Cycling and Stocking Help!

[petperson123]

I’ve been cycling a 10 gallon for just about 4 weeks now and nothing is happening. I have a filter and heater set to 78 that have been going since I started. I have the ammonia at 4ppm with dr Tim’s and it hasn’t gone down at all. My nitrite and nitrate are at zero. This is being tested with an api freshwater test kit. I added driftwood during the first week and now my water is brown (tannins?) and there are white cloud things floating around when anything is disturbed. What are those? Is it algae? Could it be affecting my cycle? I’m planning on doing live planted but have not added any plants yet.
And my second question, once the 10 gallon is cycled I was thinking of putting 5 chili Rasboras in it, with some kind of singular fish as a centerpiece, and maybe some Corydoras for the bottom. But I also like the idea of maybe 5 of some kind of small pseudomugil with 2 snails. Are these bad ideas? I’m afraid of overstocking but I also really like the idea of having multiple species in a tank. What else could I do that isn’t a betta?
Thank you!!

 

[SaraB]

Yes the brown is tannins, those will go away with water changes. If you run carbon in your filter it will also get rid of it eventually.
The white stuff is just debris. Try not to disturb stuff to often once you have fish in there.
The only corydoras I would reccomend for a 10 gallon tank would be pygmy corys. They only get about 1"and are super cute.
Centerpiece fish that is not a betta on a 10g is a bit tricky . You could do a couple of male guppies for a centerpiece. Platies come in every colour of the rainbow so maybe a pair of females (males will be stressed without females in the tank). 1 or 2 honey gourami might work
I would stay away from mollies, dwarf gourami and swordtails as they either produce a lot of waste, need more space or can be aggressive.