how long till chaeto rights my water params?

i got chaeto from reefcleaners on friday (love it!) with 5 mangroves. i know the mangroves arent doing anything yet as they arent rooting or sprouted. my water params are as follows:
Ammonia-0.50
Nitrates- 20:-/
Nitrites-0;D

the ammonia is the only thing scaring me right now. i put the chaeto in on friday and these were the parameters. how long till thay are perfect?

 

Have you had any recent deaths? I'm just wondering why you have any ammonia?

 

i havent been able to figure that out either. its really annoying. i havent had any deaths but just recently got my cleanup crew. didnt have one before. any estimate?

 

Ammonia will kill your fish.. how long has it been like that? I would do some big water changes. Have you had any big temp drops?

 

How old is your setup? It took almost 2 1/2 months for the ammonia in my tank to hit 0 after the cycle.

 

thats the thing. my tanks 7-8 months old right now. all my fish are good, my frogspawns healthy, my kenya trees healthy, CBS healthy, and brittle starifish is healthy. i cant figure it out. its been like this for a while too. all the things in my tank are healthy looking and acting.

 

have you had this cross checked at the LFS?

 

Double check the expiration dates of your test kits as well. Older tests come up with some real funky results sometimes :\

Chaeto grows quickly, so you should notice a difference in a few weeks provided your not adding anything to the system. (Tap water contaminates come to mind)

 

i use RO water. the lfs i had cross check has the test stripes so i dont trust them. the other lfs that could do this i havent even asked yet.

 

I would get the results double checked. With no recent deaths, the age of the tank and everything looking/acting healthy, I would doubt the results of the first test.