Suckie is awesome, I love plecos. Post pics of your unknown cichlids and we can ID them for you. And then can better tell you if you should add the separated cichlid back.
What is the nitrate reading from your tap? If it is 20ppm or higher I'd suggest getting a RO unit. If nitrates in tap are that high water changes help of course but are futile in the long run cause what you are adding is already higher than what you want in the end. Spring water is actually going to be way more expensive and it is surprisingly varied from bottle to bottle so you never know exactly what you're getting. Your LFS might sell RO water too. But IMO with a big pooper like Suckie your best bet is to buy your own RO unit. You could cut your tap with RO or go with only RO water. If you use only RO water you will need to reconstitute it with the proper minerals.
The Typhoon is a popular choice. For comparison...Say you get 1g of spring water for $1 and on your tank you should be changing at least 30% or ~20g every week so in 2 months that RO system would have paid for itself, at a bare minimum.
Prime will detoxify nitrates (to some extent) but the dosage required to remove any nitrates would certainly be deadly. It is good to use as a temporary safety precaution until you figure out a better water situation but not as a long term solution for your nitrates. It can be dosed every 48hrs instead of 24 btw.
If you are not interested in anything I suggested than I strongly recommend trying Pothos plants. Just put their roots in the water and they only need ambient room light to grow, super easy. Heck, even if you get RO pothos would still help.
What is the nitrate reading from your tap? If it is 20ppm or higher I'd suggest getting a RO unit. If nitrates in tap are that high water changes help of course but are futile in the long run cause what you are adding is already higher than what you want in the end. Spring water is actually going to be way more expensive and it is surprisingly varied from bottle to bottle so you never know exactly what you're getting. Your LFS might sell RO water too. But IMO with a big pooper like Suckie your best bet is to buy your own RO unit. You could cut your tap with RO or go with only RO water. If you use only RO water you will need to reconstitute it with the proper minerals.
The Typhoon is a popular choice. For comparison...Say you get 1g of spring water for $1 and on your tank you should be changing at least 30% or ~20g every week so in 2 months that RO system would have paid for itself, at a bare minimum.
Prime will detoxify nitrates (to some extent) but the dosage required to remove any nitrates would certainly be deadly. It is good to use as a temporary safety precaution until you figure out a better water situation but not as a long term solution for your nitrates. It can be dosed every 48hrs instead of 24 btw.
If you are not interested in anything I suggested than I strongly recommend trying Pothos plants. Just put their roots in the water and they only need ambient room light to grow, super easy. Heck, even if you get RO pothos would still help.
