Nitrogen Cycle: No ammonia, nitrite but nitrates?

Hello everybody,

I really need help ASAP, which is why i posted the thread on this emergency part of the forum.

What's wrong?
Well, i started my tank yesterday. Its a Aqua-Medic Blenny 80L (21g) and its looking really well. I placed about 22 pounds of live rock in the tank that has lots of water movement moving through it. Aswell as that there is about 20 pound of live sand from Carib-Sea (Bahamas Oolite). I've seen life living on the live rocks everywhere, from fan worms, to a serpent sea star. And even alot of red mushroom corals. (Sadly also some Majano and Aiptasia Anemones that i killed with boiling water). Everything is good, no algaes at all only a little bit of coraline algae covering the rocks here and there. But then i tested my water with Salifert test kits (So i'm pretty accurate). I followed the instructions correctly, since i already have used these test kits before on freshwater (I'm a beginner btw). First i tested ammonia, as i of course thought that ammonia would be present in the water since its the start of the nitrogen cycle. No ammonia at all. Not even a trace. Then i think "Well okay, lets go test nitrites then". I did, but same thing. Not a trace of nitrite its all at zero. But then i test my nitrates and its at about 35 ppm! Of course i started to panic alot. I do use RO/DI water from my own reverse osmosis system, and it should be a 0 TDS (Havent tested but people who keep the same RO/DI unit says its at 0 TDS). So it cant be that. Well then i thought about the live sand, if the bacteria have been reacting so fast. Well since i'm kind of a biology freak, i tried to put some samples of the water under a microscope, but couldnt spot any bacteria (Maybe i'm just unlucky i dont know). So it really got me thinking... WHATS THE HELL IS GOING ON?! So i tried looking at some posts and they had algae problems in their tank, but i have no algaes other than coralline algaes. Nothing. I havent tested phosphates cause i got told it was a waste of money to buy the Sailfert kit. Although the phosphates should be extremely low, since no algaes or cyanobacteria has formed what so ever. So my question to you guys is ... Whats happening in my tank? Is the cycle happening fast (In for only 1 to 2 days)? Or is there something wrong? Thanks for taking your time to read, please answer ASAP!

(NOTE: A video of my tank is underneath this thread, so you can take a look yourself! )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx7B-BhXPwo

 

here's how to do it.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobby/uploading-photos-videos-made-easy-98396.html

 

If you used fully cured live rock and live sand, you'll likely not see any cycle. Until you add something. Or you cycle hasnt started yet. Sometimes takes a few days for ammonia to show up

 

Is that your kid cosmo??

 

test the water for trates coming from your rodi and then once mixed with saltwater. But I wouldn't worry too much yet about it. Monitor for a few days

you'll want to add some food to try to get the cycle kicking or a raw shrimp, this will also feed all your live critters in their

 

With all that live rock and sand and no fish for awhile you shoudlnt get much if any ammonia and nitrite spike. Nitrates at 35ppm is nothing to worry about esp at this point in the tanks cycle as that part of the cycle takes a really long time to fully develop.

 

nah, guessing this kid lives a few thousand miles from me. But did your mother go to Ohio University? lol, could be possible JK

Nice tank buddy, ya got a good grip on things so far.

 

Sounded like a heck of an accent for someone from Ohio but you never know!

 

Welcome Nice tank.

 

Haha, thanks man New to the forum, so gotta explore a little bit. Seems to be a nice place to hang out!