After 2 weeks of ammonia readings, we now have nitrate?

Okay, so we are completing the awful fish in cycle that you hear about. I bought the fish and tank as advised by PetSmart one day after the next, and didn’t become aware of the nitrogen cycle until a few days after having it all set up. Currently, I have a 29 gal tank that I bought in a TopFin starter kit. The heater already broke so I went and got a 100 watt Aqueon heater.
We set the tank up one day with gravel, decor, & 2 live plants, & I added API quick start and Prime dechlorinator. The next day, they sent us home with 5 mollies and a Dwarf Gourami. After some googling and becoming aware of the nitrogen cycle, I went and bought more prime and the API master test kit.
We’ve had the fish in there for about 2 weeks, and for the entire 2 weeks, Ive dozed with prime daily, and we’ve been getting an ammonia reading between 0.5ppm-1.0ppm, and 0 nitrites and 0 nitrates. After getting our ammonia measurement to 1.0ppm, we perform a 50% water change and dose with prime (we’ve done the water changes only twice). I haven’t dosed any bottled bacteria since the very first day we got the tank, and I haven’t added anything else other than what I mentioned.
This is where the confusion comes in. Last night, we tested for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and pH like we normally do. All readings were as expected (ammonia at 1.0 ppm, pH at 6.8, nitrites at 0ppm) except for our nitrate, which was randomly at 10.0ppm. First, we thought we tested wrong. So we got new water in 2 new clean test tubes & tried it again, shaking the bottle first & then adding the drops in as directed. Both times we got the same nitrate reading. We then tested our tap water (even though it’s been 5 days since last adding water) and we had 0 nitrate readings there.
We are super confused as to how we have nitrates, especially because we haven’t added anything new (other than the water change 5 days ago) and we haven’t seen any nitrite measurements to this point. Is it possible that we are cycled? The fish are doing great. They’ve never given any indication that they’ve been uncomfortable or stressed in the tank. Or are we missing something big? I’ve been racking my brain & googling & I can’t quite figure it out. Any help is appreciated!

 

Nitrates are good! It means the bacteria is present and processing everything through the cycle. Nitrates are also essential for live plants, because that's where they pull their nutrients from (for example, in the future if you move to a fully planted tank and want to add fertilizer, it will bump up your nitrates until the plants eat it). Nitrate is completely fine, unless it gets higher than 40 ppm. My red flags start to go off if it goes above 20 ppm (I have a fully planted tank, so I hang around 5 ppm), but it won't really hurt the fish until it gets to 40 ppm or higher for a sustained period of time.

 

Nitrates are good! It means the bacteria is present and processing everything through the cycle. Nitrates are also essential for live plants, because that's where they pull their nutrients from (for example, in the future if you move to a fully planted tank and want to add fertilizer, it will bump up your nitrates until the plants eat it). Nitrate is completely fine, unless it gets higher than 40 ppm. My red flags start to go off if it goes above 20 ppm (I have a fully planted tank, so I hang around 5 ppm), but it won't really hurt the fish until it gets to 40 ppm or higher for a sustained period of time.

So, is this looking like a nearly cycled tank then? That’s what I keep seeing online, but I’m stressed by the fact that I never had a nitrite reading. I measured the water everyday for 2 weeks at the same time, and the tested water never changed color from that light blue. The no nitrite makes me think I messed something up & this nitrate reading is false or from something random.

 

Sometimes it just does that. I didn't get a nitrite reading until I got a random spike after I thought my tank had been done cycling for a week. Luckily, the lovely people of FishLore got me through it without any casualties.

I would still wait until the ammonia is at 0 to consider it cycled. However, my ammonia readings will start to go up every couple days since I only have a 10 g, so I just do a water change when it hits .25. It seems like you're doing everything right, so just keep doing what you're doing.

 

Sometimes it just does that. I didn't get a nitrite reading until I got a random spike after I thought my tank had been done cycling for a week. Luckily, the lovely people of FishLore got me through it without any casualties.

I would still wait until the ammonia is at 0 to consider it cycled. However, my ammonia readings will start to go up every couple days since I only have a 10 g, so I just do a water change when it hits .25. It seems like you're doing everything right, so just keep doing what you're doing.

Okay. I just did my water measurments. Ammonia is down to 0.5ppm. We finally have a nitrite reading today- 0.25ppm. And our nitrates are between 10-20ppm. Should we do a water change? Or should I be good to dose with prime and just keep letting the tank do its thing?

 

I'd dose with prime and do one tomorrow