I currently have a male crown-tail betta and a snail in a 1 gal. filtered aquarium. I recently purchased a 5 gal. aquarium and I am attempting to cycle it so Rainbow Fish (he's all red but my 4 yr old son named him for what it's worth) can move in when it's ready.

I put two shrimp and one live plant in the 5 gal. along with gravel, rocks, silk plant and a heater (set to 78 F) when I initially set it up 3 days ago. I also put the used charcoal filter pad from the 1 gal. into the 5 gal. filter.

One shrimp has since died (I have not removed the dead shrimp from the aquarium). I have been feeding the remaining shrimp a pinch of fish flakes twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening.

I have a master testing kit and these are the results from my first test today:

pH = 7.6

high range pH = 7.4

NH3/NH4 = 0ppm

​

I have read the FAQ and care sheet on this sub, as well as researching other sites, and I have a few questions.

First question, what is the difference between pH and high range pH?

According to what I read, the first goal is to get the Ammonia to 3.0 ppm, is this correct? What do I do if it gets higher than that?

What is the best way to clean the test tubes after testing? In the dishwasher, by hand with tap water?

​

Sorry if these are noob questions, but I find this extremely interesting and want to give Rainbow fish the best environment I can and keep him healthy for years.

Thank you in advance to everyone!