Cycling? Complete?

[Faithinc]

So I've got this wonderful 55g/20g sump system that I've set up and begun the cycle on (first tank ever). I've been ghost feeding and I threw a shrimp in about 13 days ago. I had some amazing quality LR and LS to put in--and I've been monitoring and testing daily. I've been running the skimmer since day one, and I have not installed the lights on the tank yet (wanted to wait until the cycle was complete). I've balanced out the salinity, ph and temp --all the basics. Though I've been testing every 2nd day, below is a sample from my testing regime for the past 2 weeks.

Day 2:
Ammonia: 1.5-2
Nitrite: 1
Nitrate: 2
Phos: .5
Ph: 8.6
Dkph: 13

Day 5
Ammonia: 1
Nitrite: .5
Nitrate: 2
Phos: .5
Dkph: 13

Day 7
Ammonia: 0.5-1
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 1
Phos: 0-trace
Ph: 8.5

Day 12
Ammonia: 0-trace
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: .25
Phos: 0-trace
PH: 8.2
Dkph: 12

Day 14
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phos: 0-trace
PH: 8.2
Dkph: 8

Again--I'm still ghost feeding once a day with a dead shrimp tied to a LR in the center of the tank. The water is beginning to cloud due to (I think) the bacteria that's consuming the stupid amount of ammonia I'm putting into the tank on a daily basis. Even with this intense regime (for the tank size), my tank is now compensating and has dropped serious toxins to 0.

Now, I'm not going to go out and buy a school of fish, SPS and a ray to throw in my tank--but

1) can I now start to look at a hardy fish--or 2--to add maybe next week? (I want to wait another week to guarantee levels are accurate)

2) And what does a falling DkpH mean? Should I do a water-change now or wait?

3) Should I do a 25-50% WC prior to adding new fish to the tank once my cycle is done?

4) Can I throw in some tiggerpods/Macro Algea to the sump now that my toxicity levels are within reason?

Thanks for reading all of that !:biggrin:!

[subman]

1. yes add a fish
2. a 10% water change is ok
3. just do your normal water changes. 10%/ week
4. pods sure macro i would wait there is no nutrients for them to remove so they may die off releasing phosphates into the system.

(loved the school of fish and sting ray idea rofl)

[naesco]

No I do not think your cycling is complete.

There is no problem in looking at fish you might like. Ask here before you buy to avoid disappointment.
Add your first fish a month after your tank has cycled and one after each month after unless they are tiny fish.
The success in this hobby is patience. The biggest mistake new reefers make is adding too many of the wrong fish too soon.
Good Luck.

[Faithinc]

I think what I'm going to do lies between the two responses:

Going to do a 10% water change with new RO water,
Buy a small (and I mean small) clean-up crew to begin to deal with the algea that's forming on the glass and the tips of the LR. Then next week when the LED's come in, I'll add fish with the LEDs pending another battery of water tests.

Thanks for the responses guys :)