Your experiences when cycling a new tank

[Van Eternal]

Hello,
I am a new hobbyist, with years of experience in keeping planted and tropical tanks. I developed an interest in this hobby years back and started doing my research. I want to establish a tank in the near future and keep it fish only for at least 6 ~months before moving on to corals.
I would like to hear your views from your experience on these topics:
Cycling a tank :
Live rock vs Dry rock
Lights vs no lights
Fishless or with addition of fish
Using additives such as red sea mature kit etc...
Filtration:
What do you guys use for mechanical filtration? Filter socks , foam pads , fleece filters what would you suggest?
What lighting do you use for the refugium ?


Looking forward to hear your views

 

[Idoc]

Not to be mean, but you are practically asking for an opinion on about every thread topic on R2R, lol.

Searching each of those topics/questions with the search function in the top right of the R2R screen will give you tons of great information. Then more specific questions would be so easier to help answer for you.

Some advice when asking for info... smaller more direct/precise questions will get more responses.

Another good idea is to look at other people's build threads who have tanks similar to your size. You'll get great ideas and many are very specific on how they setup their tanks and problems they encountered.

But, just a quick response on how I did mine with what you are requesting:

1. Dry rock used
2. Cycled using pure ammonia
3. No lights during cycle
4. Lights aren't as important if FOWLR
5. Personally feel it's cruelty to cycle with a fish in a system
6. I use bacterial starters on all quarantine tanks I set up when getting new fish
7. I use a filter sock... it works well but must be cleaned regularly
8. I use a cheap $20 grow light bulb in my refugium. I don't see why people get sucked into buying expensive refug lights, lol. There are so many people who use simple light bulbs and get great macro algae growth!

Good luck!

 

[Garf]

Hello,
I am a new hobbyist, with years of experience in keeping planted and tropical tanks. I developed an interest in this hobby years back and started doing my research. I want to establish a tank in the near future and keep it fish only for at least 6 ~months before moving on to corals.
I would like to hear your views from your experience on these topics:
Cycling a tank :
Live rock vs Dry rock
Lights vs no lights
Fishless or with addition of fish
Using additives such as red sea mature kit etc...
Filtration:
What do you guys use for mechanical filtration? Filter socks , foam pads , fleece filters what would you suggest?
What lighting do you use for the refugium ?


Looking forward to hear your views

Welcome