Thank you for efforts and answers!
But we can fix it!
I think we can safely say your water is ridiculously acidic and soft (find out for sure on softness when the good tests come though). Usually we say a stable but not "optimal" pH is best but yours is SO low I think you need to intervene or maybe keep black water species. If you wanted to consider keeping fish suited for your water instead of changing your water (my usual recommendation) than you would want to find out exactly what your pH is because not much will do well below 5.5 and you run into issues will bacteria going dormant etc. Personally I think keeping fish is those extremes is better left to seasoned hobbyists but wanted to put that option out there for you.
Let's assume you still want to increase pH then. Ways to do that is with crushed coral, dolomite, baking soda, limestone and bottled chemicals etc. I do not suggest using bottled products and most will agree. I have never personally had to raise my pH but if I did have to I would like use crushed coral, either in a mesh bag in the filter or in my substrate and do smaller water changes more often to avoid big pH swings during a WC. You can also treat the water before adding it to tank in a bucket or barrel.
Another option is to buy water from a local fish store. If you pay for water at home anyways then this is not a bad option. No fussing with water chemistry just have to lug water around.
Also if you do a high ph test, and others, on your work tap water then maybe you can just use that! Might want to ask someone first or not.
Glad to hear you've read the cycling thread. How do you intend to cycle the tank now?
Also glad to hear your getting more liquid test kits AND keeping a logbook, awesome!
Great, we know the test kit works, may not be the results we want but one thing eliminated! What do you mean by "don't get water from tap to test tube"?
You are trying to cycle the tank so why do the 50% change because you have ammonia? (when no fish are present) You need the ammonia in there to feed the bacteria. Strips are notoriously incorrect so I am not surprised by different results over a couple days BUT they give us a good baseline of the craziness that is your tap water. So to confirm, your tank is bananas.
But we can fix it! I think we can safely say your water is ridiculously acidic and soft (find out for sure on softness when the good tests come though). Usually we say a stable but not "optimal" pH is best but yours is SO low I think you need to intervene or maybe keep black water species. If you wanted to consider keeping fish suited for your water instead of changing your water (my usual recommendation) than you would want to find out exactly what your pH is because not much will do well below 5.5 and you run into issues will bacteria going dormant etc. Personally I think keeping fish is those extremes is better left to seasoned hobbyists but wanted to put that option out there for you.
Let's assume you still want to increase pH then. Ways to do that is with crushed coral, dolomite, baking soda, limestone and bottled chemicals etc. I do not suggest using bottled products and most will agree. I have never personally had to raise my pH but if I did have to I would like use crushed coral, either in a mesh bag in the filter or in my substrate and do smaller water changes more often to avoid big pH swings during a WC. You can also treat the water before adding it to tank in a bucket or barrel.
Another option is to buy water from a local fish store. If you pay for water at home anyways then this is not a bad option. No fussing with water chemistry just have to lug water around.
Also if you do a high ph test, and others, on your work tap water then maybe you can just use that! Might want to ask someone first or not.
