New reef set up, some questions

[Bartman1818]

Alright...I am day 4 into cycling my proposed reef tank.

The set up:

40 Gallon Glass Tank, No sump
1 Tunze Protein Skimmer
2 Koralia 2 power heads
1" Argonite Sand Bed
50 lbs Live Rock
1 Digital Thermometer
1 Shatterproof Submersible Heater 150 W
Complete Test Kit for dKH, PH, Phosphorous, Calcium, Ite's and Ate's, Ammonia, etc etc.
Hydrometer

Current environment
Sg - 1.023 (will add more salt on next water replenish to get to 1.025)
dKH - 12
PH - 8.0
Calcium - 500 ppm
Nitrates - 20 ppm
Amm - 0.25 ppm
Nitrites - 1.0 ppm

Questions:
1) Are these readings normal for day 4 of cycling
2) What inverts should I purchase as a clean up crew once I am cycled (please list species and quanity)
3) What Soft Corals should I be looking into (common species available and average pricing if you don't mind CAD)
4) How long is the average cycling period or is completely up to my tank?
5) What will I notice when the amm and ite's have dropped to zero, or will I just have to test daily, weekly.
6) How much does the average HO T-5 light go for in Canada and where is the best place to purchase.
7) Are the fans on these units loud at all, it will be in a bedroom and the skimmer is loud enough as is :p
8) When adding salt water to my tank to raise sg, how long should the salt/water be mixing before being added to the tank
9) Does the skimmer removing water/debris lower sg levels?
10) When I do the 50% water replacement to remove nitrate levels once I have cycled, will the sg level decrease if I just add RO water without salt? Will it dilute it or will I have to add more salt to the 50% replenish back to 1.025

Thank you for your time.
Adam Bartman

[Rbacchiega]

Good looking Setup.

1) It's hard to say really, some tanks cycle alot faster than others. It also depends on how "cured" the rock was when you added it to the tank
2) 10-15 Trochus snails, 5-10 Nasarius snails, 10 or so Cerith Snails and if you want, 8-10 Hermit crabs. I try to avoid them whenever possible, but had to pick some up a few days ago to help the tank.
3) Mushrooms (vary from 5-50/per polyp depending on type, colouration etc), polyps (same idea) would do well to start. But you'll need to figure out what kind of lighting you want and that will help with coral choice.
4) Depends on Live Rock....I've had a tank cycle in 2 weeks, another took nearly 2 months
5) Just keep testing the water is the most accurate way
6) depends on brand name, but usually online is the cheapest or buy used from other members
7) not normally. or quiet enough that you'll get used to it
8) Most people mix for a couple hours, usually over night
9) Nope
10)If you add just fresh water your salinity will drop. Alternatively, if you're toping off evaporated water, you wouldn't use salt because the salt itself doesn't evaporate. (Hope that made sense) So if you're doing a water change, add salt comparative to what you're replacing. IE in a 40 gallon tank I'd change 5-10 gallons a week, salt is uaually 1/2 cup per gallon, so you'd be adding 5-10 cups of salt depending on what you take out....


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand fin!

[Madreefer]

1) parameters are fine for only 4 days
2) http://www.jlaquatics.com/info/250/Reef+Custodians.html just check this out, easier than all that typing
3) I would wait a little bit after your cycle to be sure. some easy corals are candy cane, frogspawn, hammer coral not quite softies, most mushrooms easy. we are on different sides of the country so don't know about price there
4) someone else can answer as i have never cycled a tank, but yet have set up alot. thats me and your doing the right thing
5) keep testing. good habit to get in to
6) funny thing, last month was looking at T5's. went to 2 different SW fish stores. bulbs were $10 cheaper at Petsmart of all places. and one of the stores I mentioned earlier was $12 more
7) skimmer will be way louder
8) some people do it for 24hrs. I have mixed up alot and with my system i pretty much have the mixture figured out so i'm at about 5mins
9) it has to be removing alot to make a difference. evaporation causes most of it
10) when doing a water change you use SW. use RO without salt for top ups
sounds like your having a good start with your questions alone. good to see people doing some research, listen to people on here not from the LFS