My 40 gallon Breeder set up

[mudskipper1]

Hi everyone, I just set up a 40 gallon breeder(36"long x18" deep x17"tall. 6 days ago. I have a 10 gallon sump with about 250-300 gph goin through it. the sump is fed from a corner acrylic DIY overflow with a 1-inch bulkhead. I have a poly pad for mechanical filtration, a protein skimmer (prizm), a heater, 110 watt PC light, 5 small-ish powerheads, 30-40lbs live rock from another reefer so is very well cured . I have a bunch of yellow polyps that came on the rock. A couple kinds of zoos that came on LR. A few different kinds of mushrooms, a bunch of feather dusters, and various other small things.

My temp is 80 degrees my Ph is 7.9, my Ammonia is just under .25, my Nitrites and Nitrates are 0 My calcium is 400 my phosphate is 0

Since the tank is so new, and has not cycled yet, do you have any suggestions of what to do to reduce the amount the Nitites and Nitrates will spike. I plan on getting a few inverts soon. maybe 6 red legged hermits, 6 Asaria snails, a cleaner shrimp.
Any suggestions of other cleaner animals.

Any comments/suggestion would be greatly appreciated

[wilsonh]

The rock is not functioning properly, perhaps the bacteria were damaged during transport? If the rock was fully functioning there would be no ammonia.
All you can do is wait, ammonia will be gone in a week or two, nitrite within a few weeks, but could be a few months till nitrate comes down, if you HAVE to get it lower quicker, a big water change is the most practicle option.
Don't put any crabs etc in at the moment, that level of ammonia is enough to kill. Don't them in if there are any nitrites, once nitrites are gone you can start, they can handle some nitrate.

[McCrary]

I would wait and let everything run its course. You may also want to slow down the flow through your sump. I would reduce the flow to around 150gph rather than 250-300gph which would be more suited to a larger sump.

[BHoffman_5]

Sounds like the first phase of a curing cycle. I would leave the protein skimmer off for a little while, in addition to the other suggestions, because it's just removing that which feeds the bacteria that enable the nitrogen cycle to be reached. May also speed cycle up. The next step, I would play by ear. I think this is a good suggestion others may agree or disagree.