Hello I'm a compete newbie at fish keeping and I have been gifted a 23ltr fluval edge which I'm trying to cycle... I've had one Goldy live and die in it within a space of 2 weeks 
(this was before I had any knowledge about cycling tanks) . Day before the goldy died nitirites were at 1 and nitrates 50 I hadn't tested for ammonia as I didn't know about it and it wasn't included in the 6 in 1 strip test. There is a soil mix substrate, gravel on top and some villeneria spiralis, anubias, moss balls and drift wood and a heater. After gaining some knowledge about cycling and since vacuuming out 90% of the water and rinsing the filter sponge in dirty water I've decided to fishless cycle and went ahead and added some household ammonia to reach 3ppm. However I had already been getting nitrite and nitrate readings before this point since a fish had lived in it already. Adding ammonia the first time expectedly shot nitrites sky high and nitrates too... day 2 I did a 50% wc which slightly bought the nitrite and nitrate down but still extremely high. Day 3 ammonia was around 1 but nitrites 10 and nitrates still around 100. I added more ammonia to bring back up to 3ppm and day 4 ammonia 0 but nitrates and nitrites on the highest readings. I'm unsure what to do at this point or where exactly I am at the cycling stage, I'm glad to see ammonia at 0 but not sure if this is a normal nitrite spike? Do I do another water change to bring nitrite and nitrate down? Or just leave it alone and wait for it to happen itself since I know the ammonia is being processed? Do I top up the ammonia today if nitrites are already very high? Please advice it'd be greatly appreciated. PS I've learned not to keep goldfish in small tanks now so will hopefully buy 3 or 4 tropicals once it's ready.
(this was before I had any knowledge about cycling tanks) . Day before the goldy died nitirites were at 1 and nitrates 50 I hadn't tested for ammonia as I didn't know about it and it wasn't included in the 6 in 1 strip test. There is a soil mix substrate, gravel on top and some villeneria spiralis, anubias, moss balls and drift wood and a heater. After gaining some knowledge about cycling and since vacuuming out 90% of the water and rinsing the filter sponge in dirty water I've decided to fishless cycle and went ahead and added some household ammonia to reach 3ppm. However I had already been getting nitrite and nitrate readings before this point since a fish had lived in it already. Adding ammonia the first time expectedly shot nitrites sky high and nitrates too... day 2 I did a 50% wc which slightly bought the nitrite and nitrate down but still extremely high. Day 3 ammonia was around 1 but nitrites 10 and nitrates still around 100. I added more ammonia to bring back up to 3ppm and day 4 ammonia 0 but nitrates and nitrites on the highest readings. I'm unsure what to do at this point or where exactly I am at the cycling stage, I'm glad to see ammonia at 0 but not sure if this is a normal nitrite spike? Do I do another water change to bring nitrite and nitrate down? Or just leave it alone and wait for it to happen itself since I know the ammonia is being processed? Do I top up the ammonia today if nitrites are already very high? Please advice it'd be greatly appreciated. PS I've learned not to keep goldfish in small tanks now so will hopefully buy 3 or 4 tropicals once it's ready.
