restarting my 12g aquapod

[jeepguy]

I'm planning on setting up my 12g aquapod in a new house that I'll be moving in to for school come August. Since I'm already paying rent I figure I'll go ahead and move the tank down there to cycle in my absence so that when I move down, it will be close to ready to stock. There is a great LFS down the road and I plan on having their assistance while going through this process again. I do have a few questions though. I plan on buying 20lbs of live sand and 10-15 lbs of live rock when I go down this weekend. In addition I also plan on buying a substantial amount of water so that initially I will not need to mix my own (at least until I move down in 2 months). There are a few things I'm unsure about. If I set up the tank, sand rocks, water: Would it be sufficient for me to let the tank initiate the cycle and do water changes only on the weekends when I'll be down there. I'll be going down sat nights, to return on Sunday nights and will therefore only be available 1 day a week to work on the tank (for the first couple months). Will the absence of my presence, hence leaving the tank to cycle additional days before I can make appropriate water changes be detrimental to the eventual fitness level of the tank. I plan on adding the cleanup crew ONLY after the tank has completed it's cycle and ONLY when I will be living there 24/7 to monitor everything. However it's my logic that since I won't be present to stock prematurely, the tank can take it's own sweet time to cycle at it's own pace. make sense?? any suggestions?
P

 

[fishygurl]

i wouldnt do any water changes till your tank is completly cycled. then do a water change see if anything changes in a couple days and if not you should be ready to go

 

[rad]

you being gone will not affect the tank what so ever. I would only do one water change after the tank has cycled. then another before you start adding stuff which to my understanding is going to be in about two months. all this is fine so long as you 1. keep the AC on at least 80 and 2. buy a heater. essentially keep the temperature in check. also you could leave the tanks lights off if you want to and that will decrease the amount of algae you will get. but your plan sounds good to me.