6ft up...But problems :(

So FINALLY my six foot is up and filled. I moved the axies in pretty much immediately 'coz the outdoor pond was being eyed off by a kookaburra...
I'm trying to follow a Walstad Method-esque setup, so filter intake, polyester filter medium, gravel bags, soil then sand, and fingers crossed in the long run it'll be worth it. Only thing is the soil (i'm guessing) is starting to put out sulfur bubbles (The smell isn't overpowering, but there...), the pH is 8.4 and the ammonia's at .25- .5. At those readings I stopped and started a water change (it's currently draining out the required amount....). I also set up a protein skimmer about an hour ago, and already it's pulled a heck of a lot of gunk out of the water...Also, I've found 4 dead cricket/waspy things in the filter each time I've given it a clean out so it doesn't get clogged with the particulate matter
Pretty much, does anyone who has walstad'ed before have any experience with this happening? And how did they get through it?
Also, any quick thoughts on knocking down the pH?
-Minnie

Aw Caitie you finally got this going! hopefully someone can help

On the positive, it's clearing up quite nicely
On the negative, I'm flushing tap water (With the entire tank dosed up with Prime) through it, and the old water out onto the garden bed... But the axies are looking incredibly unconcerned.
I've also added in a ZenPad and some new microfibre pads to the filter, so fingers crossed they'll get the rest of it cleared up

Post some photos when you can! This sounds interesting

what is the PH of your tapwater? If it is rising in your tank then it is PH swings caused by those bubbles, they are likely not sulfurous though they stink. how long did you let the substrate soak before adding the axies? it needs to soak for a long time to allow it to get past this stage. it will be worth it.

sounds like youll have to keep them in the tank and get through this, but you can do it. just keep up on the water changes and give it time. biggest concern however is the PH swings.

Kinda didn't soak it...Once I got the go-ahead, it was get them in as fast as possible, a necessary move especially as we hit 35 yesterday and today (it's only just started to drop down below 21 in our house (Midnight local time), and we're looking at 40+ on Saturday (I'm keeping the chiller down at 18 so it doesn't rise too high :S!)
pH around here is pretty stable around the 7.5 mark, so definitely thinking the soil's the culprit.
As for an update...
Had an overflow on Friday night (Both my brother and I got distracted at the critical juncture, and water went EVERYWHERE!!) which hasn't helped matters... But on the positive side, managed to get the lights onto it, so fingers crossed the masses of plants will begin to help with processing the chemicals in the water (am getting some duckweed to help it along- once the tank's clear it'll be swapped out for the massive amount of Java Moss I've got growing out in the pond, and the 'weed can colonise that).

Once again the water's pretty murky and stinky so going to do a 30% water change on it again tomorrow (Well...today now-will post up post-change water parameters!). I'm debating stirring the soil slightly, but a bit concerned it's going to cause problems, the least of which is losing the sand cap layer into the soil, the most of which is letting a whole load of noxious gasses out into the water, especially with my little air pump out of action (it sucked up a whole load of water in the overflow and is now attempting to dry out). If I were to do so, I'd definitely be looking to move the axies out for a few hours after, but by the same token summer has decided to grace us with her presence, so there's a pretty big risk factor involved in the process from that end...

So...Thoughts?
(And thanks everyone who's taken the time to read my ramblings!)

I wouldnt do any stirring at this point, just will upset things more.
My soil stunk for a couple weeks, i stirred it every otherday (no axies in it) with only aboit half an inch of water over the soil. It wasnt stinking as bad when i capped it.
So it will take alot longer unless you can relocate the axie for a month, then stir away and let the minerals and excess organics break down.

As far as realeasing the gasses in soil you can if you relocate axie for the day. Just poke the substrate with a fork or something similiar trying to not disturb the substrate as much as possible, currently your soil will be going through some decomposition and that will produce this extra gas that will cause ph swings.
So remove axie, poke soil, wait a few hours then do waterchange, few more hours then check parameters. Im assuming of course that there is a large amount of excess gas.
You should check out my deep sand bed thread in this forum for more info. On how it works.

Thanks for the suggestions! If it starts to go out of whack again I'll definitely be following through (especially if I can find some nice long super thin tubes to poke down...)
But to update...Ended up taking out a third of the water, cleared out the filter (again...) and... got distracted. But this was a good thing! Going from 400 down to 270 (ish) has let the filter catch up on itself (btw, if anyone has a busted AquaOne Nautillius 1600 with intact basket they want to get rid of...) so the water's starting to clear quite nicely (and the chiller's having a slightly easier go of it with the heat). All the axies are quite happy now, though some of the plants floating on the top seem to have caught every bit of gunk humanly possibly, so shall be giving them a rinse off tomorrow. Also crossing my fingers that the extreme heat of the next few days will get the last drops of water out of my air pump so I can get the skimmer running again

Since your doing a Walstad-ish set-up without mineralizing your soil, you're going to have a prolonged period of ammonia, nitrite, & nitrate spike possibly all at the same time. Like what others have said, the decomposition process still needs to take place so your ammonia level will continuously be high for a while. This is when I leave my plants growing without any livestock yet (or just with cheap ghost shrimps). The plants love the nutrients but very high ammonia can still affect them especially when you just planted it - they'll be in a "just-planted" shock and in some sort of ammonia acid shock and possibly just rot away. I mentioned PLANTS cuz you are setting up a Walstad, right?

So to keep them controlled for the first few weeks, DAILY WATER CHANGES of 25% to 50%. You cannot believe how high they get everyday.. they peak!

Your axos probably didn't mind the burning sensation and but they are definitely getting that TOXIC. So get them out of there for a while and put them in a container beside your tank and do water changes on it as well.

Settled down quite a bit now- ammonia's starting to process, the plants that look like they're going to be good long term are flourishing, and axies are doing wonderfully.
What I found was oxygenation was the primary problem I was having- setting up the internal with a bubble feed cleared it up within three days (in addition to the cannister, am still doing 20% water changes when the weather hasn't baked the pipes). I also used a protein skimmer to help clean it out, and for almost a week it was full within 24 hours, now it's finally not putting anything out!
The run-on problems from the particulates in the water are still something I'm dealing with- a number of plants are looking pretty horrible, so I'll replace them within the next few weeks, and my pretty anubias on driftwood bit the dust Not sure how I'll move with cleaning it off and replanting it, but it's something to do over the holidays, but considering that all my plants (excluding the 7L of java moss that I've grown over the past year and the driftwood thingy) cost a grand total of $10, I am Not Complaining! Fingers crossed when I next go to the water gardens I'll be able to get a whole heap more swords as they have just flourished with the setup, and the axies are adoring hanging out in them
Anyways, thanks to everyone who's offered suggestions, and fingers crossed what I've learned so far will be of use to others in the hobby
And MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Yeah seems like ive always got a bit of the brown debri settling everywhere in my tank. Could be alot of things with my waterfall plants and everything but the water columns pretty clear. Just keep it up and it will turn out great, and once everything is established youll see the need for mainteniance dwindle to acceptable levels.