Questions about cycle??

[sheabear]

A few questions... I understand how the cycle works but I'm just confused as to the status of our cycle in our 55 gallon! I know cycling is a patience game and could take weeks to months but I'm just confused now! We have a 55 gallon with 80 lbs of live sand, about 30 lbs of live rock (we know we need 1-2 lbs per gallon but started with this for now). Started our cycle with the raw shrimp. Our ammonia hit 4ppm and the nitrites and nitrates both rose and they all began to decrease but ammonia and nitrites have never reached 0. We added some small hermit crabs and a few small fish that we got while out boating (We've had 1 person suggest this was a bad idea since the fish could have dieseases, etc but.... they're in there.. and the LFS said it was actually helping the tank, they will be removed once it's time to add new fish though). Our ammonia is a HAIR over 0.. it's yellow with the SLIGHTEST tint of green-not even .25. Our nitrites are .1 and our nitrates are 20ppm. I'm just confused as to if our ammonia and nitrites will ever be a 0 since there is fish in there and they're producing waste, etc...? We have algae formed on the pump and powerhead... Any answers/advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Flossie]

The whole point of cycling is to build up enough beneficial bacteria to put the no1 and. No2 at 0. sometimes it just takes it a while to catch up to the bioload.... For instance u could have enough BB to
Covert a small tetras waste but not a larger size fish like a grown goldfish. It'll get there the more media for BB to grow on the better and quicker it can convert no1 and 2 hope that helps