I'm trying to cycle my 50 gallon tank, but it seems like nothing I do effects the test results in any way.

The pH is usually at 8.2, after a big water change it dropped to 7.4. I added a full dose of Seachem Neutral Regulator, 24 hours later it is back to 8.2.

The tap water tests at 1ppm ammonia and so does the tank water every time I test it, any time of the day or night, even after a 90% water change using Prime and adding unwashed filter media from my fully cycled and healthy tank.

Nitrates always read about 5ppm all the time.

Nitrites always read 0.

I've been testing for almost 2 weeks and I feel like giving up because I already know exactly what the results will be. I'm using the API test kit with the drops and test tubes. Why do I bother trying to change the water parameters?

You may well have a cycled tank already. The ammonia is in the water when you add it no?
Tap water at 1PPM is not good for you or your fish. You need to get that filtered out/treated from source.

If I don't do a 50% water change every day the poor fish start getting black streaks in their fins and clamping their fins. The nitrates never go any higher, either. The lfs said the ammonia reading in the tap water was from the chloramines and said to use Prime. I've been adding Cycle and Prime and aquarium salt. If the tank is cycled, shouldn't the filter eventually remove some of the ammonia?

I also don't understand why the pH goes up so high and stays so high even after using the Seachem Neutral Regulator. The tap water is 7.4, the tank is 8.2 unless I do a big water change, then it drops and then climbs back up in a day or two. The buffer stuff didn't change that either.

Can you get hold of some huge buckets and let the water age before adding it? Dose the buckets with lots of Prime or add zeolite to the buckets with an airstone to take care of the ammonia. If this kind of ageing and storage is impossible you may have to look at using zeolite in the tank filter box. It only lasts one week and then releases the ammonia again into the tank so is troublesome and it takes some hours to work so preparing the water might be a better bet.

Don't worry too much about the PH going up. My tank pH runs at above 8 too and the beneficial bacteria thrive at higher pH. However, the worry is that ammonia is much more toxic at high pH.

I have 3 x 20 gallon buckets that I use to prepare/de-chlor/ age water. They are invaluable.

While it would be really helpful, this is a tiny apartment and I definitely don't have the space to even store enough buckets to hold 50 gallons, much less space for them to sit and age.

What is zeolite? My aquaclear filter has a bag of media in place of the carbon that says it is supposed to remove ammonia. Is that zeolite? If it is, it's not doing anything useful.

I just drained half the water out again a couple of minutes ago, dumped half the canister of Seachem Neutral Regulator in, then refilled it. Surprise, the tank is at 7.4 just like the tap water. Is there a more effective buffer I can use? At this point I feel like I am just wasting money on all this stuff to help regulate the water parameters.

Zeolite= ammo chips. NOT ammo carb or activated carbon or so named ammonia removing floss filter material. Hard pieces of clay/ore that absorb ammonia in water when activated by oxygen.

Zeolite is in cat litter trays to absorb/bind pee-ammonia. Its very effective but short lasting. Filter media says on the package "removes ammonia" but it does not actually extract ammonia and bind it in the way that zeolite does. I don't think you have zeolite media there or you would not be seeing same levels of ammonia.

Baking soda (Arm n Hammer etc) is the cheapest quick pH fix. A half teaspoon per 10 gallons is usually enough. Take some water to your LFS and get them to give you a reading for your kH. The kH number tells you how dangerous your pH buffering situation is, in other words gives you an indication of how far the pH will drop if you do nothing. It's important to know.

The pH goes down to 7.4 (same as the tap water) and then goes back up to 8.2 by itself within 24 hours. I know I need to get the pH consistant. I'll try to have the water tested by the lfs tomorrow.

You do not need to change the pH if it is rising slowly. Only if it is going down. From 7.4 to 8.2 in 24 hous is fine

Good to know the slow rise is ok, but how do I keep it from dropping rapidly to the pH of the tap water when I do a big water change?

Thank you so much for your patience!

Part of your problem may be that you are using ammonia removing media and salt at the same time. The salt will cause the ammonia remover to release all the ammonia that it has absorbed back into the water. (I figured this out myself the hard way.) I would recommend that you take the ammonia remover bag out of your filter and replace it with extra bio-media or sponge. Good luck!

Wow, I'll do that right away! Thanks for the warning.

I'm thinking of playing musica filters and cutting down the filtration for my 20 gallon so I can stick the well-established Aquaclear 40 on the 50 gallon.

Ok, today the results were: ammo 0.5ppm, nitrate 0, nitrite 5, pH 8.0. The water also got really cloudy really fast, but the ammonia didn't spike up to 1ppm like it usually does, so either I'm getting somewhere in the cycle or the AmQuel+ is doing a much better job than the Prime I had been using.

Did you take out the carbon or remove the salt?

I took the ammonia remover media out. I haven't been able to get to the lfs to get the water tested yet, though. Hopefully I can pick up some crushed coral while I'm there.

Today the ammonia is at 1ppm again, but the fish are acting much perkier. Still no nitrites and almost no nitrates, so we're not cycled yet.