Is my tank ready ?? please help

[direct_reef]

Hey, I am new to the marine hobby and I have started my first tank, I have everything setup, skimmer,lights,sump etc. It has been running for over a week now and I added some frozen fish from the market to get my cycle going. I am just wondering if I am ready to add fish ?

high PH- 8.0-8.02
Amonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 10

does that seem right ?
I allready have some mushrooms in there that are doing fine. Should I do my first water change now then add my first fish ?
if anyone can help me that would be great
thanks

[mhosts]

Hey, I am new to the marine hobby and I have started my first tank, I have everything setup, skimmer,lights,sump etc. It has been running for over a week now and I added some frozen fish from the market to get my cycle going. I am just wondering if I am ready to add fish ?

high PH- 8.0-8.02
Amonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 10

does that seem right ?
I allready have some mushrooms in there that are doing fine. Should I do my first water change now then add my first fish ?
if anyone can help me that would be great
thanks

Do you have any Live rock in there? What do you have as an established bio-filter? If you don't have an established bio filter, then you will need to cycle the tank. And that takes roughly about a month or two.

[GTR]

Really depends on things like the live rock and such. I'd expect to have an elevated ammonia, then nitrite level in most cases. One week isn't long enough IMO.

SteveU

[GTR]

Here's one of my all time favorite threads on any board.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=249112


SteveU

[direct_reef]

its a 70Gallon tank with a 50gallon sump. I got aprox 40lbs live rock in the sump and I have aprox 60+lbs in the display. Aswell I have a sand bed that is 1inch and the sand was taken from a established tank that was 3years old. What should my next step be ? wait longer ? or do a water change and add a first fish and clean up crew ?

[wooden_reefer]

Hey, I am new to the marine hobby and I have started my first tank, I have everything setup, skimmer,lights,sump etc. It has been running for over a week now and I added some frozen fish from the market to get my cycle going. I am just wondering if I am ready to add fish ?

high PH- 8.0-8.02
Amonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 10

does that seem right ?
I allready have some mushrooms in there that are doing fine. Should I do my first water change now then add my first fish ?
if anyone can help me that would be great
thanks

What is the physical aggregate of the died fish you added?

If it is whole, decay may be slow, at least in the first few days. In such a case, if only you have just a small population of nitrification bacteria in your tank, you may not test any ammonia.

If you put in emulsified fish flesh (turned into milk by a blendor) of the calculated sufficient amount, and if you still do not test ammonia in five more days, I'd say your rock is well cycled.

Figure one ounce of fish flesh after blended will give about 2 ppm N ammonia in 100 gals of water.

[Michael]

Here's one of my all time favorite threads on any board.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=249112


SteveU

yeah i agree, an excellent read, eric certainely explains things well

[BeanMachine]

Hey, I am new to the marine hobby and I have started my first tank, I have everything setup, skimmer,lights,sump etc. It has been running for over a week now and I added some frozen fish from the market to get my cycle going. I am just wondering if I am ready to add fish ?

high PH- 8.0-8.02
Amonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 10

does that seem right ?
I allready have some mushrooms in there that are doing fine. Should I do my first water change now then add my first fish ?
if anyone can help me that would be great
thanks

I wouldn't say your PH is high per say, actually a little low. 8.1 to 8.2 is preffered I think.