u/BroadCartoonist973

I have a buddy whose African cichlids started breeding like crazy. Mbuna, peacock, you freaking name it. So he offered me some of the fish. I told him I will get some when I get a 55 gallon tank. (I have heard mbuna can go in there.) So before I start this tank can some of you give me things I need to know?

Things I already know: They need pH of 7.8 to 8.6 and hard water, and I need to highly stock the tank. They also need rockwork as well

I have four fish that are in a temporary tank. They're currently in a 20 gallon but they're going to be moved to a 75 gallon soon. My idea is to net them into a bucket and acclimate them slowly over time using a safe method. Then I would net the fish until the tank. Results on Google said that I can only do that if the tank has the exact same bioload as the other one, but I am not adding in the water from the temporary tank into the new one.

Ammonia: 0 ppm

Nitrite: 0.50 ppm

Nitrate: 10 ppm

pH: 7.6

Yesterday, there was a leak (not a tank leak but a pipe leak where my tank was cycling. I immediately dosed prime because the water has chlorine. But when I checked my parameters today, there seemed to be an ammonia spike and nitrites stayed the same (ammonia before was 0 ppm and now it is 1 ppm and the nitrite was 0.50 before and after).

I know ammonia spikes are usually signs of a crashed cycle. Did I f**k this up or will it be okay?

Ammonia: 1 ppm

Nitrite: 2 ppm

Nitrate: 20 ppm

pH: 7.8

I have a. 75 gallon aquarium that im currently trying to cycle. I started yesterday and added bacteria.

Water parameters yesterday: 0 ppm nitrite, 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrate

Water parameters today: 0 ppm nitrite, 2 ppm ammonia, 80 ppm nitrate