Lol. Read the Red Sea website.I'm definitely off track if the question is still about whether the lights should be on...so apologies to the OP if needed...hopefully this is all interesting! It is to me!
Unless you're starting with a sterile medium and pure culture, that seems like a roll of the dice.
In real life cases, carbon dosing itself seems to be ecologically destabilizing. Reefs are carbon limited and apparently kinda depend on that to allow the dominance of the proper photosynthetics (which make their own carbon).
In absence of that domination (say...due to carbon source dosing; or pollution), you get domination by an alternate set of characters (so-called harmful algae or "HAB's") and consequent health issues among the higher animals. This trend holds in the wild across many different pest species and aquatic environments and seems well-represented in reef aquariums as well.
And don’t tell anyone that if you just put dry rock in a tank it’ll cycle eventually.
Off track again , not exactly carbon limited. Only in ways reefers (and humans ) would consider it. All of life is carbon exchange in one form or another. How that carbon exchange happens , is dependent on how the organism evolved to so do depending on what and where it is. Volcanic vents for example.
Red Sea and others build a large nitrifying bacterial population first , then build and supply the other needed ions and elements , while only hinting and the need for these in the exchange process.
Light energy and heat , are just a bonus in this process. Leds are new to the mix and the IR is provided now manly by the heater, and sadly the UV isn’t replaced that generaly kills off unwanted bad bacterial and viral strains found in cryptic sections of the tank. Thier benifit and amount is Highly speculated anyway.
A fwiw , you can accomplish the same thing as Red Sea and dry rock by simply starting by over feeding with a wide rage of foods, or one steak and a salad , letting it settle and process out and not add fish and coral. (Algae and photosynthetic hitchhikers).
This builds a huge bio filter , adds “vitamins”. Then you just selectively add organisms you may find benificial. Like corraline.
That was actually my take away for the Red Sea , Zeo, Triton etc maturation methods in comparison to other more “holistic “ or natural (science) based methods.
It’s just several ways to skin the cat.
This just comes with instructions on the box.