Should I add fish at NO2 at 2?

[minionyellow]

Hello everyone. I would like to ask a question about the cycling of my tank. It has been running for two weeks, and I bought live rock from the local aquarium store. For the first ten days, the NH3 level was 0 and NO2 was 0.1. Last Friday, I removed the live rock from the tank for aquascaping, but I left it out too long and mistakenly washed the rock with RO water, I think it probably killed the good bacteria and organisms on it. Since that day, I've experienced an increase in NO2 and NO3 levels. The next day, I added a bottle of fritzzyme turbo start 900 to the tank. Evening, the reading was NH3 at 0.15, NO2 at 1, and NO3 at 10. Yesterday, the readings were NH3 at 0.15, NO2 at 2, and NO3 at 25. Today, my friend gave me a bag of old bacteria balls and some old biofilter cotton to place in my tank for fast cycling. The current readings are NH3 at 0.15, NO2 at 2, and NO3 at 25. So far, there has been no algae growth on the sand or the tank walls. My friend advised me to wait, while another experienced fishkeeper suggested I release the fish now, claiming that the system would stabilize quickly if the tank had fish and as long as the water was clear I could add fish, I highly doubt it. He also recommended buying a cheap fish to test the waters. I'm unsure what to do and would appreciate your guidance. Thank you very much.

 

[minionyellow]

Hello everyone. I would like to ask a question about the cycling of my tank. It has been running for two weeks, and I bought live rock from the local aquarium store. For the first ten days, the NH3 level was 0 and NO2 was 0.1. Last Friday, I removed the live rock from the tank for aquascaping, but I left it out too long and mistakenly washed the rock with RO water, I think it probably killed the good bacteria and organisms on it. Since that day, I've experienced an increase in NO2 and NO3 levels. The next day, I added a bottle of fritzzyme turbo start 900 to the tank. Evening, the reading was NH3 at 0.15, NO2 at 1, and NO3 at 10. Yesterday, the readings were NH3 at 0.15, NO2 at 2, and NO3 at 25. Today, my friend gave me a bag of old bacteria balls and some old biofilter cotton to place in my tank for fast cycling. The current readings are NH3 at 0.15, NO2 at 2, and NO3 at 25. So far, there has been no algae growth on the sand or the tank walls. My friend advised me to wait, while another experienced fishkeeper suggested I release the fish now, claiming that the system would stabilize quickly if the tank had fish and as long as the water was clear I could add fish, I highly doubt it. He also recommended buying a cheap fish to test the waters. I'm unsure what to do and would appreciate your guidance. Thank you very much.

I also add seachem stability everyday since week 2

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’d ignore the nitrate, but I’d verify that added ammonia goes down within a day.

 

[PharmrJohn]

There are many ways to cycle a tank. Both with fish and without. For the sake of the fish, though, I'd wait until the cycle is complete. You may not lose the fish, but they won't be having a good time. But this is just me. The fish have already had a rough go being removed from their native environment. It would be kind to put them in another environment that mirrors their original.