just a few questions???????

You putting the prawns in the tank only "grew" enough bacteria to handle the bioload created by the rotting of those prawns. When you add fish, your tank will need to "grow" additional bacteria to handle the additional bioload. Until that happens, the ammonia that your fish secrete will cause your levels to rise because there won't be enough bacteria in the system to consume it.

 

To be safe, I would recommend waiting another 10-14 day. This will allow the tank to become more stable and less of a chance of killing any creatures. You could add a fish now but then again you could be taking a chance on killing it and of course no one wants that.

 

but if i leave it nothing else will be creating good enough bacteria for the bioload for the clowns??
or am i missing the point?

 

The prawns kick-started your initial cycle. As long as you saw your ammonia & nitrite spike & fall...and since you have that reading on nitrates...you are fine. Technically speaking, you could wait it out until the nitrobacters populate sufficiently and they would drop that nitrate reading to 0 too...but I can already tell that you'll never be able to wait that long...but that's alright. If your nitrate is holding steady, personally I would do your first water change, and then you can add your clowns. But yes, any additional bioload to your system most definitely causes new cycles. Just stick to your water change schedule and add bioload gradually and you really should be good to go.

 

well my nitrates have stayed at 5.0 for the last 5 days.i was going to do a 50% water change tommorow then the next morning i was gonna test the water if all ok i was going to get the new clowns that day.once they were in i would test the water everyday to keep a check on everything.if everything goes well i will add another fish in 2-3months time.i will only ever add 1 fish at a time but i wanted to add the clowns in together as i heard they get along better that way.

 

You are imo correct in doing this. If you've watched the spike in ammonia and nitrite and held at 5ppm on nitrates it's perfectly fine to do a 50% w/c today and add 2 small clowns tomorrow. And kudo's to you for setting a slow stocking goal. By spacing out the time you add fish you give your bio-filter ample time to grow and handle the new load.

 

hey crystal just to let you now....my nitrates are ant 20-25ppm and i have great looking corals and fish

 

Since a TON of people with cycle with clowns anyways, i wouldn't think adding you pair would be a big deal

 

ive decided to add the 2 clowns tommorow but just wondered can i also add 1 cleaner shrimp too??