Need help with a Bitcoin Node, can't get more than 8 connections (ports already forwarded)

I've spent two days trying to figure out how to get more than 8 connections, UPNP on, UPNP off, ports open, I can't seem to get more than 8 connections​Should I put something specific in the bitcoin.conf? what should I do? via /r/Bitcoin http://bit.ly/2pFuudX