Preparing for first Axolotl; appreciate advice on set up so far

New to Axolotls

Preparing for one Axolotl (yet to be purchased) and will sincerely appreciate opinions, suggestions on my set up so far, cycling, or anything else I've overlooked

Tank: 20 gal long Do I need a cover?

CYCLE INFO: Began 6/17/17, 9:00 p.m.
Fish-In Cycle: 6 Fathead Minnows (being fed Gold Fish flakes)
Using 3 "bioloaded" foam filters from a well established minnow prep tank
Filters: 1 - 15 gallon foam filter; 1 - 10 gallon foam filter; 1 - up to 10 gal foam

Water Parameters: as of 6/19/17, 1:00 am
Ammonia= .5; Nitrites=.25; Nitrates=5.0; PH=8.0; Temp=68F

Substrate: Quikrete Play Sand, natural color (also being used in an established Red Cherry Shrimp tank)

Plants: Moneyworts planted in small planters,
Pathos, Peace Plant, Swedish Ivy, Willow stems hanging on side of tank
Have some Cryptocoryne, Vallisnerea & large Marimo Moss Balls coming in the mail next week
One dried Almond Leaf (from RCS supply. Minnows like to burrow under it, can be removed if not suitable for Axolotl)

Hides: 2

Driftwood: Have one lg pc of Malaysian driftwood coming in mail next week

Lighting: low light - One 18 white, 6 blue LED clip on lamp; 1.5 W lights about 1/2 the tank with low light.

Food (need help with age appropriate diet): None purchased yet; bloodworms for youngster under (how old)???; Earth worms for adult over age (how old)???

Thank you.

PS: Water Parametersy on 5 gal Red Cherry Shrimp tank (appx 35-40 shrimp ranging from newborn to adult) consistently run at:
Ammonia=0; Nitrites=0; Nitrates=10-20; PH=8.2; Temp=74-75F
Since contents are about the same in both tanks, I would expect this new tank to level off at about the same once the cycle is finished (except for the temp, RCS tank is heated) .
Hopefully, I'll be able to keep Nitrates a little lower in the Axol tank. Because of the micro-tiny, barely-visible size of newborn RCS, I cannot/do not perform actual sand vacuums but rather do daily spot cleaning of the surface with the turkey baster instead. Not as good, I know, but safer for the babies and juvies, which are so small and too tame for their own good (have no fear of anything).

Cover

-A cover is ideal if you plan on keeping the tank full of water, axies can accidentally leap out of the water though not very common.
I actually experienced this twice with my second axolotl during water changes when she was in a tub.

Cycle

-Your cycle parameters are looking great! Ammonia is a little high, ideally you should add your axie in once it reaches 0.0 and shouldn't reach higher than 0.25, just perform a 20%-30% water change and you should be fine I wouldn't worry about your Nitrates, anywhere from 0-40ppm is perfectly suitable for an axolotl. The ph is right at Axolotl tolerance (6.5-8.0) so I'd watch to make sure it doesn't get much higher than that.

Food

-So I'm going to assume the axie you will be getting is a juvenile and around 2-3 inches in length. Blood worms are perfectly fine at this age and size. Anywhere from 1/2 a cube to a full cube a day is great, but a quick rule of thumb is, if their stomach is as wide as their head, they're okay and never leave uneaten food in the tank, remove it after about 10-15 mins are when you see your axie is full)
If you can, transition onto live earthworms as soon as you can and when you're comfortable with it. Usually you'll need to cut up the worm since they're pretty large unless you keep your axolotl on bloodworms until adult hood.
My first axie didn't take too live earthworms until after a month of bringing him home and I believe he was 3.5 inches long.
My second axie was the complete opposite and ate a redwiggler (a type of earthworm) the day I brought her home (she was 3" long) and she's been eating them for over 2 weeks now and does fine.
If you choose to go this route (feeding earthworms right away), I recommend red wigglers since they tend to be smaller, but some axies don't like them because they are bitter, definitely look around at your local pet stores and bait shops to find an alternative (if possible). And please cut them to about the width of the axie's head or smaller (the worm stretches in water).
You could even mix cut up earthworms in with blood worms for a more nutritious meal!

Aside from that, everything looks pretty good!
I really don't know much about live plants, so hopefully someone else can let you know if those are axie safe or not, but I don't see why not

Good luck with your new axolotl adventures!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You've been so helpful!

I tested the water this morning, Ammonia and Nitrites are at 0, Nitrates between 10 and 20 ( hard for me to see the difference between the two), PH 8.0, Temp 68F.

I'm going to do a 25% water change sometime in the next couple days (using Prime because our water comes out of the tap at 1 to 2 ppm Ammonia, and I have minnows in the tank). I'll test again 48 hrs after that, and if it's stable, I'll be huntinig online for my juvenile Axie. I'm so excited!

Thank you again. I so appreciate your help!

You're very welcome! I'm glad I could be of help!

That's great! Glad your tank is about ready for your new axie! I have troubles reading my Nitrates as well, I always just assume the 20 is darker.

Not a problem!
Feel free to pm me any questions you have that you couldn't quite find answers on through the forum or if you just need another opinion