So I couldn't wait, which is my problem, impatience.
So tonight like a dope I took out the filter, tore a couple of holes in the filter and shook out as much carbon as I could
Problem 1: the tray under the filter pad is broken up into sections, so one hole wouldn't get out all the carbon, so I made another hole. I got out as much as I could but it being wet and the filter being broken up into little trays etc I could't get it all [pic below]
Problem 2: now I have little pieces of carbon floating in the tank [pic below, showing a corner of the tank with some carbon floating in the bubbles and even some pieces resting on the decor - and oh yeah LOTS of bubbles on the surface, is that normal?]
Problem 3: unrelated, but tonight I noticed the water turning a bit murky/cloudy, like a white cloudy stuff in there. Is that good or bad? Last night I did add a flake of ground up fish food, heard that might help, not sure if that caused the cloudiness, wasn't that way last night
So what do I do now? My filter has holes in it, it still has some carbon pieces inside and now I have carbon in the tank itself and my water is cloudy.
I also did a full API test before I lost my mind and started cutting things up:
Ammonia 4.0
High range ph: 7.4
Ph a darker blue than the chart so probably a bit more than 7.6
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
Maybe this is the universe's way of telling me I should leave fish alone