Cycling problem !

I started cycling my 10gal tank on 1/14/20. I filled the tank with leftover spring water (about 7 gals) and the rest with my tap water.

My tap has 5ppm Nitrate & 1ppm Ammonia , the spring water has no ammonia but 5ppm nitrate .
I put a brand new filter and cartridge in and I added substrate with 3 plants and 2 moss balls.

I've been adding fish flakes every 12 hours for 16 days now.

I've been testing the water every other day but today my nitrates read at .50ppm but I haven't seen any nitrites yet and I still have .25/.50 ammonia .

1/14
Ph 7.6
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
Ammonia .50ppm

1/18
Ph 7.6
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm
Ammonia .50ppm

1/23
Ph 7.6
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5.0 ppm
Ammonia .50 ppm

1/25
Ph 7.6
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5ppm
Ammonia .50ppm

1/30
Ph 7.6
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 10ppm
Ammonia .50ppm

My ammonia won't go up or hasnt gotten darker any more but the nitrates turned light orange when yellow before.

Am I doing something wrong or is this normal? This is my first time cycling a tank and I know to look for all 3 parameters but I haven't seen nitrites yet.

Any tips or help ?? Thank you !

 

Adding food is the least effective way to cycle. Pure ammonia is the best. Or add fish and tetra Safestart.

 

Adding food is the least effective way to cycle. Pure ammonia is the best. Or add fish and tetra Safestart.

How much is the ammonia & what's the exact name? And where can I buy it in person ? Thanks !

 

Its quite normal to not see any nitrites, what it basically means is the the bacteria that changes nitrites to nitrates is growing and is doing its job well, as soon as any nitrites are apearing its imediatly converted to nitrates.
Amonia can usually be bought at a drug store, get the unperfumed pure Ammonia if you feel you must.
Amonia is Ammonia be it from a bottle, decaying food, decaying vegitation or produced by fish all work exactly the same, the only difference is that when using food you add a couple of days at the start to the overall time to cycle as it takes a while for the food to start to decay and produce amonia, your past that, you have amonia, no real reason to change.
Using bottled ammonia from the start gets you going imediatly, you can also adjust the amount by adding or subtracting a few drops daily to keep the ppm at the desired level.

 

Should be complete in about 5-6 weeks now or sooner.

 

I would say sooner as long as you do nothing to dramatically change things.