On Sep 12, 7:05 am, Tynk wrote:
On Sep 11, 4:41?pm, "Reel McKoi" wrote:

"RichardB" wrote in message

... Check your tap water for nitrate levels - you may be adding nearly as much
as you are taking out!

=====================
I got a reading of zero from the faucet. ?But other times I got readings as
high as 30.

RM....

Being that this was an older tank, it's very possible it was going (or
is) going through "old tank" syndrome.
Even with your 90% water change before adding several new fish, it
would have taken several more changes to do the job.
If you don't want to stress the new fish any more than they already
have been, you could consider doing more frequent, smaller water
changes.
You could daily small changes and stress them less than a large, once
a week water change.
I wouldn't do the *once every 2 weeks* on water changes with this
tank.
After you get the nitrates back down and the nitrifying bacteria have
increased their numbers to handle the bio load of all the new
arrivals, and the tank is back to being peachy, you could go back to
your normal 2 week schedule. However, you might also want to stick
with the smaller, weekly changes.

As Tynk stated, your tank is most likely going through old tank
syndrome.

Besides the use of Prime which I also recommend, here are a few other
suggestions for lowering your nitrates:

*Perform a water change using a gravel vacuum to remove not just dirty
water, but "mulm" that will decompose and enter the nitrogen cycle and
eventually become nitrates.
This can be a particular problem with Under Gravel Filters (UGF),
decomposing organic debris will tend to build up under the filter
plate. For these filters I recommend occasionally removing the lift
tubes and placing a siphon into the opening and removing as much
organic debris (mulm) as possible.
Even without UGF, poor vacuuming procedures (or none at all) can
contribute to high to high nitrates. Make sure and vacuum around and
under ornaments as well, although be careful around live plants.

*Proper filtration and maintenance; Make sure and regularly rinse in
de-chlorinated or used aquarium water (never tap water) your bio
filter media. This includes bio rings and balls commonly found in wet
dry filters and canister filters, sponge filters, bio wheels, or any
other media that is not changed in the filter. This is especially
important with filters that tend to become "nitrate factories", which
include in my experience (AND tests) to be; Canister Filters, Wet-Dry
filters, and Emperor Filters. This is not to say these filters are
bad, it is just important to not ignore properly cleaning these
filters even though their large capacity makes it very easy to do.

For more about this subject, please see this article:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts....gen_Cycle.html

You may have also a disease or virus present in your aquarium, so
please watch for symptoms. One possible disease that shows little
symptom is Ichthyophonus which is a fungus (not to be confused with
ich). For mo http://aquarium-answers.blogspot.com...s-in-fish.html


You might consider SeaChem's Purigen as well. Although I do disagree
with the statement about added hardness (or GH), studies have shown
that hardness (not KH) controls pH spikes during hours of peak
photosynthesis even when KH is adequate. Calcium is also important for
proper osmoregulation as well.
See these articles:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts....iumPlants.html
There is a graph here;
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/ClearPond.html

Carl