Questions about new rock

I got 120# of cured live rock from LFS for my 90G.

It has nothing else in it but the rock and sand.

The tank has been cycling for about 2 months.

Guy at the store said to leave my lights off for 3 weeks.

Is he right, I never remember reading anything about that.

Also with all that rock, I don't have much sand/floor bed or whatever room, do you think this will be a problem.

I don't plan on added anything else for about 3 weeks. Then I plan on getting a cleaning pack.

 

I don't turn lights on a tank until it's at least 2 months old and even then, I only turn on the actinic lighting.

As for sand, I like a 1" sandbed in my tanks. Anything more is too much IMO.

Now, if the rock is truly cured, there is nothing in the tank that is producing ammonia so I don't know how much of a cycle you can really have until you add something that will produce ammonia.

 

The first month I didn't turn the lights on.

The second month I started messing around with the timer.

So, should I go get about 5 Damsels?

I have 3 Hydor Koralias to still put in ( 2 600 gph and 1 1200 gph), that would make a total of 3 600 gph and 1 1200 gph, plus the sump pump pump.

Here are some pictures
Supurdave/Fish Tanks - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

 

One yellow tailed damsel is all that I would add. It's the most docile damsel that I've ever kept. Add more than one though, and they will most likely pair up and eventually terrorize any other fish you add after them. Add any other type of damsel besides a yellow tail, and you will have problems with aggression even if you just add one.

As for lighting, if you don't have any corals in your tank, there's really no reason to turn the lights on at all. I only turn actinic lighting on while a tank is cycling to encourage coralline algae growth.

 

Thanks for the help, gonna go pick one up in a few mins.

As for the pictures, do you think that the rock and/or tank will be fine?

I just want to make sure I'm doing things right.

I never had live rock before, just a 29g with 2 damels, and I had to move before I did anything else.

 

Your tank and rockwork look fine to me. Looks like you've got some really nice/porous rock there so it will do you nicely.

Remember...only one yellow tailed damsel unless you want trouble later on

 

......and not to mention when you want to get rid of them......ooooh what an adventure. I am still trying to catch two of my three damsels to take back to the LFS.

 

God knows I made this mistake! Never again! Heck, I have a YT Damsel in my tank now and I was iffy about that guy LOL!

 

You have a lot of rock in there. I can see glass cleaning problems with rock that close to your sides but that is just me. I am a glass cleaning fool!!!

 

Not really I can take a fish net and use that to move the rock just a little bit to get back there far enough.

I'm either going to move the front around a little to have more space between the rock and glass or I might take out about 20 or 30# that are in the front and put it in my 29g.