Thank you so much for all your help! I'll guess I should be more exact about everything I'm using so I'll try and organize it as best I can!
Ill just answer in red within so that its easier to separate xD
----------------------------------------------------------------------Current Tank Situation-------------------------------------------------------------------
Water Test (Right now): Ammonia is about 0.5 ppm/L (this and the next test are color comparison charts), nitrate is 20, nitrite is ~0 ppm/L, (this one concerns me) the water is very hard at 300 ppm/L, chlorine is 0, alkalinity is 35, and Ph is about 7.6
Okay, thats interesting... If you're getting Nitrates then your tank is either cycled or almost finished cycling yet you still have ammonia readings... It could be that your tank is just finally cycling after the year of having him which is a good thing! Or it means that the bacterial starter you're using is working, though, that could be temporary since you've only been using it a short time. For his new tank, I would definitely move your filter media to that one just in case! I would say your hardness is fine as long as you're testing for GH (general hardness.) They like harder water than most freshwater animals. Your pH is perfectly ideal. As always, more water changes are better.
Water treatment products: For neutralizing chlorine I use Tetra aquasafe plus (based on the reading it must be working!) and for the bacteria I have Nutrafin cycle.
I, too, started out with TAS+ but! I would suggest getting Prime because it neutralizes Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate and while your little buddy is in a cycling tank, it can be a life saver. Amazon has big bottles for cheap and a little goes a long way, a lot longer than the other stuff. Also, TAS+ tends to create bubbles and slime which always annoyed me haha.
I dont have any personal experience with that bacterial starter but if you are just now starting to get nitrates after beginning it then definitely keep using it! Just be aware that the bacteria can die off if they cant maintain their food supply (ammonia) and can then cause an ammonia spike from their dead bodies. Cycling is truly a pain in the ass and there isnt any shortcuts lol.
Food: I have almost exclusively fed him bloodworms, save for about 2 weeks I fed him brine shrimp as I couldn't make it to the store and its all I had left (bought it for him to try but it's too messy and gets caught in the filter)
Bloodworms and brine shrimp are sooooo messy. Once you switch to worms and pellets you wont want to go back (sorry Lt. Colonel sir haha).
Tank decor: He has what is in that last photo obviously, no substrate or anything.
Yeah everything seems in order so long as he has a hide. He might like some fake plants or something to climb on. Yours seems to have quite the personality so I bet itd be fun to get him some new toys xD
Concerns: I am really worried about the water hardness, would that be affecting him? I have not been using the bacteria aside from the first few days I got him back in October but I have also put it in the odd time, probably only about 4 or 5 times since then though.
Okay I must have misread. So if you've have this bottle of bacteria for that long, its unlikely they are still potent unless you've kept them refrigerated.
-----------------------------------------------------------What I want to change/future plans-------------------------------------------------------------
Water treatment: I feel like the stuff I'm using is good to use right? I'm hoping to go buy more bacteria tomorrow from pet smart but I'll write you what it says to use it for relevant to starting his new tank, does this sound right? I know I need to add more.
"Day 1: 25ml/10gal, day 2/3 10ml/gal, 5 ml/gal on every water change (which I would do bi weekly), 10 ml/gal when adding new fish, 10ml/gal each week to maintain strong colony"
I dont think what you are using will hurt anything but its possible that it wont work long term (also, it seems pretty expensive :O) It seems to have pretty good reviews online from what I've seen. I would do as the bottle suggests but then I would follow a proper water cycling manual. No matter what, these bacteria need something to eat or they will die. In your current tank, your axolotl is producing the food for the bacteria but in the new tank, nothing will be there and they generally need toxic levels of ammonia to get going. Some recommend adding fish food or live fish but I dont find that ethical and the latter is too slow. If you have access to receive shipments, Amazon or Chewy have the ammonium chloride solution for a few bucks if I recall.
Food: So I hope to find night crawlers, but with the lockdown I am worried that I won't be able to find any. I'll take a look around, but I'll start with 2 nightcrawlers a week (probably on Mondays and Fridays, then feed him pellets? What kind of pellets should I feed him? I bought ones recommended to me but they are for turtles and they don't really stay at the bottom of the tank for him lol.
I work at a pet store that shall not be named lol but definitely call ahead before you go. Most PM get their shipments of bugs on Tuesday or Thursday and right now people are stocking up for their reptiles ahead of time. Its a pain. I also bought turtle pellets at first but turns out I had the same issue you had and also they are way too hard for axolotls lol. Adding it to the pile of unfortunate purchases for these guys xD Get the soft moist pellets. My axolotls took a few days to take to them but now they cant get enough of them and its recommended by all the big axolotl experts. You can only get them online but I think one of the mods here sells them for cheap. I bought mine from etsy because Amazon wouldnt ship to my state. I'm feeding them the Rangen Soft Moist Pellets 3/18" size but I'd go bigger since yours is older. I can send you the seller link that I used if you want just dm me
Tank decor: What kinds of tile and other decors should I look for him? I have a bunch of rocks I initially had in the tank I collected at lake Ontario, but took them out thinking it made the water hard. Bi weekly 50% water changes have shown me this was not the case. Is it safe to add them? I have boiled them to remove any impurities.
Thats interesting... I would assume that rocks should be inert so long as they are not crumbly or compounded with salt. I dont know for sure on that one sadly but maybe hold off on the rocks until someone can confirm. If you had them in the tank, though, and he was alright then you should be good just monitor. As far as tile, I know some people get sample floor tile or backsplash tiles from Home Depot or similar stores and use those. With the tiles, just make sure that what they are made of is something inert like granite, slate, or cement with stones embedded is best for grip. Nothing that will crumble xD Then, you should be able to gravel vacuum around them and occasionally remove them to get underneath them.
ps. Sorry I hit send to early on this