Charlie,

It doesn't sound as if you are too far away from where you need to be.
See more below...

Charles Henderson wrote:
The main problem here was the very short deadline. It had me doing
things I wouldn't ordinarily do. (If there's a drawback to pursuing your
hobby at someone else's expense, it's that you have to keep in mind that
you're not the boss!) But my friend's a very reasonable fellow and he's
allowed me to do pretty much as I please, within certain widely-placed
guidelines. But the damn deadline...

Keep a close eye on the A/N/N readings. Two weeks isn't really enough
time for a tank to properly cycle, and you will likely see at least a
small cycle. If you start to get Ammonia/Nitrite readings ... do water
changes.

Long story short, The Christmas Party was Saturday night, the tank
looked marvelous - crystal-clear with happy-looking fish and critters,
but now I've got animals in a tank with water chemistry that's not quite
right.

Temp. 79
Salinity 1.019
PH 7.9
Ammonia 0

Haven't tested for Nitrite/Nitrate yet.

The animals:

4 Green Chromis
2 Clarkii Clowns
2 Yellowtail Blue Damsels
1 Coral Beauty (medium)
1 Yellow Tang (small)
2 Cleaner Shrimp
6 Blue Leg Hermits

The tank is devoid of algae at this point, and there is no substrate.
Just the old rock that's nothing more than base rock now, with just the
bacteria living in it. I plan to add more live rock to re-seed the tank
with algaes and other micro-critters, plus about a half-inch of
aragonite toward the front of the tank for those that like to forage on
the bottom.

I wouldn't put any algaes in the display tank. They can become very
invasive and hard to control. If you add more LR, be sure that it is
fully cured before adding, or again, you'll spark a cycle.

So, what are your suggestions for getting the water chemistry right?
Bring the PH up first? How best to do that? Add the aragonite *first*,
as a buffer? There's a kalkwasser generator in the cabinet that's yet to
be brought online...

I wouldn't mess with the chemistry via additives. The pH is a bit low,
but not dangerously. The salinity is low, but where you want it depends
on whether you're looking at a reef tank, or fish-only. Kalkwasser is a
great mechanism to maintain calcium, alk, & pH.

I'll be doing more-frequent-than-usual water changes for a time, maybe
10 percent a week for the next few weeks, and I'll gradually raise the
salinity to 1.021 that way.

If you're going to do fish-only, I'd gradually (over the course of a
couple weeks), raise the salinity to 1.023. If you're aiming for a
*reef* tank, you should be at 1.025 - 1.026. Also, if you'll be keeping
mobile invertebrates (snails, crabs, etc.), then you'll need to be
around 1.025. The *key* is raising it slowly.

After you wait out any potential cycle, and do a couple water changes to
bring your parameters in check, you might want to think about beefing up
your cleaner crew considerably - a bunch of different snails, maybe a
brittle or serpent star, etc.

Here is a link to my personal site, I have quite a few reference/setup
articles on he

http://home.comcast.net/~76fxe/

Also, here is the reef forum/commmunity that I run - you are welcome to
visit any time - lots of great information and helpful members:

http://www.reefsanctuary.com

Take it easy,
Teri