What are the levels supposed to be in a healthy aquarium? I just tested mine yesterday, and I cleaned it the day before. Does cleaning it before the test effect the results? If not are my levels okay? Ammonia- 0.6 Nitrite- 0.1 pH- 7.6 (Has anyone heard of GH and KH?) GH- 400 KH- 120 Nitrate- somewhere between 50 and 110.

In a healthy cycled tank, ammonia and nitrite should be 0, nitrate should be anywhere up to 20 ad the pH should remain consistently steady at any point between 6.8 and 8.5. GH and KH are measurements of water hardness; if they are over 100 then your water is hard enough to stop the pH swinging.

So, your test shows that ammonia and nitrite are a slight problem (is your tank still cycling for some reason?), nitrate is a real problem - you need to do some large water changes to get that down to 40 or lower - and your pH, GH and KH are all fine.

It's usual to test before you do cleaning and water changes; that gives you a more accurate picture of what the conditions are actually like in the tank.

HTH.

Yeah, I just did a major water change 2 days ago, I cleaned all the rocks took out about half t he water, cleaned all the ornaments etc etc etc. So maybe that may contribute to the high Nitrates. <_<

Maybe... but it shouldn't have had a huge effect.

To keep nitrates down, do weekly 40% changes and deep gravel cleans, add more live plants and allow some algae to grow (plants use nitrates as fertiliser) and cut feeding down to once a day for 2 - 3 minutes only. That should help.

I do feed them only once a day, but I don't think my tank is really big enough for a plant...are they hard to take care of? Thanx!

Java Ferns are very easy to take care of; just tie the bottom bit of one to a rock and drop it in the tank! They will grow in virtually any conditions.

How small is your tank by the way and how many fish are in it? If it's overcrowded then that would be why the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are all up.