Cycling & Frustrated...Please Advise!

[Hooked Newbie]

I SOOOO can relate to oyour tribulations! Good luck and keep reading on this site. The folks here have been a real life saver for me and my fish!

 

[Rbishop]

Keep up with the water changes. Why are you using RO water?

What are the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/pH/GH/KH on your tap water, not the RO water.

Why are you adding pH up? Fish don't read pH and will adjust.

 

[Alestro Bakai]

Also, when you have purchased it in the past what does a good product look like?

Glad I could be of help. That's a good question. You really can't tell from the outside, but I have noticed that some pack contents are clear and some are milky. I'm not sure which is good though. I'm usually happy when I have a mix, then I can be sure that one of them must be good.

 

[newsom00]

nice tank

 

[menale]

Update!

On Monday, I took samples of everything and...

ammonia: 0
nitrItes: 0
nitrAtes: 20

I made a lot of noise, did a little dance, and generally acted crazy:headbang2:...the rest of the family thought they might need to call the people with the white straight jackets for me.:grinyes:

I am really enjoying the fish now, instead of worrying all the time! So I guess the BioSpira worked. I did two large water changes, then put in 1 bag of the stuff (3 oz.) and then a couple of days later I did a small water change and put the other bag in then I left it alone for about 7 days, feeding sparingly, and voila!

Both packets of the BioSpira were kinda cloudy white/yellow in color, so I guess they were good.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me out!
Menale