So know what i did, need some advice on how to proceed.

in my ten gal nano tank, i cycled it for a month, put in inverts and then on the 6th week, placed in 1 small fish. The tank was done cycling and all levels were perfect.

Then when i went to the store to get my first corals, I showed the guy a pic of my setup and he said i needed more live rock and proceeded to sell me 2 large pieces with my corals.

So i placed the live rock and the corals. And of course the live rock is now cycling. This has been going on for a week. 2 Days after i placed it all i lost a coral and so i tested and saw the levels were a bit high but being a noob i just thought it was because i added all the new corals. Didn't occur until yesterday that DUH! the live rocks cycling.

So as it stands now, actually all of my coral, inverts and 1 fish are pretty happy, all corals are out and even growing. but my levels are still high. I have been doing water changes of about 10-20% every day to no real avail. The levels aren't through the roof but i know its not good.

Ammonia - 0.50
PH - 8.0 (close to norm)
Nitrate - 20
Nitrite - 1.0

Inverts - 10 snails, 1 pom pom crab, 2 cleaner shrimp, 3 sexy shrimp

i see most people are very against meds. Should i just stay the course and keep doing aggressive water changes? Should I take the 2 pieces of live rock out (prob as most of my corals attached to it), or head to meds? Do i need more inverts?

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stay the course..levels are high but just let it run its course..IMO i wouldnt go the med route..keep us posted..


Rick

Your water changes are helping, a little, but its a help.
Let it run its course. If you have access to another established tank, get some dirty filter floss from it and put it in yours. You will introduce millions of beneficial bacteria that way. There's some other things you can do, a few drops of prime won't hurt if you have it.
Prime

yeah, you just gotta let it cycle.. i let my rock cycle in my 29g for over a month.. i have around 35lbs in there.. and everything has been fine.. just keep testing and remeber salinity too

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I agree with what's been said stay the course but also the amount of live rock you have is your own personal preference, don't let the store tell you you need more if you don't want more. Oh and your tank looks great.

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I agree most LFS's will try to sell you any and anything alot of the times. Just trust your own judgement. I would also agree on letting it runs its course, just keep doing what you have been doing. The tank should cycle up soon enough.

Well I don't know if anyone else caught this but for a six week old 10g you have a LOT of coral in there. That alone will cause a cycle and possibly a crash if all of that was added at once. Was this pre-established sand? If you did add all those corals you probably have overloaded your "bioload" even when you are fully cycled you have to add everything slowly otherwise the total amount of waste being produced will be too much for your CUC and bacterias to handle then ammonia goes up and nitrite and things start to die.

The cycling period can last up to 12 weeks. By adding the LR, you just put your tank in a new cycle. If you do WC's while cycling, you will only prolong the cycling process. Luna

Did your tank ever pass the cycle, or did it crash?

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