I will watch this one. I have watched probably 15 videos on the nitrogen cycle as I was preparing to set up these tanks. DIDN'T know about it with my original 3.5 gallon when I put Arby (Betta) in there with just a dechlorinator. Then about a week later I learned about the cycle, came across Kaveman Aquatics' video on fish-in cycling, and did that, and thankfully it went great. Arby's tank cycled and he was doing great until I gave him ich. 🙄 I cycled the 14 gallon for a few weeks before putting fish in, and the water parameters for both tanks were pretty much identical. Now I have the nitrites and nitrates being stubbornly present in the 14 gal.
BUT, here's my newest "aha" from watching and rewatching videos yesterday (this may be obvious to you guys, but it wasn't to me): I basically need to "recycle" the tank. As I've been doing my 30% water changes, I've been adding enough Prime to the refill buckets to dechlorinate the amount IN the buckets, and was hesitantly adding in a few drops of Stability to the buckets also in the hopes that a few more beneficial bacteria might help.
NOW I'm thinking I need to look at it as if I'm doing a whole new fish-in cycle, right? Like, add in enough Prime and Stability to cover the FULL 14 gallons, not just the refill gallons, and hopefully in a week I will have a nicely re-cycled tank.
What thinks ye?