New tank question

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by jason604

after doing my test again extremely carefully the results are... ammonia 0.25/ nitrite 0/ nitrate 10ppm

OK, that sounds better. It does mean your tank is cycling. Still not sure why you are seeing any ammonia then. It could be your test kit. Some are hard to interpret the lowest color reading.

I would still go slow, though, as your cycling capacity may still be pretty limited. IE, you may not be able to handle a larger bio load. As mentioned before, get all your live rock in place and monitor again for any "mini cycles". If your ammonia increases, that is a bad sign. If your nitrates increase, that is good.

Then change your water, and if your parameters are stable, you can try add come corals and a couple fish. But again, go slow, and monitor. Some nitrates are OK. Water changes will reduce them.

You should also consider setting up a QT. Otherwise, you are in for a lot more grief down the road. I recommend the hyposalintiy route. Here is a good article about that.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/fish