Confused about tank cycling

[Thundercracker]

I'm currently trying to cycle a 29 gallon tank for an axolotl. I have dwarf water lettuce, driftwood, and no substrate. I am planning on adding some java fern in a bit.

 

For tank cycling, I put some fish food in the tank and beneficial bacteria. Eventually, the tank began to get ammonia and this is the measurements I got:

High range pH - 7.4 -7.8

Ammonia - 0.25 ppm

Nitrite - 0 ppm

Nitrate - 5.0 ppm

I continued to dose beneficial bacteria like I was adding more for a water change everyday, because I was doing water changes everyday (10 gallons) since the axolotl was inside the tank.

I eventually removed the axolotl and it is in a tub I change water out of daily and I no longer water change the tank.

I took measurements again when I removed the axolotl and got the exact same measurements.

About two days later, all of the measurements are the same except the ammonia increased a bit, but not enough to be bigger than 0.5 ppm.

I'm not sure what stage of the cycling process I'm in or what I need to do. I do have access to ammonia and easy green fertilizer. I might use my brother's sponge filter from his shrimp tank if recommended.

[face]

Your still in the early stages all you need to do is wait if you have access to a cycled filter squeeze it out into the tank should speed things up soon you will likely see nitrites but alll you can really do is wait 

[HomeBroodExotics]

Are you testing for ammonia after adding dechlorinator and doing water changes? 

When you add dechlorinator to tap water chloramine breaks up into ammonia. If you do a bunch of water changes while your aqurium is cycling uou will just continue to add more ammonia. Stop changing the water and let the ammonia oxidizing bacteria do their job to eat the ammonia. You have nitrates without nitrites so the tank is likely cycled. You just keep putting more ammonia in it unknowingly. 

Have you tested the ammonia levels in your axolotls bowl? 

[Odd Duck]

Have you tested your tap water?  And @HomeBroodExotics is correct about chloramine showing low levels of ammonia on the test kit after dechlorinator is added.  Since you have zero nitrites and do have nitrates at low levels, you are likely reasonably well cycled but not yet a “seasoned” tank that is going to be more stable since it has more biofiltration established.

Shrimp are not typically enough bioload to keep a good level of biofiltration going but snails can be.  You can also “blind feed” about the amount of food you would feed to an occupied tank.  The rotting food will give you nitrate bumps for sure but if you don’t catch ammonia or nitrite bumps but do see nitrate bumps from the food then your biofiltration should be adequate.

If you do catch significant ammonia or nitrite spikes that last more than 24 hours, your biofiltration is likely not yet enough to handle a messy eater like an axie (depending on axie size).  Blind feeding produces a bit more ammonia, nitrites, nitrates than even axies because the protein (the nitrogen source) gets used for growth instead of it all rotting.