I have heard both ways as well. My current "school of thought" is to let the tank cycle "HARD". I not only believe this I practice (Am practicing on TWO tanks right now) it. The only reason I would "soften the cycle" with water changes is if I had been given bad advice and "Stocked" the tank before it was cycled.
My first two tanks went through the normal cycle and I didn't lose anything on the Live Rock (coralline algae etc) but it wasn't PREMIUM Live Rock either. It had no feather dusters or any corals to speak of. Even with that said about a month AFTER the cycle I did start to get some feather dusters on the rock and I hadn't added any NEW rock. So apparently some part of their life cycle (which I didn't even know was IN there) did survive the "Hard Cycle".
I say CYCLE HARD or stay home
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Live Rock Rubble will do the SAME thing as Bio-Balls and is NOT a suitable replacement for BIO-BALLS in a Reef System! It's ALL gotta go!! Quote:
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Originally Posted by framerguy ...water changes rule! |
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reddog170  .....Take care and love your reef. |
Nitrate (
NO3) reduction is directly proportional to percentage of Water Change.
Allen's home-made formula...
(-NO3=WC%)
This means if you change 50% of your total water volume (
That's EVERYTHING) you'll get a net reduction of (
NO3) somewhere around 50%.
Ask me about how to increase your REEF budget without going without FOOD!! 
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