Cycle Complete!

[Alvanck]

Hi all,

I’m thrilled that my cycle is now complete! I have been hearing things about the ugly phase and would rather get that over with before putting fish in there. I currently have a 25 lagoon, performed a fishless cycle. Should I now turn on the lights on the same schedule they will be when I add my fish and corals? I almost want the ugly phase to happen and then cure naturally. My light is Nicrew hyper reef, was going to try one of the presets if anybody has a suggestion. Thank you all! Getting closer to fish and corals!

 

[allof fish]

Hi all,

I’m thrilled that my cycle is now complete! I have been hearing things about the ugly phase and would rather get that over with before putting fish in there. I currently have a 25 lagoon, performed a fishless cycle. Should I now turn on the lights on the same schedule they will be when I add my fish and corals? I almost want the ugly phase to happen and then cure naturally. My light is Nicrew hyper reef, was going to try one of the presets if anybody has a suggestion. Thank you all! Getting closer to fish and corals!

The ugly stage will likely happen when you add corals and fish either way. So waiting won’t just magically not make it happen. I would suggest adding fish and leaving light off for a few days or only run them a couple hours. Ugly stages happen from a boatload of things with new tanks not just adding fish and coral for first time. Add bacteria, take lights slowly and watch nutrients

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The ugly phase generally happens because new hobbyists get fish and often feed too much. If you have no fish and are not feeding the tank, then you might get some minor algae, but once you start constantly adding nutrients to the tank (fish food plus fish poop), different algae's will grow. So to me your plan won't work, IMO you are just postponing it.

 

[EnterName]

You can absolutely let the tank go through the ugly phase before adding fish and corals. I did this in my currently running system back when I started it.

As long as there is some decent light and a tiny bit of nutrients the ugly phase will happen. However, you can add a free swimming fish or two without having to worry about them. Thr ugly phase won't affect them if they don't dig through sand.