Tank Cycling

Hey everyone!
I started the cycling process about a week ago on my 4ft tank for my 2 axies and have a couple of questions.Ive attached a photo of the tank cause why not! Haven't added any plants yet I have moss balls on the way and will be building it up.

To kick start the cycle I used fish flakes

Just had the water reading done at my local pet store and the Ammonia,Nitrite and Nitrate levels were all safe (Ammonia was 0.5ppm). Should I assume that this means the cycle hasn't kicked off yet?

Also when it does come to putting my axies in I ideally want to put them in together, I was thinking of adding some additional plants to the cycle then removing and swapping them out with the axies? would this work?

Thanks

Generally speaking, until you see nitrate in your water, your cycling is not complete. Waste becomes ammonia, bacteria changes it to nitrite, another bacteria changes that to nitrate. The bacteria take time to build up, and you'll see an ammonia surge before you see nitrate. You may see the nitrite spike as well, depending on when you test and the how much and how frequently you're changing the water. In my experience, I see the ammonia high for a bit and then higher nitrite followed rapidly by nitrate appearing. Once you have all three consistently present at safe levels, you can consider your tank cycled. (BTW, ammonia at 0.5 is the very, very top of the safe range, in my opinion). Cycling usually takes 4 to 6 weeks, but I've heard you can speed it along with fish food or household ammonia. I have never done those types of cycling, so you'll have to refer to things written by someone else for definitive info on those.

I'm confused about your plan for plants. Live plants help create oxygen, amongst other benefits (such as no worries if your axies grab a bite!). I'm not sure why you're talking about taking them out once your axies are in there.

And yes, add the axies at the same time so you have less chance of fighting over territory. (I'm assuming they are past the highly cannibalistic stage and close in size.)

Heya thanks for the reply!
Sorry I wasnt clear, so I'm going to have plants which will be permanently in the tank but I wondered if there was any benefit to having a few extra plants to remove and replace with axies as the points Ive read for adding axies seperately js because of the added biological waste xxxx

Ahh I believe the readings showed 0.5 ammonia and very little nitrate/nitrites I'll get another reading in a few days to gice the fish food time to decompose!

And yep 2 big boys both pretty much the same size xx