Nitrate high/change water now?

[traco]

Yesterday was the first day with adding ammonia that the ammonia levels were down to trace in my 65 gallon which has been running for just about a month now. Levels were low so added a capful of ammonia to keep the bacteria going. Today the ammonia is still low and nitrites are 3.3 or maybe more on my Hagen nitrite test kit. My nitrate is showing 40? Definately above 10 which you don't want to have for discus, right? Is it high because the tank has been going for a month now and no water changes?

I have a prefilter on the canister and a hydro IV sponge in the tank. I took out the gravel over a week ago and have just 5 plants in pots and have bare bottom now. Is the canister not a good thing to have for this reason of high nitrates? Should I keep it going if I get a Aqua Clear or Penguin until that is seeded and then take away the canister altogether?

I know I can bring down the levels of nitrate with water changes but do I want to do that with no fish yet? I'll be doing a almost 100% water change the day before I get my fish. Can it wait till then?

Do I keep adding a capful of ammonia daily or every couple of days to keep the cycle going? Especially with the levels of nitrate showing? Probably will be the end of next week for my 6 juvenile discus to arrive (thanks Barb Newell) :)

After tons of reading thought I'd have things figured out but of course, just replace one question with another! I realize that water changes daily are important for the health of the babies. Does everyone age their tap water for 24 hours before adding to tank? My PH stays pretty much the same or at least the fish store said so. It was above 7 for PH but consistency is more the key to PH rather than trying to achieve the "perfect" PH. I don't have a test kit for PH yet. :(

Do you add anything to your tap water before adding to the tank such as Prime? No trace of ammonia in my tap water which I just tested.

Thank you.

[Cosmo]

Traco,

The nitrates aren't a problem so long as you don't have any fish in the tank, I'd say wait until your nitrites reach zero before going for the WC's. Since you still have trace levels of ammonia, every other day is probably ok.

If your water has chlorine or chloramines you should add something like Prime, or, Prime itself :) to your tap water. Always best to age the water w/ airation and heater for 24 hours to make sure it's stable.

hth
Jim

[Carol_Roberts]

A capful of ammonia every other day will be plenty. IF the nitrIte levels get too high you can do a partial water change to bring them down to say 10 - sometimes the cycle stalls if the nitrites get too high.

[gators111]

Every other day should be plenty. Then a day before the fish arrive do a total water change with aged water and you be all set.