

I had coraline developing a month after I started! I would never do a water change during cycling as it disrups the cycle and you start all over again.

 

ok... i am buying my lights and skimmer not tomarrow but the following friday. so hopfully it wont all die before then... but i am pretty sure the benificial bacterias will stay and some of the algea will stay untill then if not ill get it back lol... and thanks again everyone for all the help and not getting irritated by my many questions....

thanks nemo: and i do have my filtration/sump running but will add skimmer come next week

 

Not getting irritated, as long as it helps you and your livestock to thrive and be successful!
Ask as many questions as you need to because your livestock are in your hands and counting on you for their success...
I would read as much as you can in addition to asking questions here and/or on other sites as these references will help you out enormously IMO!!!

 

It's not irritating. We're all here to share advice. I went through it, trying to cut corners and in the end I spent more $$$ by replacing it with something better. Have fun, don't rush it. Good luck.