dear Charlie

I would add some life sand instantly! This will help to stabilize your
whole Nitrogen Bugdet i.e. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate. You can't do much
wrong with this stuff. Contrary to some other people I truly believe
that the big spike of ammonia is yet to come. Even if the ammonia itself
will not be too dangerous for the fishes, the ammonia will be oxidized
to nitrite, and that IS a killer for any fish. The sooner you get your
nitrogen cycle well established the better it is for your fishes. Don't
worry too much about salinity right now, it is a bit low but many
importers/dealers run their systems on 1.018 or even 1.015.
There is one thing that you did not mention, Phosphate. How much do you
have?

Best wishes from Germany

Jens



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.

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'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.

But first, I await your wisdom.

My humble thanks,

--Charlie Henderson