After this, I filled the tank up with water using Prime, and the water was a little murky due to the gravel.
View attachment 296884
Seeing this, I decided to keep the fish in the QT tank overnight until the water cleared up. I did put all three snails in the main tank. What I also did, was put two cups of the old gravel in the tank with some filter media to jump-start the cycle, if any.
View attachment 296885
I put the fish in the tank the next day (Sunday). Here is where I went wrong, and I implore anyone to read what I am bout to say very carefully:
Even with all of my research, and precautions to get the tank not to cycle all over again, it cycled. Nothing too bad. Ammonia was only up to .25 PPM. But ammonia was still present. I made the mistake of only pulling gravel from the top, which is where the BB that converts Nitrite into Nitrate, not Ammonia to Nitrite. I never had any Nitrite reads because of this. But, remember I had a German Blue Ram, which was my pride and joy, but very sensitive. I taught her hand commands and everything. She reared many children in my tank and I loved her dearly. I was not thinking and kept her in the main tank. After a few days I noticed she seemed like she did not know where she was going and was easily scared. I found out, she was now blind. All because of the small amount of ammonia. I am living with that guilt everyday, over something beginners should know. She is now living in the QT tank with soft objects around her. It took her 2 weeks to realize my hand was trying to help her and she started to eat again. She is 2 years old an may not live much longer, but I work very hard every single day to make sure she is as happy as the can be.
View attachment 296886
Please make sure you cycle your tank before any fish are added. Please learn from my bone-headed mistake. FYI, my tank took 9 days to cycle with daily 50% water changes, so not too long, but still cycled.