Cycling my tank?

[clofuller]

Hey, I’ve been researching why my ammonia is rising so rapidly in my newly refurbished tank. I’ve read a lot about cycling your tank first for weeks. I have not done this and now I’m wondering what I should do. I do not have a separate tank to keep her in and she has just spent a few weeks in a container because ive had to fridge her so I wouldn’t want to do that again. I just lost my other axie and recovered this one out of the same sickness - I just keep running into problems and concerns. Is there any way I can quickly fix this? Thanks

 

[Hayleyy]

Sorry for the loss of your other axolotl. Good idea to keep this one out of the tank for now. She will be fine in a container, just change 100% every day. If there is nothing living in that tank the best thing is to let the ammonia rise, add some beneficial bacteria and/or plants/decor/filter media from an established tank. If the ammonia gets really high (say, above 4ppm) then do some water changes. You'll see the nitrite rise as the ammonia falls, then nitrates rise as nitrites fall. Once you have 0 ammonia and nitrites, and nitrates up to 40ppm then the tank is ready. I usually try and stick around 20ppm of nitrates. After this you only need to do partial weekly water changes, I do 20%. Hope this helps!