Hello. I noticed you mentioned that when you cycled your tank it took a week for the ammonia to reach .5ppm. What size tank was that in? And was it only a betta? And how much do you feed? Thanks just curious.
I am glad it finally cycled. It a lot of hassle for me because along with water changes you also have to clean the filter media, vacuum the gravel, probably wipe the walls sometimes and change the cartridge. I had 10 gall 7 years ago and tried to cycled , but it didn't go well. My betta didn't live long. Now with regular water changes i have 5 years old betta and 3 years old and the youngest of my 10 bettas is 1.8 year old. I am going to pm you 2 links from this forum. It from very knowledgeable person Oldfishlady abut how to take care of the cycled tank . I really recommending to check it out. You will find info how to take care of the filter media and how much water you need to change. It really better change 50% weekly with gravel vacuum and filter media rinsing. Good luck