stress to fish

Question
For almost a month now, I have had a 29 gallon tank set up with african cichlids in it. My nitrite level is over 10 ppm. I bought "nitraban", but that doesn't seem to have any effect. I also bought 3 live plants, but I don't know how much they will help either. I am going to try changing about 10% of the water everyday for the next 3 days. Do you think that is the best idea? Also, with each water change, what should I add? For now, I am going to add the tap water conditioner and salt. What should I do if this problem continues? Also, our pH level is at about 8. It was low, so we added "proper pH 8.2". Is this good? If not, what should we do?
Thank you for your time and help.

Answer
Hey Danny,

First off, 8 isn't a terrible pH for cichlids. I'd advise 30% every 3 day changes instead of 10% a day. The reason being it reduces water quality fluxuations and spaces them out to reduce stress. I'd also recommend AmQuel+ as a nitrite and nitrate buffer, as it works absolutely amazing. I use it at home in my breeder tanks (fish breeding is nearly impossible to cure ammonia problems on short term scales). It seems though, that you have a fairly good idea of how to care for them, so I'll leave you with just that to think on. Sorry about the long wait on responce, my laptop was lost in transit from the airport!

Best wishes.