Help Needed Fast

[sycko]

Hi all (il try to keep this short)
my plattys had babies the other day wey hey!! so i scooped as many as i could out and put them in a floating tank inside the main tank untill i got hold of a seperate tank to house them in!
so my wife went down to my local fish store while i was at work and spoke to the staff who recomended a hexaquarium 4 fish tank (http/www.pennine-prod.co.uk/5097.htm) for £50 untill there big enough to go back into the main tank and they said all u have to do is set the tank up and take water from the main tank to fill it!!
so i did a water test (which turned out fine apart from p.h a little high) b4 i transferd some water into the small tank then moved the babies over.
today i have just done a water test on the small tank and i have 0.50 ammonia and a nitrite reading!! aahhhhhh!
so i have done an imediate 45% water change and now ive fingers crossed! how could this happen?
is hexaquarium 4 (http/www.pennine-prod.co.uk/5097.htm)suitable? im not sure on the filtration system of this tank

 

[K.J.]

With water from the main tank and the small bioload the fry wouldn't cause that much problems, what is the water stats in the main tank?

 

[sycko]

from main tank water test as from tonight are

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
ph 7.8-8

 

[sycko]

just done a water test on little tank!!!
ammonia 0
nitrite 0.25

so did what u guys said and squeezed the main tank filter sponges into the little tank!! its verry cloudy now but hope it helps!!
once again thanx for help i realy apreciate it

 

[sycko]

ok! so this morning i did a water test on the new little tank with the fry in and the readings were
ammonia 0
nitrite 0.50
nitarte 10
p.h 7.8
ive done an imediate £50 water change and in the new water i rinsed the filter from my main tank before adding it to the little tank i also have taken out some decorative stones to try n lower the p.h.
did a water test on my main tank (after i also removed some decorative stones to try and lower the p.h) and the results are
ammonia 0
nitrite 0.25
nitrate 10
p.h 7.6
so the p.h is dropping which is good but i had a nitrite spike! HOW! then i realised in my moment of panic last night i washed the sponges from my filter from the main tank into the smaller tank which contained a reading of nitrite then like a dope i put it back into the main tank! DOH! so i have done an imediate 30% water change on the big tank!
let me know if i did the right things or if anyone would have done it a better way! and also why im struggling to keep the new fry tank under controll?
thanx
jon