Suggestions on cycling my new 20 gal aquarium

I recently acquired a new 20 gal aquarium and transferred three small
goldfish and 1 male betta.

I know some of you will curse me for this combination, but I wanted to
get these fish out of their cramped old quarters and into a more
comfortable tank.

Fish are completely healthy and show no aggression towards each other.


A little about my tank, its a long 20 gal with Fluval 250. I use
Biomax media and carbon in the canister. Water is CRYSTAL clear and
the fish happily swim around. I feed once a day and only enough that
the fish eat. Hardly ANY food ever reaches the gravel.

In those 3 weeks I had changed the water once (50%) and rinsed the
components in the canister.

Using Jungle Quick Dip test strips I tested every other day or so for
three weeks
pH 6.8
KH 40
GH 150
Nitrites 0-.5
Nitrates 0


This past weekend I had to leave for 3 days. When I came back the
tests read
pH 6.8
KH 40 ppm
GH 150 ppm
Nitrites 10+ ppm
Nitrates 0 ppm

I immediately did a 50% water change and for the past week have done
50% water change very day. The Nitrites have gone down considerable
but still rest at 3.0 ppm

Is this okay? Will nitrates start kicking in soon? I am conditioning
the water with Amquel with all water changes. I added a small amount (
2 tsp) of Aquarium salt to help the fish with the Nitrite stress.

I need some comments from people who are experienced in cycling new
tanks.