hair algae during cycle

[likwid]

Originally Posted by marie

If you put in live rock then you have excess nutrients, even when rock is out of the water for a few hours things die on it, dieing things release nutrients into the water column. Water changes and some form of clean up crew is necessary to get rid of the hair algae before it spreads all over the tank...or you could turn the lights out for a few months and do water changes before turning lights back on

Is it better to cycle with or without lights on? I cannot add a clean up crew or change the water until the cycle is complete, so those 2 suggestions do not work for me.