LOL And
MTS hits again.
OK, coupla suggestions. You might want to look into a few otos (otocinclus); they can be good algae eaters and are wee lil buggers (1 1/2 - 2"). My only caveat is they need to go into a mature tank, or at least one with algae, so you'll need to make a hard choice. Do a
QT and hope they will eat algae wafers for the 2 weeks (mine did, but not everyones does), or put them directly into the tank and hope they are healthy. Tis sort of a crap shoot either way.
Check those parameters in the morn and see how much they've changed; hopefully the nitrites will be a little higher, nitrates a lot higher and
NO ammonia at all; would mean you are well on your way
Oh, since I'm too lazy to go over the rest of the thread, if we haven't discussed plants and what they can bring in, lemme do that now. A soak in alum, potassium permanganate or a 9-1 ratio water/bleach mix is a REALLY good idea, else you may wind up with snails or
cyano bacteria or other things you don't want.
Btw, this is my plec; he was about 7 1/2" long in the pic:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/592/password//sort/1/cat/all/page/1 . As you can see, they're lovely, but oi. What a clumsy beast
LOL and BIG. Its going to suck to have to give him up, but I can't do a tank larger then 55g here, and he will need a larger tank when he hits a foot long.