How did you guys cycle low pH aquariums?
My tank have been running for 8 months now, its a 10 gallon tank, pH stabled at 5.0 and I kept 10 neon tetras with 5 pygmy corys. These fishes all died quite gradually in the 5th month.
I did some researches on low pH environments that traditional nitrifying bacteria often stall or go dormant below a pH of 6.0. I suspect ammonia/ammonium buildup killed the fish because the cycle wasn't processing waste. I tried using coral crumbs and baking soda to buffer the water, but the pH inevitably crashes back down to 5.0. Currently, the tank is having 2 neon tetras (actually 5 but 3 died off pH shock) and 1 wild caught croaking gourami, they are doing well for a few weeks now since I’m relying to Seachem Prime and water changes to reduce ammonium (this also kept me away from checking the presence of NO2 and NO3 too lol).
Is there a specific way to cycle a tank for these acidic conditions? I'm curious if anyone has experience with ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) or other methods for keeping a cycle active in blackwater or very soft water setups where traditional BB fails.