Cycling - Lost Patience

After three weeks, and I lost count of how many water changes, I finally
gave up on the traditional cycling routine. My poor fish have been suffering
long enough in the Nitrite AND Nitrate rich tank. Made the trip down to a
well supplied aquarium store. The Lady I talked to seemed very knowledgable.
She said that my tank was most likely crashing against itself. Her reasoning
seemed logical, so I decided on a whole new aproach.
I bought a whole new filter system with larger pump, bio wheel attachment,
gravel filter and interchangeable filters (micron, carbon, DE etc). Also
bought a packet of Bio Spira. I like to be traditional in most things, but
science does not lie. I read the scientific papers, evaluated the
processes, and after several days of reading, decided to take the plunge
with my money.
I spent the whole day cleaning up the old undergravel remains, stripped
the whole tank down but kept the water. I don't know if that was a good
move or not, but time will tell. I know I had some of the good bacteria
growing, but not enough. The bad bugs seemed to be getting all the oxygen.
I'll let you know how this goes. I'm hoping it all balances out in a few
days. Sharky and Face are hanging tough, but I'd prefer them to not have
to endure this routine. If this doesn't work out, I'm going to tear it
down again and do a COMPLETE do over. Time will tell!

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With all due respect
Kevin