Nitrite and Nitrate levels

Hey All, Just want to bounce some levels off of everyone. I think they are not too bad or even maybe acceptable. They have dropped significantly since I lowered feeding the tank was still fairly new and the BB is working at full capacity now. Levels are as follows

PH- 7.6 Cichlids Oscars and Green Terror so should be good from what I have read.

Nitrate NO3- Is at 5.0 from what I have read under 50 is acceptable for NO3 or Nitrate.

Nitrite NO2- This is at 1 and from what I understand it should be at 0. Should I worry about this level? Treat or let it naturally go down with water changes and lighter feeding etc.

Amonia NH3/NH4- This is at 0 which is what I want.

So from what I have found I believe all levels are good accept for maybe the NO2 which is at 1.

Thanks

The tank did cycle. They were in a different tank prior to putting them in this one. Funny story which I will tell in a minute. It is a 56 gallon and the avatar pic is one of the oscars about a week or so ago. I am new to O's and when I looked online about oscars it said to feed juvies 1 to 3 times a day on a couple of info sites (was not on this forum yet). I am new to bigger fish and thought this was odd but made the mistake of what I now believe was overfeeding. Funny thing was I have always had smaller fish and bought a couple of O's prior to reading up for my daughters 10 gallon. Yes I know laugh at me if you want it was a stupid mistake and will admit that. But I went out as soon as I found out the following day that they got much bigger and I immediately got them a 56 gallon home.

The amonia was at like 1.5 and both the NO2 and NO3 were a lot higher when I first encountered the problem (Water was very cloudy). I spoke to the guy at my LFS and was informed I probably had a high amonia problem. I bought a tester kit and sure enough levels were high. So instinctively I immediately backed off feeding a did a 25-30% water change. So it has gone down quite a bit and only thing still in the not ok range for the NO2. I will go to the LFS tomorrow to get some of the Seachem. I am assuming prior to looking it up that it is different than Aqua Safe which is what I use at water change and for initial set up to remove the chlorine from the water and what not. Fish seem very healthy though. Growing well and eating well (I think they miss the regular feedings) Mixing up what they eat. Pellets, flakes, beef heart, brine shrimp and yes on occasion a feeder. I know a lot of folks are completely against feeders but I see it as this, they eat other fish in the wild so they should get them in a tank as well. Chasing is good exercise and they like it. I am going to stop buying them though and probably start a feeder breeder tank to insure health of the fish I am giving them as that is my biggest concern.

Thanks for all of the help and advice. Learning a lot as I go.

Also I am checking all of the following. Will be checking everything prior to doing my regular water changes, but am checking Nitrite daily until levels are at 0. Also will the Seachem cause false readings at all?

PH
Amonia
Nitrite
Nitrate

I may not have have let it fully cycle from the get go then. I did use some of the water from the old tank when I did add the fish, about half of the 10 gal. I wasn't going to try and filter my 56 gal with the filter from a 10 gal so the filter was new with the tank. How long should I have let it cycle? It has been running with fish in it for over a month. and it was going solo for probably two weeks before adding fish. Maybe I made a false statement when saying the BB is working now. I guess what I meant was I thought it should be by now. I thought I only had to let it run for a couple of weeks??? Was that not long enough? I have only done the one water change so far. and that was last weekend. So, before water change tank was probaby 5 weeks old. 2 with no fish and 3 with. So in the last week I have been watching the levels like a hawk. But after the water change last weekend and the lighter feeding the tank has become very clear and the levels have gone down significantly. Tank is 6 weeks old now then. 2 without fish and 4+ with. Can't really go back and change what I did but would definitely like to learn from it.

Again, thanks for all of the help.

Thanks. I am cycling another tank right now and will let it go longer as to not make the same mistake again. I am also going to be beefing up my filter on the big tank to enhance the bb and will be cycling in a new better filter side by side my current filter.

P.S. johnptc,
I read about the socal meet and would love to go as I am just 3 hours north in Visalia. Don't think I can make it though with work and all. I did check out your tank cam though. Very nice! Maybe if there is one next year I will be able to make it.