Question: (Tank Cycling) Nitrates, but 0 Nitrites?

So while my tiny axie has been fridged, I've been cycling his 10 gallon tank for the past 3 weeks now, and everything is going very smoothly. The tank has no substrate and one live plant. I've been testing it every other day, and I've only had to do a 25% water change due to ammonia levels > 4.0 ppm, once.

Since the process was so slow in the beginning, my boyfriend (who's in school for environmental engineering and water treatment) suggested turning my air pump on to oxidize the tank a bit and to get the process going a little more. It's a small battery-powered air pump with an air stone the size of a ping pong ball, and I've only been leaving it on for a few hours at a time. I've also considered getting feeder fish to speed up the cycling as well.

I tested it today and the pH levels are between 8.0-8.2, ammonia level was 4.0 ppm, and my nitrate level was 5.0 ppm. But my nitrite test came back as 0 ppm?
Does this mean that it's just converting to nitrate incredibly fast, and I should add a little more of my ammonia source? Or am I doing something wrong?

What test kit are you using?

The order of conversion for your biological filter is Ammonia > Nitrite > Nitrate.

So if the results you posted are correct your tank has at somepoint completed a full conversion of Ammonia and Nitrites into Nitrates.

I would have expected to see some Nitrites since if the bacteria needed to convert Ammonia to Nitrite is present (considering the full conversion has been made due to you having Nitrates) then there should be some readings of Nitrite.

Perhaps retest after a day and you may find the Ammonia that is present has converted to Nitrite.

Try doing a water change to lower the Ammonia slightly, you ideally want to watch the Ammonia levels drop and the Nitrite rise, then the Nitrite drop and the Nitrate rise (as the bacteria converts them). When ever you notice the Ammonia levels dropping down near 1.0ppm just dose the tank with the Ammonia source.

It would be worth testing your tap water to see if it contains any Ammonia, Nitrite, or Nitrate, as this will affect your results.

I'm using the API Master Test Kit. And I tested it the day before yesterday and that's when the ammonia level was a little too high (almost 8 ppm) and there was 0 ppm for both nitrite and nitrate. So I did a 25% water change. Since then, the ammonia has lowered to 4.0 ppm. I will retest after another day and see what happens. I tested my tap water before even putting it in the tank and it contains 0 ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates, but it has a naturally high pH level. High being about 7.6-8.

You're pretty lucky with your tap water. Mine has a pH above 8, nitrate, and I think even a little bit of ammonia. Water changes don't get rid of nitrate for me.

I forgot to mention before, If you've been able to get your Ammonia to 4.0ppm then I wouldn't use a feeder fish to create Ammonia, it's just unnecessarily harming the fish when you seem to be creating the Ammonia from another source just fine. What Ammonia source are you using?

You just have to be patient and wait for the Ammonia to convert to Nitrite, then be patient and wait for the Nitrite to convert to NitrAte.

NaterPotater - you almost definitely have chloramine (ammonia and chlorine bonded) in the water - in that area, they use chloramine instead of chlorine since it is more stable and doesn't produce (as many?) carcinogenic biproducts when certain other contaminants are present. (At least that is what I recall from when I lived across the river from St Louis.) So, yeah, you have ammonia, and if you ever forget to treat your water, the chloramine will cause more damage (to cycle and axolotl) than chlorine would.

Yeah, I already figured that that's what it was. Couldn't get a whole lot of detailed information on the parameters of our tap water other than what I tested for myself, but I think I read somewhere that chloramine was pretty common and would show up on a water test as ammonia. IT SUCKS..... One time I DID forget to treat a container of water, but I got some AquaSafe Plus in there within like 10 seconds (I freaked out. lol). I like the TASTE of St. Louis tap water compared to pretty much anywhere else I've ever been. I DON'T like that, because of its parameters, water changes hardly help my tank parameters at all.

AxolotlChris- I've been using fish flakes, as well as taking a small amount of my axie's waste and leftover brine shrimp during water changes. I feed my betta pellets and blood worms, so I have no use for the flakes at all. It's messy, but it's been working really well as an ammonia source.
I tested the water again today. It's been 6 days since I saw nitrates. But now nitrites and nitrates are back at 0 ppm, and ammonia is 8 ppm. This doesn't mean my cycle's crashed, correct? pH is about 8.2, but I know higher pH levels are normal during cycling. I figured I'll just let the high ammonia level sit for a few days while I'm out of town before doing a water change and see if I see any nitrites when I get back.

Nater- Yes, I got very lucky with my tap water. It helps knowing that high pH is really the only thing I have to worry about, but during cycling it's remained about 8-8.2 not considering small water changes. I assume the water here in central Florida must just have limestone or another source making the pH naturally high. But I was just up north in PA, and the water there is so soft, it destroyed my skin. So I'm happy to be where I am. Hahaha.

Yeah, my house's tap water is also very hard, which isn't really a bad thing I guess. Very hard, high pH, chloramine and nitrate. I still do a water change about once a week, but it honestly doesn't help much in terms of my parameters. I mostly do it regularly because the tank gets gross otherwise. haha. Little chunks of poop everywhere.

8.0ppm is way to high, if you dose higher than your last high reading you could overload the cycle killing the bacteria that have been established.

The fact your test results are showing 0 Nitrites and 0 NitrAtes suggests that your ammonia is no longer being converted into Nitrites, therefore no NitrAtes are appearing either. So you may have crashed your cycle with the 8.0ppm of ammonia being left in the tank for so long.

If you dose to 4.0ppm of ammonia you want to let this be converted to Nitrite, as your ammonia goes down, keeping dosing ammonia to keep near the 4.0pmm which is feeding the bacteria. You'll start to see your Nitrite to be converted to NitrAtes, at which point when you hit 40ppm of NitrAte, perform a water change around 20-30% to bring the NitrAtes down. You'll keep dosing on ammonia to create a strong colony of bacteria. After a few weeks of dosing, and making sure you get a consistent conversion of Ammonia to Nitrites and Nitrites to Nitrates you could do one more final dose of ammonia and keep testing to see a full conversion to NirAtes leaving your ammonia and nitrites at 0. This is when you know your bacteria colony's have fully established so your cycle is complete.
remember the order of conversion: Ammonia > Nitrite > NitrAte

Ugh. This is so time consuming.
I might just try and redo the entire cycle with another more beneficial, and less messy ammonia source. Any suggestions?

I used a tea bag. Cut it open pour out the content, add your fish flakes then thread a piece of cotton through to help hold the slit in the tea bag shut, the cotton will also allow you to tie the tea bag to something so the current of the filter doesn't drag it around or suck it onto the filter

Remember how much of the fish flakes you use to dose the ammonia to a certain level then you can use the same amount each time to dose to the same ppm of ammonia each time

You can use plain (no scents or fancy stuff) ammonia as the ammonia source. (If it isn't at the grocery store, check the big-box hardware store.) That is very concentrated - you need, like, a drop or two to get 4ppm. To make it easier to measure, dilute the ammonia in water and figure out how much of the diluted ammonia you need to raise the ppm to where you need it.