water conditions need advice

[louiseberry]

hi just got finished cycling a 150 gal tank water crystal clear,diatom just alittle left 1week ago put in a few shrimp 4 crabs 1 brittlestar they look good.didnt want to overload system taking it slowwww. want to put in 2 clowns and a benny .the guy at the store told me to soon for a benny [ he also told me to do water changes during lcycling ] but i didnt.1 did alittle water change 20% cleaned filters etc,water is 78 temp,anomia 0 , nitrites 0 , nitrates around 20 ,did water tests nh3 nh4 they always come out great at 0 ,ph around 8.4 ikeep hearing nitrate around 20 is good others say as close to zero so what do i do ? i just have live rock and sand no corals thanks for any help i dont want to mess up now. louiseberry

[Kurt_Nelson]

First thing to do is use punctuation in your posts! Man... that was a tough read.

Sounds like you have a cycled tank that is ready for inhabitants. Appropriate nitrate levels depend on if you have corals or not. For a fish only tank, nitrates of 20ppm is OK. More than my personal preference, but nitrates at that level aren't harmful to fish. If you have or want corals, then 20 is bad. In that case you want them as low as humanly possible.

If you're not doing corals, I'd probably do several 30% water changes to get the nitrates at least down to 10ppm. This is your best opportunity to start with as clean of water as possible, so I'd take advantage of it.

Not changing water during cycling isn't a big thing. Personally, I think it just prolongs the cycle doing water changes, and I prefer to just do a bunch of big ones at the end before you add livestock.

Welcome to Aquariuim Advice!

[cmor1701d]

Nitrates below 40 are ok for fish, but as Kurt said, now is the time to get them down. Do a couple of 30% - 50% water changes, then add your livestock.

Good luck and

[louiseberry]

thanks for the help. i'll start with a water change. what about a benny ,to soon? louiseberryt

[roka64]

Welcome to the site!
What kind of blenny are you looking to add?

[melosu58]

What kind of Blenny are you thinking about? If you are thinking about a lawnmower blenny then I would not do it. They feed off micro algeas in the tank and I dont think you have much being new. If not trained to eat prepared foods then it will starve to death after the algea disappears. The key to any blenny or any fish for that matter is to make sure you see it eat at the LFS. Ask the LFS to feed the tank and see if it eats anything. It will save you alot of heartache if you do that. JME

[louiseberry]

wow guy at petstore didnt tell me that, maybe i"ll wait ,and just get two clowns , and a few more crabs. any suggestions? louiseberry

[roka64]

I like snails over crabs. Nassarius snails are awesome. I also like cerith and margaritas. Remember, there is not much for them to eat in a newer tank, so you will want to start with small numbers of snails.I would say 30-40 would be a good mixture.
When you acclimate inverts, make sure to take a longer time since they don't tolerate parameter swings very well. I usually drip acclimate mine for about 2 hours.

[louiseberry]

sorry, not to keen on snails, any suggestions on a type of bennie ? dont want to end up killing the little guy louiseberry

[melosu58]

Whatever type you get make sure he is eating before you get him. Here is mine. He is a black sailfin blenny. He eats mysis and flake.