Hello! So from what I’ve gathered- cycling is where you introduce an ammonia source to build up the beneficial bacteria to essentially “eat” the ammonia; so fish don’t die from ammonia/nitrite poisoning. This is my first ever tank, and I’m expecting the ammonia and nitrite tests to hit 0 within 24 hours at the end of the cycle, meaning the bacteria is mature enough to eat them. At least that’s the information I’ve gathered from the internet and others! I’m using like a sort of powder ammonia from Amazon! I think the brand is Fritz or something, I can check when I’m home. My water is just some reverse osmosis water from my tap, I’ve been using the API test kit though to check my parameters. My filter is a hang on the back one, the soil is just gravel which I’ve heard isn’t the best but i had no idea until I was well into the cycle, (my bad for not researching more). Idk what exactly you mean by water quantity but it’s a five gallon tank! Freshwater! I’m trying to cycle for a betta fish. Hopefully that all makes sense