>>5043601
I don't gravel vac/siphon the floor. The waste that falls directly into the carpet feeds it and most carpeted plants are understocked so you don't really need to micromanage the entire carpet. If you do have decent stocking then put a ton of other plants in there too, like pic related, so you won't have to bother cleaning the lawn constantly.

>>5043651
Cute crabs!

>>5043687
Remember that a tank is never really cycled, it's just reached a level of stability for it's current bioload. Any change to the stocking will always lead to a temporary spike, big or small, in nitrates and it's just a matter of keeping an eye on it/reactive water changes until it restabilizes. Once it's stable again and you add fish for your son, it'll be a matter of checking the water daily for a week or two again, until you're certain it's caught up.


What sort of substrate are you using? Is there any exposed aquasoil, if so what brand/type? Some release a ton of ammonia over the first few weeks, some release none and lots in between. What was providing the ammonia initially, if not soil, were you adding it specifically?

My main takeaways from your posts are that you care a lot and are likely going to over-work to the detriment of your tank instead of under-working. Stop using the fertilizers for a bit or get one that has no nitrates in at all (I like APT 1 for this reason), do some water changes until things stabilize and make sure those root tabs are nice and deep next time you put some in (which should be a few months out at least) or they'll leech nutrients into the water. Good luck my dude!