Hi there! I'm new to this site and I could use some good advise.
I recently bought a Juwel 180 vision tank, second hand. Being a novice, I set up - gravel, plants, water - without checking the gravel, only to discover that it was filthy and hadn't been washed by last owner. Duh! So now the water looks like soup.
Next, I tried using the gravel cleaner and syphoned off about a third of the tank water then removed all the gravel for washing. I topped up with clean water, added some tank cycle solution and left the filter and air stone to clear the tank water. After 24 hours the water was clear so I changed the white top filter which was beyond filthy. With the exeption of this white filter pad I had used all the filter media (blue fine sponges, coarse blue sponges and black carbon) from the last owner.
Now, four days later, the tank is all planted and arranged and today I took my first water readings which were as follows:
PH = 8.6 (Hard water area) Amonia = 0, Nitrite = 0.25, Nitrate = 0.
How do I interpret this and what should I do next? Was it a mistake to keep the previous filter media - should I replace any or all? I plan to keep telescopes and ranchus when the water is safe but could I put in a hardy fish now or not? Any advise would be very welcome.
Thanks in advance, Pixiefish

Personally i would have thrown out all the old media the previous person had owned, boiled the gravel for a while and washed the tank with a weak bleach solution. You have NO idea what they would have had in the tank before, what diseases or parasites it could be harbouring.

As for your cycle, your not going to get anywhere without any ammonia. You can either do a fishless cycle, which i cant do because no one sells ammonia here, so i cant comment on that. Or buy a fish to start the cycle. I've never gone out and bought a fish just for the purpose of cycling though, seeing as i've always had fish i've always used one of them. But do a search on this board, you will find heaps of info, if you have any more questions feel free to ask

By the way, how big is that tank?

Thanks for getting back so fast. The tank size is about 32 gallons. It looks so beautiful now it's planted that I almost can't face re-doing it - on the other hand I don't want to be running a beautiful death-camp! I washed the gravel in hot water not boiling. Regarding the filter - the last guy kept tropicals. Are there any disease treatments for an aquarium once is up and running? Or should I just bite the bullet?

OK. So, I've spoken to the previous owner of my tank who says that for the past 18 months he had the tank, his fish were never prey to diseases or parasites etc and were super healthy. So I'm less worried about having set up an unhealthy tank. I'm wondering if the lucky thing might be that I've already got a colony of good bacteria and I won't have to do the fishless cycle I was planning on.....
Following on from my last post: Day 1- set up tank, day 2 planted up, Day 3 -removed all the gravel for washing and did a 1/3 tank water change as water was gross + installed a rena 300 pump, Day 4 - replanted, Day 5 did water test - PH: 8.6, Amonia:0.25, Nitrite:0.25, Nitrate:20. Today is Day 5 and I was curious to see if there's any change and...PH: 8.6, Amonia: 0.0, Nitrite: faintest trace not even 0.25, Nitrate up to 80. What is the ideal Nitrate level and could I introduce fish in a couple of days? Only thing, I also tested my tap water which comes out at 7.8. Why would the tank be MORE alkaline than tap water? Anyone????

sounds like your tank is cylcing well, once the nitrite is 0.0, along with ammonia 0.0, nitrate needs to be below 20, i think, so do a 20% water change every day till it is. then you will be ready for the first fish

about the alkaline thingy, its probably something in the tank like the gravel which is bumping it up, do you have any rocks etc. in there?

Edit: sorry i just read your other thread and if the nitrate is dropping dont worry bout the water changes.. sorry im not great at this, iv never cycled a tank with test kits before so i never know whats actually going on in my water when its going on!

With a PH of 7.8 out of the tap, your water is already alkaline enough that it won't cause any kind of rocks to leach anything into your tank water that could effect the PH.

One of the most common causes for PH to rise after it comes out of the tap is dissolved gases in the tap water. CO2 is normally the culprit. When CO2 is dissolved in water it creates carbonic acid (H2CO3) which will lower the PH.

When the tap water is left to sit out or is aerated, some of the carbonic acid will convert back into CO2 and this CO2 will dissipate into the atmosphere allowing the PH to rise to its true level.

An easy way to check if this is what is going on with your water is to fill a bucket with tap water and check the PH. Then let the water sit for a day and check the PH again. If the PH has gone up, chances are good it's from dissolved CO2.

7.8 to 8.6 isn't that bad. My tap water comes out of the tap at 7.0/7.2. After its sat out for a day it goes up to 8.2/8.4. If you do see a rise in the PH when you test your water, I'd suggest letting the water sit out for at least a day before using it for water changes.

If you don't see a PH increase when you test your tap water, the PH rise could be caused by your plants. Your plants will use dissolved CO2 during photosynthesis and give off oxygen. Without any fish, in the tank, to replace the CO2 the PH could rise and your plant growth will slow down.

Wow! Impressive chemistry lesson, thanks. I will try as you suggest and, just to be sure, I've pulled a suspiciously porous, limestoney looking rock from the tank. When it's dry tomorrow I'll test by pouring some vinager or citric acid over it to see if it fizzes (does that sound right?) I've already tested the gravel which is fine. Failing that I'll direct my attention to the plants - maybe remove them until I get the fish?

Thank you too, Lucy-Fish. I'm just waiting for the nitrite to disappear and to sort out the PH - then........FISHIES!