Nitrate info for a newbie !

#1
Hi All I have a 10 gallon tank that i've been kinda neglecting a little since getting my 55, the 10 gallon is about 5 weeks old now and have 3 tiger barb's in it and lately been noticing there looking alittle peaky well I won a full water test kit on ebay this week and got it yesterday so i ran tests on all my tanks i have a 5 a 10 and a 55 gallon well all look great except for the 10 the ph is good and the ammonia is good
but the nitrate went off the chart !!
so i did a 30 % water change and now the fish are looking like they should be, ill test the water again tonite when i get home figure that will be about 24hrs in this tank ih ave a cheapo filter and a nice mini penguin that i got from the local LFS After my first fiasco with that tank when i lost 2 nice rainbow fish, well after that i started fresh with both filters in there and new gravel even, waited 2 weeks brougth the water to the lfs and he said i shoudl be ok to get a couple fish so he recommended 3 tiger barbs and they are great watchign them swim after each other, anyhoo my question is what can i do to prevent this from happening again
frequent water changes ? also i noticed some build up of Algae on  the fake plant i have in it and the back of the glass
even a little on the rocks i cleaned off the plant with hot water and the rocks i just mixed them up a little when i did the cleaning of 30%
so what do i do about that ? i was thinkign about getting a 40 gallon and putting the barbs in it with some nice plants live kind and a few rainbows because i really like the  way they look and then using the 10 gallon for fry or as ahospital for the african cichlids i have in my 55g tank, but for now while there in the 10 gallon what cani use to keep my tank clean of Algae, i have a sucker fish in my 55g but i heard they get very big !! would u put one in a 10 gallon ?
thanks for all your help

Rd
 

eseow

Large Fish
Oct 22, 2002
218
0
0
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
#5
Your tank sounds like its not completely cycled, or you may have to smalll of a bio-filter. What filtration system are you using, 5 weeks old sounds a little long to complete cycling a tank. Try to keep the nitrite levels low but not too low if you tank hasn't cycled yet. Will only extend the nitrite stage in your tank if not kept up to build the nitrifying bacteria in the bio-filter. *twirlysmiley*