First time tank owner, in theory my daughter's .
We currently have 250Mg/l of Nitrates, if I read our tester right. This seems extremely high. We have a 78 litre tank, and introduced fish 3 weeks ago (6 Dorios, 2 small Corys, 2 platys, 3 harlequins).
Our Ammonia level peaked at 3-4, and is now down to 0.5, which seems right. We had to go away for 3 days and put in a crumbly pyramid feeder, which kept them alive but I worry may have overfed them.
Nitrites also seem a bit high, at 5Mgs.
I have done 2 10% water changes, one a week ago, one today.
Should I be doing a big water change at the end of my cycle? Should I be doing it now or wait until Ammonia is down to zero? And how big should 'big' be?
We currently have 250Mg/l of Nitrates, if I read our tester right. This seems extremely high. We have a 78 litre tank, and introduced fish 3 weeks ago (6 Dorios, 2 small Corys, 2 platys, 3 harlequins).
Our Ammonia level peaked at 3-4, and is now down to 0.5, which seems right. We had to go away for 3 days and put in a crumbly pyramid feeder, which kept them alive but I worry may have overfed them.
Nitrites also seem a bit high, at 5Mgs.
I have done 2 10% water changes, one a week ago, one today.
Should I be doing a big water change at the end of my cycle? Should I be doing it now or wait until Ammonia is down to zero? And how big should 'big' be?