finally, my first noob cycle question.. woohoo!

[jeps]

Okay, so i kicked off my cycle today with live rock and a shrimp cocktail and i have a couple of questions for the nice friendly peeps here at SWF.com.

1. When do i start testing the water for amm, nit, etc. and how often? My sister bought an ammonia alert thingy that hangs on the plexiglass and it's a already showing "alert" , one step away from "toxic". Is there such a thing as a dangerous ammonia spike?
2. I was reading the archives earlier (very very helpful BTW) and it was said that during a cycle, skimmers and lights do not have to be on. My question is, don't i need the lights to be on to keep/encourage the growth of my corraline algae? If so, how many hours a day should i have it on?
Thanks in advance to all you cool SWF.com posters.

 

[glowplug]

the corraline needs light but the cycle is going to cause die off anyway,dont worry about that now you can purple up after and itll look awesome, the ammo alert is kinda silly from what i heard , you cant beat an actual test, I tested like crazy in the begining- but its kinda like watching grass grow, but when stuff happens you wil know and that can never hurt. I ran the light at random times when i started, I dont think it hurt or helped-light doesnt matter much right now