Nitrate and PH problems... Help!

Oh, well, the problem continues.. I purchased the Prime like you guys suggested. I decided to do a 75% water change yesterday because my Nitrates were maybe around 40-50 still after doing the two 50% water changes. So, I put in 6 Gal. of RO and about 16 Gal of Tap. I used the Prime and Aquarium Salt in the RO and Prime, Aquarium Salt, and Neautral Regulator in the Tap.

I tested the water today and the Nitrates went down, but only to about 30-35 maybe, hardly anything, and the Amonia went up from 0 to .25. I couldn't believe it. So, I tested the tap water today that I made yesterday that had the Prime, Aquarium Salt and Neautral Regulator added to it, because I had some left over. The Nitrates were maybe 10 or so and the Amonia was about .5 or higher. So, it looks like that Prime doesn't work that good after all. When I used the Kordon products in the new tap water the Nitrates were at 0 and the Amonia was at .25. I tested tap water with the Kordon right after I added it, but i tested the tap water with the Prime a day later. Does that make a difference in the readings? Maybe I should do another 75% water change this weekend and forget about the Prime and just use the Kordon stuff. I also added a bunch of Cycle to help with my new amonia problem from doing the water change. I also vacuumed the gravel and put in a new charcol filter. I only vacummed some of the rocks and not all of them because I would have to take the ornaments and stuff out of the tank then. Any new advice? Thank you all..
 
you're going to find it difficult if not impossible to maintain those fish in that tank. my advice is to get a bigger tank.

Prime detoxifies ammonia while leaving it available to develop beneficial bacteria - you will still get a 'false positive' reading.

I don't know anything about the Kordon product - I'm suspicious of anything chemical that claims to denitrify (remove nitrates) from water.

You don't need Aquarium Salt.

Between Alkaline Buffers, Ph Neutral regulators, Kordon, Amquel, Prime etc. etc. together with large water changes you're investing an awful lot of energy, time and chemicals in attempting to make this tank work, which ultimately is not likely to succeed with its current stocking. You need to address this; anything else is just re-arranging the deckchairs...
 
I have a idea. Why don't you just take out your fish, take your tank outside, pour out all the water, take out everything inside the tank, pour bleach all over the tank, get the hose, attach a water gun and shoot the tank everywhere. Leave until sun-dried, place ur tank back where it belongs(fish tank stand) and place all of ur stuff back in there, start a new bacteria colony cycle again, and your good to go
 
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