Hi all,

I bought a 125 tank for my 2 axolotls and I’m am currently in the process of cycling. The tank currently has a Fluval fx4 filter, bubbler, live plants (which are currently dying so then I added a grow light), and a few hides. 

Here are things I have done so far:

-On the first day, I added the recommended dose of API QuickStart and conditioned the water using Seachem prime. 

-The same day, I dosed the tank to 2 ppm of Dr. Tim’s Ammonium chloride solution (I test using APIs fresh water test kit)

- I then began using Seachem stability on the 3rd day because of a video I watched from Kave man aquatics on YouTube. I’ve been adding it to the tank daily as per the instructions.

It has been a total of 6 days and the ammonia levels are still 2 ppm, nitrites at 0, nitrates at 0, and ph is 7.4

Am I doing this right and when will the ammonia levels begin to drop? 

I also have an old fish tank that has been sitting with 0 fish since January. I pretty much use it as a storage for old axolotl poop water (from their water changes) which I use to water my plants. I tested this tank old tank and it meets all the ideal water parameters. The tank has a bunch of algae, substrate, and rocks (no running filter). Do you think it would be a good idea to add some of the rocks from the old tank to the new tank to speed up the cycle process? Or should I be worried of other bacteria in the tank that might kill my axolotl? I put a pictures of the old tank. 

Thanks for reading and for any advice. 

I need cycle advice please