What am I doing wrong?

[kcrunch]

Syringe all the way and I never shut down unless I am doing a filter cleaning/media change. I was actually told to get an accurate reading it is better to get what is circulating, I too used to test to much until Loha and a few others pointed out the error of my ways now I only test once in a blue and before a water change or filter maintenance. I was also using the stick tests which were not as accurate. I used 2 Tinfoil barbs to cycle with 2 Convict cichlids and a few plants. Did weekly water changes and all of the usual tests and all went well. Afterward I found a home for the Barbs and the Convicts IF I do another tank it might be for Barbs they are great to watch as they are extremely active.

[weedkiller]

so all tests are accurate, you need to restart your cycle somehow and figure out why it has stopped, you need some used filter media or gravel that is a wee bit dirty, that is your best chance to restart it.... don't add no chems except ammonia when you need to, do not add no boosters, also what ammonia brand are you using? lets check that out, name an shame it.

[cassperr]

The ammonia from ace hardware. Not home right now so I can't see the brand but its the stuff without all the fufu crap in it

[kcrunch]

Cant he add a shrimp in a stocking to help him out? Adding fish right now would be a crime and they most likely would not survive the experience. How about no more chems and just add a shrimp or 2 from the local fish market put them in a stocking and re test in a week. I still had my sand so I was fortunate when starting over besides something happened positive for me when it seemed like the tank went ballistic on me. It got worse and then all of a sudden BAM there I was ready to add fish.

[cassperr]

I did water change earlier this morning and checked again earlier and had light blue nitrites and light green ammonia. So by doing this, did I start at zero or is that a good thing??

[Vayurules]

I actually have a whole gallon of pure ammonia, I've only used less than a 1/8 of a cup of it to cycle my 20 fishless-ly.

But back to the topic, I used 2 drops per gallon, which after a bit of math and conversions totaled to about 1 1/2 tablespoons of ammonia. That dosed my to about 3-4 ppm, and I ended up cycling in 2 weeks.

[weedkiller]

get your ammonia back to 2ppm and wait, see if it disappears and turns to nitrite.
if you know any one with a healthy tank squeeze their juice from a filter into a bag and pour that onto your media if you cant get their media.
Its all you can do for the moment, need to kick start again

[cassperr]

Ok, after 9000 water changes ok not that many, but I did like 3x a day for a couple days. Checked it. Zilch, added one drop of ammonia and today I have this. Are we on the right track?

[weedkiller]

if your nitrites was 0 before that pic then yes, keep you ammonia at 2ppm, wait till the ammonia has gone near 0 before you add anymore