Hi, I"m new here but see a lot of good info. I am 2 months in on a fishless cycle. 20 Gal heated tank. Top Fin 75 filtr. Using amonia. (janitorial strength). Amonia 0 unless I add 25 drops of amonia, then it goes to 0 in a matter of hours. Nitrites,off the chart. (turns purple before shaking the tube). Nitrates 5.0 was at 10 yesterday. ( I used prime for the first time 2 days ago on
3 smaller water changes) Ph was high range 7.4 (well water with a water softener)
A week ago, acording to another fish forum and my info then I was told to get the nitrites down with huge water changes, which I did. Lots of them! It droped the nitrites to about .25 but never 0. I read that on a fishless cycle that the nitrateshave to go way up then the nitrites will go 0 along with amonia.
What should I do? change water? Keep adding Prime? could I add TSS now? (I didn't know about this when I started). give up? Add fish like the LFS said? Please help cause I am VERY frustrated!