Cycling Issues - and hermit crabs~!

We set up our tank a month ago, 55 gallon corner tank with about 20 gallon sump. It came with a bunch od dead rock, and we added some pieces of live (so at 50/50). We were told this should be enough to cycle it (dead rock dying off).But that was over 4 weeks ago- our ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are still all at 0. Phosphates are at 1 right now (I know, high).

Also, we started growing hair algae (lots of windows, we left them open, too much light). So we added 4 hermit crabs 10 days ago, red reefs, thinking they would control algae and also produce ammonia. I don't think we acclimated them enough, as 2 died in the first 12 hours (one came out of the bag with several lost legs, 2nd one just seemed to freeze after a couple hours). We are also "missing" the third one, who hides in the rock, though the 4th seems to be doing ok.

So- we still have no ammonia, we only have one hermit and our algae is growing out of control, and we're scared of adding more crabs in case we kill them. I think the reason they died is because we just let the bag float on the top for 45 minutes, then dumped them in. I didn't think of salinity, or anything.

I'd LIKE to add a dead shrimp to start the cycling, and maybe a phosphate remover in the sump, to help control algae. Thoughts? Would it be safe to add a couple more crabs, if we acclimate them properly, or are they dying for another reason?

 

seems like after 4 weeks something would have showed up on the test results. Are you sure you have an accurate test kit?

 

Thats kind of what I was thinking- something should be happening. It's an API master reef test kit, plus a couple extra tests bought seperately, but still API (the phosphate and nitrite tests). The LFS said it was the best they've used, easy to read.

We did have our protein skimmer on the first 3 weeks, as well as some filters in our sump, which we've since removed just before adding the hermit crabs. I've read mixed thoughts on having the skimmer running during cycling, so we took it out.