Need a little help making sense of my water paramaters during cycle.

[AWDcameoLSX]

I have had my 72 gallon bow front running for about 2 weeks now with my heater, powerhead, and canister filter cycling. I have a sump but was waiting on some parts to plumb in the overflows so it is sitting most of the way full about 2 inches below the overflow holes.

Anyways for the first week I put in some flake food and waited for my ammonia spike and for the first week all non-detectable levels. So for week 2 I put the raw shrimp on a string. Now I am getting ammonia at .25 to .5 ppm. My Nitrite levels have never gone to a detectable levels but my nitrates went from total 0 to something detectable but not yet up to 5ppm. I have 40 lbs of live sand, some live rock (only like 4 lbs but it is all very purple), and dossed for the first week with Seachem Stability. Does the nitrates rising even though the nitrites never did mean that I may be starting to get full swing into my cycle? Is it normal for No3 to go up before No2? I have checked parameters every or every other day and todays where:

PH 8.2
Ammonia .25-.5ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrated 3ppm

Any additional comments would be great. Thanks.

[Cymonous]

It depends on what was in your "live sand" and live rock. Your nitrates may be leaching from the sand and rock. Just let it go through the cycle. You still have a long ways to go. Patience is key.

[thegrun]

It is not rare for the nitrates to rise before nitrites, as Cy posted it often leaches out of the rock. You should start to see nitrites a week or two after the ammonia appears.

[AWDcameoLSX]

Thanks. That all makes sense. I was just worried about how it was taking a while to get an ammonia spike. Not in a rush and I know I will not get fish or a CuC in there till a about a little after new years most likely. Definitely going to let it finish.