7 days low Ammonia and Nitrites high Nitrates

[Charliestbl90]

Ok so I'm new to the hobby in the process of cycling my first tank. Here's some info about the tank.
65g Main tank
Eshopps RS100 sump
Aquafuge2 HOB refugium
Eshopps protein skimmer (not currently using)
About 40-45lbs Caribsea Life Rock
40lbs Caribsea Agrolive Fiji Pink

So I've been testing everything since day 1 and I've never seen an ammonia spike. On day 4 I had 1ppm ammonia .5ppm nitrite and 25ppm nitrates I tested last night (day 7) and got .5ppm ammonia 1ppm nitrite and 50ppm nitrate. Salinity is 1.022-1.023 consistantly and temp is 80.

I've been using Red Sea reef starter kit and have added 3 Black Ice Clowns on the night of day 6.

When I started the tank I used the Caribsea life rock and agrolive fiji pink sand and added 35g of nutri seawater (live water). Is it possible that my tank has cycled?

 

[sbash]

First: Any trace of ammonia means your tank is not cycled. It is best to wait until you are showing 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite for several days (while still feeding the tank). Adding fish so soon was premature. The best thing for the fish is to get them into a fully cycled system as soon as possible, as they are in a toxic environment and could die.

Your ammonia 'spike' may have been more gradual and less of a spike than others. This would depend on how you fed the tank (i.e. added an ammonia source to kick off the cycle). If you ghost fed the tank, you will really see a spike, but if you threw in a chunk of shrimp for a few days it would be more obvious.

 

[Charliestbl90]

First: Any trace of ammonia means your tank is not cycled. It is best to wait until you are showing 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite for several days (while still feeding the tank). Adding fish so soon was premature. The best thing for the fish is to get them into a fully cycled system as soon as possible, as they are in a toxic environment and could die.

Your ammonia 'spike' may have been more gradual and less of a spike than others. This would depend on how you fed the tank (i.e. added an ammonia source to kick off the cycle). If you ghost fed the tank, you will really see a spike, but if you threw in a chunk of shrimp for a few days it would be more obvious.

Ya the fish store told me to add a hardy fish to completely cycle the tank. They have been checking my water as well and been following me since day 1

 

[sbash]

Ya the fish store told me to add a hardy fish to completely cycle the tank. They have been checking my water as well and been following me since day 1

That is an old and inhumane methodology. Science has taught us we can simply use food, or even straight ammonia and not put a fish through a painful ordeal to get what we want...