Hi. Im very new to this hobby. I currently have a 30L tank (roughly 10 gallons). Ive set up this tank last week (Sunday , 2nd May 2021). I use dry rock and crushed coral (also dry). I run with a hang on filter, some bio media, a small wavemaker and also a bag of activated carbon (no lights yet since I am not planning to add corals yet). Ive went to my local fish store and have picked up Saliferts nitrite and ammonia test kits and also a salinity test kit( the refractometer).
The guy at the store recommended me to use Microbacter7 to start cycling my tank , dosing it everyday for the past week. The store also told me that tap water was sufficient enough for now (dosed with antichlorine). I dont know my tap water perimeters (I live in east Malaysia) but I trusted the guy at the shop since he seemed like he knows alot about what he is doing. Im planning to buy some RODI water soon as soon as I add fishes. My question is how long should it take before it is safe to add fishes? (planning to add clowns). Ive read a constant ammonia reading of <0.15 to 0.25 (not quite sure since Im quite new) since the past 2-4 days and Ive seen little to none nitrite levels in my tank since day 1. Am I doing this right? Is it just a game of waiting right now? And also, Ive found out Brightwells product called microbacter starter XLM which is used to cycle faster, so I am afraid that the shop gave me the wrong product to start cycling. Will it still cycle with Microbacter 7? He told me that this cycle would finish at around 1-2 weeks using this microbacter 7. I hope Im doing this correctly since Ive invested some of my good money on this tank (Im a student so its quite a big deal for me haha)
The guy at the store recommended me to use Microbacter7 to start cycling my tank , dosing it everyday for the past week. The store also told me that tap water was sufficient enough for now (dosed with antichlorine). I dont know my tap water perimeters (I live in east Malaysia) but I trusted the guy at the shop since he seemed like he knows alot about what he is doing. Im planning to buy some RODI water soon as soon as I add fishes. My question is how long should it take before it is safe to add fishes? (planning to add clowns). Ive read a constant ammonia reading of <0.15 to 0.25 (not quite sure since Im quite new) since the past 2-4 days and Ive seen little to none nitrite levels in my tank since day 1. Am I doing this right? Is it just a game of waiting right now? And also, Ive found out Brightwells product called microbacter starter XLM which is used to cycle faster, so I am afraid that the shop gave me the wrong product to start cycling. Will it still cycle with Microbacter 7? He told me that this cycle would finish at around 1-2 weeks using this microbacter 7. I hope Im doing this correctly since Ive invested some of my good money on this tank (Im a student so its quite a big deal for me haha)