Is it cycled yet?

i am still a beginner so I don't know how good my advise is, but I waited for about 6 weeks before I put fish in my tank. Then I bought a blue chromis and he was in the tank for about 2 weeks before I started putting the fish in my tank that I wanted

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say no its not ready!
I may be wrong but I'm thinking that 3lbs of LIVE rock is going to take some time to seed a tank of DRY rock.
Have you had an ammonia or nitrite spike? Do you have any diatom algae, (brown) or hair algae? These are some signs of your tank cycling.
You could put in a small piece of raw frozen shrimp to help the cycling. 
Like I said I maybe wrong but I think that I'ts going to take it a while longer.
Just my opinion! Hope this helps!
-Rick- 

 

Sounds like you're on your way!  Too many people will rush the process then wonder why things die.
Cycling is just that - the process of the nitrogen "cycle" getting itself established (just like fresh water).  The severity of the cycle and duration depend on a few things, and depending on the situation you may not notice a cycle at all.
The 3 pounds of live rock will create a minimal effect on the system due to the sheer water volume - the solution for pollution is dilution (Army Corp of Engineers).  If it came right from the store to your tank, wasn't exposed to air and if so for a short time, you'll experience little if any die off.
Same for the sand - if it came from a store or another reefer, little die off, if it came from a pre-packaged bag of live sand, then you'll have die off.  You could be experiencing nitrates from the sand, whatever the source, as it's been stirred up.
As for the dry rock - it doesn't have anything to do with the cycle (if it's clean) and is there to provide a place for beneficial bacteria to grow in the future.
It sounds like you're testing?
Nitrates are currently @ 5ppm?  Ammonia and nitrites?
It's important to test frequently during the initial set up of a system so that you can monitor what's happening to get a better idea of where you're at in the cycle.
Initially, you'll get ammonia that will increase, spike, and start to drop as the bacteria gets established.
Same for nitrites - as they spike the ammonia will be dropping to zero, then the nitrites will drop leading to nitrates.
As you currently have nitrates, that doesn't tell us where you're at in the process without knowing the prior parameters.  If you had data that the ammonia and nitrites have already spiked then fallen, you'd be at the end of the cycle.  If you haven't tested before it's hard to say.
I can only speculate that with such a minimal bio-load, and with the rock and sand being established (no die off) you're nearly cycled.
But again - depends on the history of the rock and sand. 
So - did you test along the way or did you wait 10 days to test?
-Eric

 

yes take your time dont rush it a lot of great members on this sight can walk you threw pretty much any thing all you have to do is ask and some one will help you threw it good luck

 

yes take your time dont rush it a lot of great members on this sight can walk you threw pretty much any thing all you have to do is ask and some one will help you threw it good luck

 

Just testing for nitrates won't tell you anything about the cycle.

Here's a Wiki on the nitrogen cycle with a nice graph of how long it takes on average for each spike. The tank could cycle in 10 days if you had a really god starter culture of bacteria like bio-spira.

http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/The_Nitrogen_Cycle

I also would advise against cycling a tank with a fish. Ammonia is very toxic to saltwater fish, so at the very least, dose your tank with Ammo-lock every other day to be sure that the ammonia isn't harming your clown.

 

If ur tank cycled on ten days we all want to kno ur secret!!! LOL. Like everybody else said u need to test amonia and nitrite as they are the toxic forms and if u have either present in will give u a false reading on ur nitrate. After ten days ur amonia is likely going to start falling while nitrite climbs in turn will also show nitrate when in fact the cycle is no where near done. If u already have a fish in there I'd recommend adding Turbostart or Biospira to help the nitrification process a bit and at least help keep the fish alive or less stressed. Those products alone will not cycle a tank properly but if u already have a fish in there it will help break down the amonia and nitrite to less toxic nitrate. IMO do not add anything else untill u have a zero reading on everything with the exception of nitrate being permissable at first. Good luck!

 

Keep an eye on the levels and start doing water changes - a clown is a damsel and can handle cycling better than other fish, but they aren't invincible and you want to keep it as comfortable as possible (best would be to relocate until cycled).

I've never cycled with fish in the tank, but often people with perform 50% water changes until the ammonia is zero - even a small amount of ammonia can be deadly!

-Eric

 

Once your ammonia and nitrite are zero your tank is cycled, but until then would recomend taking the Clownfish out (let a friend or lfs take care of it maybe) until your tank is fully cycled.