Freshwater Aquaruim

Question
I have a 35 gallon tank that previously had 3 fairly large Tinfoil Barbs in it. The fish were being over-fed and Ammonia problems developed and I lost the fish over a several week period ( treated with Amquell and didnt see a significant change ). With no Fish to be concerned about I saved most of the water and thoroughly rinsed the gravel and cleaned the decorations and rocks, bought a new Bio-Wheel , oversized filter ( 50 gallon in a 35 gallon tank ) . I placed the Sponge Bio Pad from the old filter inside of the new Filter area to help start Beneficial bacteria development and Have everything up and running for a week now.  Im also running an air pump and a large airstone to increase aeriation. Here are the results of my Water tests.  Im reading 1.5 PPM of Ammonia , a PH of 5.5  ,  Zero Nitrites and 40 PPM Nitrates .    Im obviously concerned with the Low Ph reading and the high Nitrates ( my source water is Bottled water )  I have done two partial water changes this week, each time changing 5 gallons . Im confused and not sure where to go from here ..... any Suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks  Steve

Answer
Hi Steve,
So you are using bottled water? Can you just use your tap water? Seems like it'd be such a hassle to use bottled water. (if that's even what you really meant).

What I would do is give your tank some more time and switch to your normal source water (don't forget conditioner!) and do a large water change on your tank.

Your tank is very new still so patience is very important during this time. Also- make sure any water additive you are adding isn't conflicting with your test kits reagents. Most any ammonia neutralizers will say on the label what test kit reagents they are compatible with.

Best of luck and I hope this helps!
Karen~