[McCrary]

Monitor your nitrites and wait until they are all converted to nitrates, then wait a little before doing any water changes. Then see if the nitrates are down and you don't have any ammonia. 1.026 is fine, but I like mine around 1.025 so that I have .001 in either direction. Don't worry about your pH, it should stabilize on its own, it isn't necessarily important that it be 8.3, but it should be stable. Get a refractometer as soon as possible, it can you save you a lot of trouble. I got mine off marinedepot.com. I like to add fish before coral, but people have done it either way.