my chiclid tank levels

Question
QUESTION: I am writing this to find out how I can even out my tank levels. I have a 55 gallon chiclid tank.  It has been up and running for year and half and all testing levels have never changed.  Since I have established the cycling of the tank my levels are as such Nitrate 200ppm, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, Hardness 300GH, Alkalinity 0, and pH 6.2.  In the last year I have only had two fish die.  There has been some births and I have sold some and there are about 22 chiclids in the tank.  They are all lake Malawi and range in size of a half inch to seven inches.  Currently the fish eat Chiclid Crisp once per day.  I have absolutley no algea.  I have a fair amount of plants and lots of rock.  No limestone rocks.  I do water changes of about 30% twice a week.  I have two sponge filters, one bio wheel filter and a general double waterfall filter.  I also have two corner blue buble filters and a twelve inch buble stone.  The temperature of the tank is 76 degrees.  Is there any help you can give me on fixing my test levels.

ANSWER: Hi Dustin,
Well, I don't mean to refuse to answer what you precisely asked. But are you sure the test kits are accurate? With the readings of pH and Alkalinity, most african cichlids would be very, very sickly and not be doing well at all. And with no Alkalinity, there should be pH crashes constantly. Which would prove lethal to most fish. This is quite baffling and would make me question the accuracy of the test kits used. Something they can get old. I would try bringing some water to the petstore and have them test it (they'll do it for free) or try a brand new liquid test kit.

For African cichlids, they appreciate an Alkalinity of 10-18 KH, GH of 12-20, and a pH of 7.8-8.5

*The reason I don't recommend any chemicals or additives is because adjusting your water chemistry is -very- dangerous. Its very easy to change the levels too quickly and kill all your fish.

I would definitely question the accuracy of the test kits. Try bringing a water sample to your petstore and getting the readings.

I hope this helps!
Karen~




---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your response.  I took water samples to chain stores PetCo and Pet Smart then two to locally owned aquatic specialty stores.  All of their test match mine.  This is seriously no joke.  I have had these fish to long to loose them now.  They are part of the family and everyone that comes over loves the tank.  Now that I have my results done by me and results from four other places what do I do should I do to try to correct this?  I had a 150 gallon salt water tank for a few years that I did not have this much trouble with.  I donated all the fish, tank and bio setup that I had.  My friend told me to get some crushed coral to try and raise the pH and put in alot of plant life for now to bring down the nitrate.  I just changed out all of the filters (which I did one to two times monthly already).  The test I did right before I wrote this comes out the same as when I wrought the first time.  This is very weird to me and a fluke a nature that the fish survive.  Can you help or can you point me to someone that may know?

Answer
Hi Dustin,
I appreciate you taking a water sample to petco and petsmart. I have honestly never heard of such a drastic test reading for those levels. This is quite a unique situation. Apparently you have very soft water with no buffering capacity. This is always considered dangerous because the danger of crazy pH swings.

This is going to take some figuring out. I'm glad your fish are ok though...its quite a miracle.

*I'm wondering that since dissolved organics produce acid, which lowers the pH-- and your buffering capacity usually absorbs the acid and keeps the pH stable. With such high nitrates, the Alkalinity must be used up in no time and so the pH is allowed dropped very low. I hope that makes sense. ;-) Water changes are the best solution to nitrate problems but sometimes tap water sources already have high nitrates. So doing water changes only adds to the problem. Undergravel filters are commonly responsible for high nitrates, due to trapping waste underneath the plate. But I don't think you said you had an undergravel filter.
*There are products like Nitrazorb which can be added to your filter to absorb nitrates as well as ammonia and nitrites. If you haven't already, I would definitely test your tapwater and see what the test results come out as.

This whole thing definitely needs detective work. I know we can figure something out. Let me know how the tap water tests out.

Have a good weekend!
Karen~