Question about my cycle

[jimrawr]

Ok, so I added 30 lbs of live rock yesterday to my new tank. Before adding it ammonia nitrates and nitrites were all 0. Used RO water from the LFS. Here are my new parameters

Ammonia: .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20
Alk: 300
PH: 7.8
Salinity:1.024

Now my question is, how could I have both Ammonia and Nitrates present, but no Nitrites? I thought that the process was Ammonia -> Nitrite -> Nitrate

So how did I get the Nitrates with the Nitrites?

Furthermore, is this enough of a cycle that when everything clears up I should be ready to add fish? I only cycled with my new LR, didnt add anything else.

[saltycreefer]

Dont worry about how you got nitrates. Monitor your ammonia and nitrite every few days. After they both drop to zero, you can start to slowly add livestock. This may take about 2 weeks.

[bertoni]

Forget all the articles about the sequence of chemical spikes. With live rock, there's really no predicting how the curing process will shape up. I'd just wait for ammonia to hit zero and hold there for a few weeks, and then slowly start stocking animals.

[jimrawr]

Thanks guys.