Tank cycling question???

[smwaits]

I have a 55 gallon with about 90lbs of live rock. It's been up and running for about 3 weeks with just water and 1 additional week with 2 damsels. Does anyone have an estimate of when it would be safe to add a couple of more expensive fish?

 

[frantz]

if you have been checking your water you should have seen an ammonia spike. If you have not been checking your water, do so, or take a sample in to your LFS. If ammonia is 0 then you could probably start SLOWLY adding more fish. Without seeing that spike its hard to know for sure the cycle has started, and you don't want to add a huge bioload at once, or you might cause a crash.

 

[legalreefer]

You should have been measuring your parameters from the get go. That way once the amm., nrtrates and nitrites spiked and returned to acceptable levels, you would have known it had completed its cycle. If I were you, I wouldn't do anything to your tank until you do more research about keeping a sw setup. I'm not trying to be harsh, I'm just trying to save you a lot of headaches and money. And I care about the well being of your livestock. Poke around on the web about it. There is A LOT to be learned. Go buy yourself a test kit that at the very least measures ph, ammonia, nitrate, and nitrites. Just trying to help