[CaptainCozy]

Thanks for the reply. Right now ammonia is at somewhere between 0 and .25, nitrites are at 5, and nitrates are 5.

I initially added 4 drops/gallon of ammonia per Dr. Tim's instructions. It's a little confusing because they updated the video with text to indicate adding 4 drops/gallon, but in the video Dr. Tim says 1 d/g equals 2ppm of ammonia. Regardless, I followed the instructions on the bottle and the ammonia did drop eventually. When I contacted Dr. Tim he stated that the CO2 and dirt would prolong things "a little" but geez.

I've cycled new tanks before with fish and water and mulm from established tanks and it usually took 2 weeks. I decided to experiment, and now, here I am.

 

[CaptainCozy]

Well, I bought Seachem Stability and that fixed it. Nitrites came down to 0 in 24 hours. I added Dr. Tims ammonia to reach 2ppm. 12 hours later I had no ammonia and 5 nitrite. 12 hours after that, no nitrite. I'll continue to monitor and add the Stability for the next few days. Neons are in and are happy.

I think Dr. Tim's works well in a tank with just water and gravel, but when you add things that cause the water parameters to change, like CO2, the bacteria in the product die.