Brand new to hobby

So i just got my tank setup its a 45 gallon. currently has 2" of sand with a little bit of crushed coral mixed in, along with 2 lbs of live rock and about 15lbs of dead rock. its been up and running for almost 2 weeks now and the lvls dont seem to be changing ammonia is at 0 nitrites at .25 and nitrates at 10-20. not sure of what to do i went to my lfs and the only advice they could give was to get a fish to help the cycle along. not reading the info online first i went ahead and bought a fish to put in my tank. is it possible that my tank has cycled already and the fish will be fine or will this end up a disaster and i kill the fish?

 

Welcome to 3reef,

What type of fish, damsel?

Your tank might need to cycle longer as there was probably not much die off. I imagine with a source of ammonia (the fish) it will probably see a small detectable ammonia level again.

 

Gotta love the LFS. Their only answer is to make a sale with no regard whatsoever for your livestock...

That said, did you use live or dry sand, and what type of fish did they con you into buying?

 

used 40 lbs of live sand and originally had 10 lbs of crushed coral and read that it was bad for the tank so i scooped alot of it out. blue damsel cheap and hardy as they said. hes been hiding in the little cave that i setup since i put him in ill keep and eye on him, and check all the levels again in 24hrs and repost with the results

 

While Damsels are generally hardy enough to survive a full cycle, they tend to become very aggressive toward new tankmates after having the entire tank to themselves for 4 - 6 weeks.

Having used live sand, any new cycle you might encounter shouldn't be that bad. Just keep an eye on your parameters.

 

ok so i rechecked my lvls this morning and they have changed. the colors are hard to read so this is my best guess of the lvls. PH 8.0, Ammonia .25, Nitrites 1.0, Nitrates 40. so they have went up from yesterday. The fish still seems to be ok he hasnt left his rocky hideway yet should i try and add some food to the tank to see if he will come out to eat?

 

Most definitely! The purpose of using a live fish is to feed it so it will help create ammonia to kick-start the bacterial colony.

 

another stupid question .. how much should i feed it? i have a cube if mysis shrimp and i defrosted it in some tank water and i poured about 5-6 in and he ate 2. hes doesnt get very far from his little den and then goes right back to it. so i dont want to put to much in and it will never eat it and rot in the tank

 

You want to just feed whatever it will eat and remove what it doesn't. You may want to feed several times per day though if that's all it's taking in one feeding.

 

just an update on the tank the damsel unfortunatly died ( last time im listening to the LFS or buying anything from them) but my water levels have been changing drastically. currently today ph 8.0 it wont change should i be worried? ammonia back down to .25. nitrites have spiked to 5.0+ very high and nitrates are between 20-40. Ordered lighting today should be here in a week. If i were to ordering 45 lbs of fiji rock and put it in would that help out with the cycling?