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I would like to add more fish to my 80 gallon tank. My nitrites are high (3-5ppm) and I think it's due to the filter intake being so high up above the sand it doesn't take in poop. I was thinking a catfish would be good to eat that stuff or maybe a power head to stir it up, but I'm under the impression those create current side to side. I have 2 eheim filters. the pro 2 has biomedia, substrate and carbon (in that order)and the eheim 213 canister has bio media, filter floss (i ran out of substrate) and a bunch of carbon in an attempt to cut down the nitrites. I tried water changes but they do not do much in reducing the levels.

nitrates are at 20ppm
hardness is about 100 to 150 (GH) ppm
alkalinity (KH) is 40-60ppm
pH is 6.8 to 7.2

How old is the tank? Has it ever been fully cycled (0 ammonia and nitrite)? Which two eheim filters do you have?

What are you measuring the nitrite with? Those dip strips are wildly inaccurate. You might take a sample of your water to a quality LFS (saltwater specialty shops are the best) to have it tested.

I'd get rid of the filter floss too. It clogs too quickly in a turtle tank.

eheim pro 2 and a canister 2213. and I am using the api dip strips. i also have an api phosphate test tube. I just went to the store and got API stress zyme+