Cycling Help - Too Good To Be True?

TLDR; possibly cycled tank in a week

I set up my 10 gallon tank a little over two weeks ago and started a fishless cycle. I should also note that I put in fluval foam and biomax in my HOB. For the first week, I used betta flakes as an ammonia source and got about 0.5 ppm ammonia from that (dropped a pinch of flakes twice, giving the flakes some time to decompose before testing and adding more). My ammonia levels stayed consistent for that first week. Then I got Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride and an active sponge filter from Angel's Plus.

Here's how this week went:
Monday (two days after putting in the filter) - ammonia was 0, nitrite 0, and nitrate around 5 ppm. I added around 3-4 ppm of ammonia (I have a hard time reading API's liquid tests).

Tuesday - ammonia was around 2 ppm (definitely lighter than the previous day), nitrite 0, and nitrate 10-20 ppm

Wednesday - ammonia & nitrite 0, nitrate around 30 ppm. I added 3-4 ppm of ammonia again

Thursday - ammonia 1-2 ppm, nitrite 0-0.25 (after 5 minutes it was blue, but I left it out for while and it was purple lighter than the .25 color), did not test for nitrates this day

Friday - ammonia & nitrite 0, nitrate 40- less than 80 ppm. I did a 25% water change and the nitrate level decreased to 20-40 ppm. I added maybe 2-3 ppm this time (added regular amount before I did the water change so this may have affected the amount of ammonia). This was around 7 PM.

Today - tested at 5:30 PM, ammonia & nitrite 0, nitrate 40-80 ppm

For this week, PH levels remained consistently around 7. I added in the plants and driftwood two days ago. I'm really not sure if I'm done cycling at this point. I also find it weird that I never saw any nitrite levels aside from that one time I left it out for longer than 5 minutes (even then it was a minuscule amount).

 

I think you are cycled. The same thing happened to my brother. You could wait a little longer just to make sure.

 

Cool. If I plan to get fish tomorrow, will it be okay to leave the bacteria without an ammonia source for that long? Also, how much water should I change/how low should I bring the nitrate level before adding in the fish? I'm at a lost for what to do now because I never expected to make it this far this fast knowing how long it usually takes to cycle a tank

 

Cool. If I plan to get fish tomorrow, will it be okay to leave the bacteria without an ammonia source for that long? Also, how much water should I change/how low should I bring the nitrate level before adding in the fish? I'm at a lost for what to do now because I never expected to make it this far this fast knowing how long it usually takes to cycle a tank

The AngelsPlus seeded sponge filter had both ammonia and nitrite eating bacteria. That is the reason you only saw the low spike in nitrites. By using it you almost instantly cycle this tank.

I have to assume you are getting fish today so it is really too late to answer the question as to whether or not to add ammonia but for future folks reading this thread adding it the day before getting fish isn't needed.

Try to get the nitrates down below 20 to begin with.

 

Thanks for the advice! I held off on adding anymore ammonia yesterday and will change the water to get the nitrates down to that level today