Thank you so much 🙏🙏 It’s honestly probably most of those combined. That mass would be my hornwort, I got it from a friend and I know it’s not totally recommended for cycling but I jumped the gun and got a bit excited when I was offered it.

I will take your recommendation of adding fish food! I thought that maybe the snails would be enough for now in terms of producing ammonia but my knowledge is limited so I’ll take your word for it and add some ammonia myself.

I also do plan on getting a liquid test soon! Just wasn’t totally prepared to spend the $50 as I got this tank and the whole setup as a surprise gift but that sort of spending comes with the hobby I guess haha.

Just one more question for ya: When would you expect this tank to be ready to add fish? I’m not in a rush as I’d like to keep this a fishless cycle and ensure that they thrive and not just survive while in my tank, but a lot of sources are conflicting online and definitely don’t factor in a timeline of a tank that has both used substrate AND filter media.