ammonia, nitrites and nitrates always rising! need help!

[irons414]

i had a 10 gallon hexagon tank for a while stocked with a rainbow cichlid, 1 waterfall barb, 1 greenish/blue cory (really very pretty), and 1 black paradise fish. it had an rugf in operation which i removed and the tank went thru a re-cycle. that was several weeks ago, like almost 3 months! i had a thread going on about it on the "getting started" forum on this website...

about 2 weeks ago, i bought a 15 gallon high tank. i used most of the same water and all the old gravel. i have the all the same fish in the current tank. the water params are always changing, like within a matter of days.
2 days ago:
ammonia: 0-.25
nitrite: .05
nitrate: 50-100

i did nothing but add some amquel to the water.

today, they read:
ammonia: 1.0-2.5
nitrite: .05
nitrate: 50-100

i use the red sea test kits. i just did a 50% water change to hopefully ease the levels. i mean, whats going on?! i dont think im overstocked; the biggest fish i have is the rainbow and hes at 3.5-4". the other fish are only like 2-3" or so.

it has a penguin 150 on it with a pot scrubbie in the box with my own media cartridge the bio-wheel has been operating on the tanks for 4-5 months now. i also run an air pump to a big hydro sponge filter.
i dont know what to do to cure these water issues. i mean, the params are ALWAYS like this! i would really appreciate any insight.

[MisticX]

you experience a mini cycle

the bacteria alone in the gravel and plants/decor was not enough to support the whole population.

if you would have moved the filter too ... i think it was perfect

[dropin]

sounds like you are going through a major cyle, if the parms don't come down with the water change, i would try a couple of things:
a. test the water before you put it in the tank, a nitrate level of 50-100 is way too high for a two week old tank. i believe you are getting nitrates in the local water
b. add some stress zyme or related product, to build up the bacteria.
c. put a different media cartridge in, one that has a ammonia remover in it.

[meegosh]

I'd do a water change to get the ammonia down a bit. I would also test your local water for nitrates to see how far off you really are. I would add any other media you can to the new tank that may have beneficial bacteria on it. I would disagree with replacing the media cartridge like dropin suggested. You would be essentially starting over again. I'd keep it in and do the water changes (dechlorinated) to get the ammonia readings down.

[irons414]

well, ive been doing some thinking. this cycling thing should have gone away weeks ago, as it was months ago i pulled my rugf. in addition, when gravel vacing i hardly ever siphon up excess food or find much food on the filter pads.

so, i think it may be that the water conditioners i am using are faulty or the scrubbers that i had wedged in the penguin are leaching something into the water to cause these troubles.

to start, i pullled the scrubbers and will maintain all else as i ahve been for the past weeks. if there is no change, then it could be the water conditioner. i have been using novaqua and amquel recently, but for years i used jungle's start right with success.

also, the water was slightly cloudy all the time too. so, i built my own filter using a pepsi plastic jar, an aquaclear powerhead, a sink strainer, seachem matrix, and some floss. it has been running for about 8 hours now. the water cleared up in about an hour after setting the thing up. right now, the water is crystal clear. maybe i should post a thread about this...