Great news! My ph has been stable at 7.6 for 3 days. It took a 90% water change to get the nitrates to a safe level. Now the ammonia and nitrites are at zero and the nitrates are at 5ppm. You are right, I did tinker with the water, but it ended up being the ph that was stalling the cycling. Now that the water is a little harder, it's holding steady, and the bacteria seem to be doing great. The water is perfect, so I decided to get a few fish. I bought 3 mickey mouse yellow platies and will watch them and the water for a week or two before adding any more. One of them is swimming around happily and the other two are still hiding, so I think they're a little stressed out. I hope they'll all be swimming around by morning.

Yes, this has been an adventure in cycling that I don't want to go through again. I'm glad I got it worked out with a freshwater tank, as in a few years I want to move up to saltwater. I'll keep you posted about the fish, and thanks for your continued input!

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