My new lighting for my 55 gal arrived today. I ended up getting a 48" triple striplight and new Versa-Tops to accomodate the larger light. I decided on this setup rather than T5's or PC's because most of those didn't fit under my canopy and appearance was also important due to the tank being in the family room (wanted something that looked nice and not too technical). I also ditched the 32w 8000k bulbs that came with it and replaced them with 40w 6500k Life-Glos. It's a huge difference over my original 15w single strip light on each side. You could almost see the plants stand up to the new lights!

My water is clearing up nicely and today was the 7th and final dose of Seachem Stability. I'll probably do the first partial water change tomorrow and if readings look good, start stocking with initial fish this weekend. So far, the Stability has seemed to work and my ammonia went down to 0, nitrites are almost down to 0, and I'm finally seeing nitrates climb slowly.

Hopefully I'll post some pics this weekend.

Sounds like everything is going good. Post some pictures soon.

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Aquatic Engineer

Welcome.

How did your ammonia get above 0 if no fish are in the tank? Do you have a liquid test kit? Have you tested your water from the tap?