New 90 gallon Freshwater African tank

Question
Hi Renee,

I just got a 90 gallon Marineland aquarium from my Hubby as a gift and I have had it running since Thursday.
I am cycling it with a pair of 1" convicts that I had out of my 55 gallon.

My readings so far:
Day one:(set up 11/03/11 night) 0 accross the board ph 7.5-8.0,
Day 2: Ammonia 0.5, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 200ppm, ph 8.0
Day 3: Ammonia 0.25, nitrite 1, nitrate 160, ph 8.0

gh steady at 180 and kh steady at 180

I moved my landscape rocks to my new tank, I have a bag of old sand hanging in front of the filter spray bar.  I ran my Rena XP3 off my old tank for 24 hrs and I transferred the bio floss from my HOB filter to the empty compartments of the Rena.  I also have 3 LED bubblers, a 36" bubble snake, a 300Watt heater, a 30gal powerhead and Daytime/moonlights set on 12hr timers.

My fish are fine so far and are happy digging up everything.  I am also further seeding it by washing out filter foams from both my 55gal and my daughters 27 gal cichlid tank.

Should I test my numbers again?  I'm not sure if my nitrates should be so high or even if my numbers should be so calm.  I know my little fish won't really make that much of a mess so to further add to the "dirty"  I put food pellets in with my gravel bag on the filter.

Oh, in the filter I have stars and my hubby bought me a whole pack of ceramic or stone rings.

Any insight or input you can give would be great.  I would love to be able to buy my africans soon:)

Thank you
Mandy

Answer
Hi Mandy,

What a lovely gift!  Good husband. :)

Well, taking a look at your levels:

My readings so far:
Day one:(set up 11/03/11 night) 0 accross the board ph 7.5-8.0,
Day 2: Ammonia 0.5, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 200ppm, ph 8.0
Day 3: Ammonia 0.25, nitrite 1, nitrate 160, ph 8.0

gh steady at 180 and kh steady at 180

These are perfect examples of a cycling tank.  The cycle has begun and now you have to maintain it properly so the fish aren't effected.  This can take up to a month to finish.

I'd really like to see you start doing 25% water changes every other day during this cycle, because I am seeing (this is okay long as you change water), nitrites forming.  Notice, as nitrites form, ammonia and nitrates level out a little...nitrites are deadly, so let's get them out of the water by changing it constantly until the bacteria has developed enough to stabelize the system.

Go to Petco and buy Biozyme.  Add two teaspoons to four teaspoons of that.  Those are literally dried bacterial seeds which will form in your tank within 3 days to help nutrify the toxins starting to show up in your test (which is good.  You want them to show up or it will never cycle).

You are smart with the addition of live bacteria, but the waste addition will have a dual effect.  Sponges cleaned out into your tank did contain poo and so keep a very good eye on the levels and changes going on.  Do the water changes.  Aerate to keep oxygenation at a high and this will go smoothly.

People kill their tank right off the bat by not changing the water.  Every now and then, someone doesn't want to change it and he's that poor guy at the fish club who's always in to buy fish, because everything dies, and his tank's in a 3 month cycle, rather than a one month cycle. :)

This could go fast as 2 weeks for you.  Ideally, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0, Ammonia 0, Phosphates 0, etc.  PH is good for your tank right off the bat.  Don't add or remove PH balance to the tank.  Your water is approprately PH fed for most fish.

Happy fish-keeping and kudos to your hubby. Two thumbs up for the fantastic present.

Renee