cycling, high amonia levels,filtration,tank size, help!

My 55g freshwater aquarium sprung a leak, I had to pull everything out and reseal it, when I took the gravel out I put it damp into a plastic storage container with a lid, the filter media went into closed ziplock bags. I was trying to keep everything good to go so the tank wouldnt cycle when I put the fish back in. The tank had 1 large comet, 2 medium comets and a smaller pleco. The tank is filtered by a Fluval Aqua Clear 70g filter with 2 sponges a carbon bag and a bag of bio media in that order. there are two air stones and two power heads in the tank to add to circulation and aeration. the tank temp is 72 degrees. After I got the tank set up on the 7th I had to do a 4 day shift. My wife fed the fish as normal. Late night on the 11th when I got home I tested the water in the tank with my API freshwater master test kit
I did a 25% water change and then had to sleep. This morning I got up and tested the tank again

I did an immediate 50% water change put in Top Fin Bacterial supplement and went off to do some errands. I did not feed the fish this morning.

So it seems to be getting better, but the nitrate has completely disappeared and that confuses me a little bit. Am I right in thinking that no Nitrite and High Ammonia mean the tank is doing a cycle? Should I keep doing water changes, and if so how much should I do and how often. I dont know if I keep changing the water out if the tank will have trouble getting established. My normal weekly schedule is to do a water change of about 25% - 33% and vacuum the gravel. Im thinking that I also need to add another filter, I was thinking about adding another fluval aqua clear 70g to the tank, but am pretty strapped for cash at the moment, I can do more maintenence in the mean time until I can get more filtration, Im also thinking of getting a canister filter, something that i can oversize quite a bit because the fish are pretty large, the large comet is 5-1/2" long not counting the tail and the others are about 4" long without the tail, the pleco is 4" total length. Ive had the fish for about 7 years now. I bought the comets as little 28 cent feeder fish in collage, had them in a 5 gallon tank and eventually the 55g. Ive been doing this a while but by no means am an expert, Id actually consider myself a beginner. Im glad to be on the forum, Ive been reading a lot and learning a lot. Id also like to put these same fish in a larger tank once funds allow because of their size, and id like to only move them up in size once but thats probably a question for another thread.

sorry for the barrage of questions I appreciate all the help.

a fishy cycle... thats what i was afraid of. Is there something I could have done to prevent the bacteria from dying off. Has anyone tried putting that stuff in a buvket with an airstone. I ask partly out of curiosity and partly out of future need. I may be moving in about six months or so, localy but still, I dont want to take any chances with stressing my fish even more.

If you feel you need more you could simply add filter sponges cut to fit the powerheads.

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I had never thought of that, Its a good Idea. I have an extra fluval sponge around here that I might have to try that with. thanks fishy

I did another 50% water change this morning
So it seems to be getting better. Ive been adding top fin bacterial suppliment, Im sure it cant hurt... but does it really help? Is there any thing that I can do to get the bacterial colonies set up sooner?

you should do fin-level water

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whats a fin level water change? like all the way down 90% or so?

It took me two days to do the reseal did the prep work and sealing in a morning then a day and a half until it cured so i couldn't smell it at all, I put the fish in the day after that. I had never thought of the source of ammonia that they would need. I read about fish less cycling in the article in your signature, and that is how im setting up my next tank, I havent set on up in years but im thinking about getting these comets a larger tank and using my 55 for a tropical setup, but lots more research on ponds and the like first.

I did a water change yesterday, I registered .5ppm ammonia, I did not do one today after i tested the water at .25ppm ammonia, Im still registering no nitrites and minimal nitrates. Im going to keep testing, I added more top fin bacterial suppliment today as well. I also started bringing the pH down as well, over the course of they day i moved it from 8.2 to 7.8. Ive read that at a lower ph the ammonia is less toxic.