I messed up, can you help?

[Vicksta]

I moved house and upgraded my tank from a 20g to a 40g.
I pulled a beginners mistake, yes you know what is coming up.
I filled my 40g with Ice mountain water, set everything else up heater filter etc and let it run for approx. 2 weeks while we moved in.
I was more concerned with the water temp more than anything else.
I chose not to use the well water at the house as we were working on a new softener system and I was unsure of the mineral contents and levels.
I am fully aware that my tank required some bacteria for it to be healthy, however chose the spring water root to be safer than the iron mess of the tap water.
I introduced my fish, all of the old uncleaned ornements and they are doing well.
4 Weeks in and I purchased a new fish last week. He died rather rapidly much to my dismay.
I checked my water levels with the rather inacurate test strips (The full test kit is ordered and will be here this week) I was shocked to find the high levels of almost everything except ammonia (that was at zero) in my tank.
Although not very accurate, here is my test:
No3 - 80
No2 - 1
Hardy - 150
Alk - 300
PH - >8.5
Am - 0

My pwc were with Ice mountain water.

I tested my tap water and No3, No2 and hardy were all 0, the alk, PH were the same as above.

I am going to go ahead and pwc daily with my well water (or someone suggests otherwise).

Here is my questions, do I need to do more than a 50% pwc?
How well will the guys cope with the temp changes with my pwc?

I have a 40g basic set up.

I already feel like a donkey's behind right now, so helpful advice would be fantastic.

[fort384]

So you are switching from bottled water to your well water? I wouldn't switch 50% at a time. I would do more like 20% a day, so the fish can adjust to the new parameters.

There is no ammonia because the cycle is semi-established... just got to get that nitrite down to under 0.25. It probably won't take too terribly much longer to get the tank cycled.

For the temperature - when you do your PWC, just match the temp as close as you can. If the water is off by a lot, the sudden temp change can kill your fish.

The pH reading is interesting, but I wouldn't worry about it till your liquid test shows up.

When you settle into your maintenance routine, keep the nitrates below 40.

[Vicksta]

I am unsure whether to continue the bottled water or just use the well water (I used nothing but well water for my last tank and it was fine).

I shall go ahead and do the 25% change, I guess if it is done daily it will eventually add up.

I appreciate the swift response!

I do finger test the water temp and try to match it to what feels about the same.

[fort384]

I would go with the well water.

[Vicksta]

Will do.

Thanks so much for the help!

[fort384]

You are very welcome... I wanted to clarify too, I would do 20-25% over several days while you are swapping over from bottled to well water... but after several days of that, and with regular maintenance there after, there are no issues with doing a 50% PWC.

Best of luck!

[Vicksta]

I am using my API master kit on a reg basis with PWC weekly and everything is now going well. I am still having some high PH levels but my guys do not seem to be bothered by this.

I had a friend over and she commented on how great my tank was and asked me for some advice as all of her fish keep dying. I recommended this site to her and have offered to help her start up a new tank and keep it running successfully. Knowing that I can do that with confidence makes me smiley inside.

Thanks for not being judgmental on my newbie mistakes, and many thanks for directing me to owing a happy tank.