Hey again,
thanks so much for everyones advice, I see your point regrding the carbon and the ammonia remover, should I remove these and replace all the baskets with biomax? or just leave them empty?
Its early days I know, but here are the results from water I checked last night
PH 7.6
Ammonia 2.0
Nitrite 5.0
Nitrate 5.0
The ammonia reading has come down from its initial reading of 8.0!! the nitrite has remained the same, but I guess that will peak after approx 10 days? then its the nitrite that will be high, thats an indication that the bacteria have converted the ammonia to nitrite, am I right in this line of thinking? I dont know, AAAHHHHH! after about a month the nitrite will convert to nitrate, to prevent high levels building up, partial water changes, once a week? am I on the right lines here? or way off?
Now, do I carry out partial water changes when I see the nitrate level peak, or do them once a week anyway while its cycling? and do I just treat the replaced water with aqua safe only, or add more cycle/stress zyme aswell?
I am concerned about the filtration I have at present, ie, if its man enough for the job! but my budget is extremely limited, so a larger filter just isnt possible. I do have a biolife filter that I had in my beginner tank, but dont really want to use that because it takes up so much room in the tank.
But if it will help, and keep my fish healthy until I have money to beef up my filtration I can do that.
Once the water quality is at its optimum,and I`ve introduced some fish, could someone give me their maintenance routine, weekly and monthly? I guess toxins will ac***ilate at the bottom levels of the tank, as will the general ditritus from the fish and plants. Is it best to once weekly do a partial water change with a gravel syphon, should I remove the rocks and some plants to get good access to the gravel, or only do this once a month to limit the disturbance to the fish? I found it quite bothersome doing water changes last time I had the tank, I know its part of the fishkeeping process, but it always seemed so messy, and I was never happy with cleanliness of the gravel, is it ok to have some "muck" in the gravel, does the bacteria live there aswell or just in the filter?
I did toy with installing an ugf, but I got so many conflicting reports about them, I thought it best to leave it, as I was going to have living plants, I was told they wouldnt do so well, and the filter can clog up. I`ll be so bummed if I made the wrong decision, I dont think I could bear to strip the tank down now to install one! do they keep the gravel cleaner, despite their shortcomings, or can you achieve just as good a result by using a gravel syphon and regular cleaning? your thoughts would be helpful on this one
Another query, ( so many questions, so little time!!! Sorry!) I have the intake of the filter placed in the left hand side of the tank, about 4" in from the side, on the right hand side 8" in is the outlet nozzle, watching the flow as it exits the filter, and watching any bits floating around the intake never seems strong enough to suck in any debris that might be passing, is this normal, I`ve checked the filter and all is working correctly. Should I play around with the positioning of the outlet nozzle to eliminate any dead spots in the flow, or put a powerhead in the tank to enhance the flow around the tank so any debris will be directed toward the intake nozzle?
I know I`m probably fussing, but I want my fish to have a happy well balanced life. In answer to the what fish to get, I`m not sure to be honest, I would like something a bit different, not the usual mollies and etc, I love the cichlids, but not sure if they need special requirements, ph levels etc?
advice and pics if poss would be fab!

If I can work out how to send pics, I`ll attach some piccies of my tank, I`m also technically challenged, so any help with this also!

xxx