what should be my nitrate level by now?

I took the carbon out and replaced it with purigen and totally removed the Bio rings since I was never a big fan of them anyway. I had another tank a couple years ago and never used them. All my biological filtration is done by my live rock. My tank has been up 6 weeks and the first cycle is pretty much done just waiting for another week or two before I put anything in it. I still use the black sponge just cut it in half about 1.5 inches thick and instead of the white sponge I am using a purafilter that I cut to fit as well. I would suggest if you make changes to your rsm do them in stages. You can replace the biorings with live rock but not all at once just do alittle a time maybe acouple pieces every couple weeks until done. But all you need to remember is go slow let it grow it think it is some kind of mantra at this forum.