fishless cycling using fish food

hello everyone. just registered today and i hope to stay for a while. a little background if you dont mind. just about 2 weeks ago, i woke up and wanted to have a goldfish aquarium. so i went into the rush rush adrenaline thing and set it up. my tank measured 40 inc by 17 inch by 15 inch and placed 14 common goldfish. after about 4 days all of them died. so i cleaned it up and again placed another 13 and religiously watched over them. but again they died. then i began my research though heartbroken. i learned about nitrogen cycle and fishless cycling using fishfood. i sterilized everything first. i clouded the water with fish food and filter and aerator on. my test water kit (api) came on day 4 and heres the parameter, ph 8.2, ammo 4, nitrite 2, nitrate 0. now on day 6, ammo dropped to 0.5 while the rest are status quo. this time i will wait until my tank will complete its cycle because i dont want to kill any fish anymore. question, is it okay to raise the ammo level to 4 or do i wait for the nitrite to go 0?
thank you.....

Hello rya73,
I am gladly you have learned your lesson. Unfortunately a lot of people have to learn it the hard way. It is why on the average goldfish only live for 3 weeks after sold.

Your tank is about 44 gallons.
As a common rule,
A single common goldfish requires 40 gallon of water. And a 55 gallon tank is needed for just two of them.
If you get fancy goldfish instead of common goldfish, the first one needs 20 gallon, and 30 gallon is needed for just two.

You made the mistakes of overstock your tank with way too many goldfish. In a uncycled tank too.

So now you are doing the right thing by fishless cycling your aquarium before getting any fish.
What you need to do is to continue dosing a little fish food every day to maintain a constant source of ammonia.
You need to wait for ammonia and nitrite both reach 0ppm (under the condition of) you are still adding new fish food every day. The goal is to have your aquarium develop enough good bacteria to be able to convert a good amount of ammonia to harmless nitrate. Any trace of ammonia and nitrite is toxic to the fish.

After you have completed your fishless cycling, make sure you do not overstock your fish tank again. Your tank is enough for 3 to maybe 4 fancy goldfish, but only 2 common goldfish at most.

If you wish to get a lot of fish, you might as well go tropical, and get schools of small tropical fish. Your tank is enough for dozens (actually 30~40) of small tropical fish of 2~3" long.

Good luck!

Thor, thank you.
i will do so.
God bless.l..

hello. am on day 8 on fishless cycling. i have to report an exciting development in my tank.
as of today, my nitrates are in! yehey, at 5. nitrites still at 2. ammo at .25 and ph 8.2.
i plan to not do partial water change unless my nitrates shoot up thus activating any negative feedback mech to my nitrites.
so at what level of nitrates must i do partial water change?

There is no need for partial water change until the nitrate is off the chart to the point it is affecting your PH.
When you see sudden drop in PH, it is time for partial water change. The good bacteria you are trying to develop do not like acidic water which can stall your fishless cycling.

Keep up the good work. You are getting their.

yes, im really getting the hang of things. just took another test, my nitrates are at level 10 to 20.... the rest of the parameters are same.... i noticed my water level has evaporated though, about an inch from the water line before..
but okay wont add anything to it.

You can always do a small partial water change to restore water buff as well as to add back the water lost to evaporation when the water level gets too low or when the PH is getting too low.

How are you doing with your fishless cycling?
Any update? I am curious about your progress.

I am hoping to see some photos or videos of your aquarium. Please share.