Still Stuck, Stuck, Stuck, Stuck..........

Thanks Jesnon, i'm trying to stay positive but the jokes of "just stick a bl...y fish in it" are wearing a bit thin, and im obsessed with the damn thing, "my heads a fish tank" lol ah well, test tomorrow and maybe top up Ammonia to 2 ppm and then have another week of hell i guess 

Okey dokey, will do so now  lol

OK guys, tested this morning and tank Ammo was still 0.50 ppm iv'e dosed with Ammonia and tested after half an hour and it looks like 2.0ppm to me so i will report back Sunday with Ammo and Nitrite results, (anyone one like to bet it's same as today)  Oh and by my estimation i have been at stage 8 since day nine and it's now day thirty four  Fingers crossed for me.

Excellent news AM  You're on stage 8

Now you need to test it again tomorrow and then every 2 days and do nothing else until you get 2 consecutive tests where ammonia is zero and then add one third of the original dose of ammonia.

So now we just have to wait

If your nitrite has dropped, I think the best thing to do is add another 3ppm dose of ammonia. Rather than rely of the after-dose reading, add the volume of ammonia that you know has given 3ppm in the past. The see what the reading are tomorrow.

With your cycle, I've thrown away the rule book 

seems a shame to give up on the cycle on day 35 , many of us have been there and yours seems to be slowly getting there with some slight odd readings but a fish less cycle is not a exact things time lengths vary for many reasons.
if to jump to a fish in cycle you may find your self having to large water changes multiple times a day just to keep the levels low enough for the fish.
i lost a fair few fish when my tank started up and that was after a fishless cycle( that maybe i rushed i am unsure) and trust me there is no worse feeling in the world than returning to your tank every day to find a fish dead , better to have frustration and disapointment now with a empty tank than later with fish in the tank.

As for sue suggesting to add more ammonia the reasons are to encourage the bacteria to multiply which they will only do if there is a reason for them to do.

Thanks Sue, i don't really want to put many in at one go, that wasn't my aim, i was thinking between 2 and 4 Platy. I know upping the dose is to feed the bacteria, but if they aren't eating or lowering 2.00ppm why give them more? i thought the aim was to get down to 0 ? Sorry if i haven't got a grasp of this yet, i just know i feel like im  permenantly at stage 8 going in the opposite direction to 0 

Well i'll stick with the 2.00 ppm ive put in and test again on Tuesday see what if anything is happening and let you all know. Thank you all  for the support anyway

Thanks, all, not sure if it's "fine" it could be me reading chart wrong i suppose, but the Ammonia can only be either yellow green or green green, and im pretty sure yesterday was yellow and today was greener lol. Oh well i will check again on Tuesday and report back.Thanks again   

Good morning Fiona, well iv'e done my dreaded reading for today, Nitrite was a clear cut 0 ppm Ammonia is always tricky to read, it is paler than 2.00 but greener than 1. 00 but i'm opting for a strong 1.00 ppm lol What do you think
Ah iv'e had plenty of time to think, re think tank occupants, because of the problems iv'e had, size and hard water ive decided to keep it very simple so 6-8 choice Platys and 6-8 Emperor Tetras.

So it's ok that Nitrite is 0 ppm ?, shouldn't Ammo be down, and Nitrate be up    
What size tank do you have? i really wanted Penguin tetras, but they need wider than 24" tank i think and i'd like to get some basic knowledge of fish first.