New tank been up Sunday

[Phishman1]

Tank is a bowfront 46, filled it Saturday, its now Thursday, live rock, live sand, power head etc., going to be fish only for now, however not sure down the road but that's the situation now. Parameters testing ok, but then they should I suppose, nothing in the tank to cause anything to spike etc. Salinity is 1.023, Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite all zero. PH was long when I had water tested at LFS, 7.4 so purchased something to remedy that. Got my test kit in yesterday and did a test myself later in the day, same thing all zero but PH still low at 78, dosed the tank again. Have tank buffer coming in today from Amazon. Question is this: When is it safe to add a fish, obviously a damsel of some kind, and if its ok, one or two? I'm looking at a blue damsel with yellow fins as I think they are pretty for the tank and when tank is completely cycled out I may keep it or them. What else should I be looking at or just monitor and test, test test?

 

[JumboShrimp]

FOWLER tank is a great way to get started. Maybe a few softies down the road if the mood strikes you; you won’t have to spend a fortune on lighting. Best wishes.

 

[homer1475]

All that buffer your adding, is also increasing your alkalinity. STOP adding that junk! 7.8 is a perfectly fine PH level.

You need to know when the tank can process ammonia. Add some ammonia(ghost feed, pure ammonia, Dr. Tim's ammonium, etc), and then test to see if the ammonia is cleared to 0 in 24H. Until that time, the tank is not cycled, and not ready for anything living.

 

[MERKEY]

Hello and welcome to R2R!

+1 on getting ammonia cleared in 24hr then add a fish

 

[Pistol Peet]

+1@homer1475 if it is a fowler tank PH is fine as for the ammonia and testing to add fish I would test this and I would put an ammonia additive in the tank and if the bacteria takes it from two parts per million to 0 within 24 hours your tank is cycled if it takes a little longer than this then you need to let your bacteria populate a little more