Nitrite and Nitrate level issues

[AmCarlisle]

Hello,
I have a tank that just recently finished fish-in cycling(I know, I'll never do it again. It was a mistake I didn't know better when I did it-but all my fish survived, thankfully due to seachem prime). about 5/6 days ago it reached 40ppm nitrates and I did the first water change of about 30% 2 days later(The day after it hit 40 the test went back down to 20ppm so I decided to wait incase the test was wrong). Before the water change, the levels were about 6ppm ammonia, 5ppm nitrites and 50 or 60 ppm nitrates. After the water change it went down to 2ppm ammonia, 5ppm nitrites, and 40ppm nitrates. The next day I did a 50% water change as the levels had gone back up and after the change they went down to between 0 and .25 ppm ammonia, about 5ppm nitrites and 20ppm nitrates. Next day(today) the levels are again, less than .25 ppm ammonia, but the nitrites are back up to around 6ppm nitrite and 30 ppm nitrates. Will my nitrites eventually normalize? is it normal for it to take the tank a while after reaching the nitrates at higher levels for there to be enough bacteria to totally get rid of the nitrites and only have the nitrates to worry about?
I did the AqAdvisor tank stock test and it says I need a bit more filtration(It says the filter I have capacity for my fish and tank is at about 73% and my tank is 108% stocked. So it is slightly overstocked, and I do plan to get a larger tank as soon as I have the money to(probably in about 2 months). I'm not sure if this would cause the nitrites to remain high even though the ammonia is low or if the tank just needs more time to finish growing the appropriate amount of nitrifying bacteria to transform the nitrites to nitrates?

 

[BIG-G]

Your tank is not cycled if you are still able to detect ammonia and nitrite.
What is your tank size, stock and filtration?

 

[duanes]

How long has the tank been set up?
It normally take 6 to 8 weeks to do a fish in full cycle.(maybe longer)
The Prime may be giving you a false nitrate readings, fooling you into thinking that the tank is actually really cycled, by detoxifying the ammonia.
How big is the tank?
How many fish, what size are they, and what is the stocking?

 

[AmCarlisle]

All of my fish are juveniles, 2.5 inches or smaller(aside from 2 of them which are about 4 inches). I have 2 Oranda goldfish, 6 danios, and 3 dojo loaches(2 of which are 4 inches).
It's a 36 Gallon tank with a 40 gal topfin filter(with biomedia, not the disposable cartridges). I know I will need to get a larger tank, and I plan to do so in a couple of months. I didn't plan on getting dojo loaches originally, which is why i got the 36 gallon.
My tank has been set up since the beginning of February, but I was making the mistake of changing the water every couple of days so it didn't start actually cycling until about 3 weeks ago. From the people i've talked to(mostly YouTubers who own stores and create info videos, like KaveMan Aquatics and KG Tropicals), I was under the impression that once the tank hits 40 ppm nitrates it should be cycled and that could take anywhere from 2.5 weeks to a month or more.

I figured I was still detecting ammonia because i had not done a water change for a couple of weeks while the tank was cycling(as I was told how to cycle the tank with fish in it). I was told not to change the water until the nitrates hit a certain level, so I figured perhaps after that water change and I got all of the crap that had been building up over the couple of weeks, it would stabilize. Does that make sense?

Prime does not add nitrite or nitrate, it only detoxifies it, so it couldn't be making my readings higher than they actually are, can it? And if you believe it could be, could you please explain how, because from what I understand about Prime and the nitrogen cycle, it isn't possible for the prime to make your levels appear higher than they are because it doesn't actually effect the levels. It only detoxifies them. The amount of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates in the tank remains the same, which is why you can still test for them and cycle your tank using Prime. I could be wrong, obviously, it's just from what I understood from the Prime website and other people who have cycled many tanks using Prime and Stability.

I appreciate all feedback I am getting. Thank you for taking the time to try and understand what's going on and help me.

 

[duanes]

When you say "changing the water" every couple days, what does that mean?
Some water? all the water? How much?
Were you vacuuming the substrate with those water changes?
If (as you say) it didn't actually start cycling until 2 weeks ago, you've got 6 weeks to go.
My suggestion during that time, is to do partial water changes (perhaps 20%) every few days (no vacuuming, or messing with the substrate., and no rinsing of filter media, unless it gets plugged.
You have quite a lot of fish in a very small tank, to start a fish in cycle, and because of the large number and all the messing about, may be the reason for the fluctuations.
To me the 6 danios would have been plenty to do fish in cycling.
Is your tap water treated with Chlorine, or Chloramine?
Chloramine sometimes creates ammonia reading, because it is a combination of Chlorine, and ammonia (and is neutralized by the Prime).
You can sometimes find out by looking at your water bill, or get info by calling your water provider.

 

[duanes]

One other thing, after seeing, and reading your other thread.
I would be very sparing about feeding especially during a fish in cycle, your fish need very little.
In my tanks, I might feed once a day for 2 days, then not feed on the 3rd at all, just as a general practice.
Fish don't have a fullness food barometer, because in nature its feast or famine, so will always seem hungry.
Too much food can end up rotting and create an ammonia spike, when your filtration is not up to speed, as far as being cycled..