what am i doing wrong...

[pong]

my tank has been up for almost a month already...
up to now my nitrites are at 0.3 and nitrates at over 100+

i have fishes (clown fish, damsel) inside, some grasslike plants and live rock since according to many forums these speed up the cycle...

aquarium: 60in x 24in x 24in
sump: (3 parts) 30in x 18in x 18in
10inches per part...
a) live rock with some stuff that looks like
dead corals
b) 6 inch sand bed with live rock and the grass
thing
c) return pump and skimmer with a lot of live rock

the damsel swims in here moving from part to part
through the small spaces

lr in aquarium 44pounds
lr in sump: 27pounds

[JJM]

how much you feeding? , be patient, it could cycle any day now overnight

[pong]

i feed the main tank only once in two days

less than 1/8 a tsp...
might be starving the fishes...

i think the damsel is finding something to eat in the sump...

have been seing that result for more than a week already... no changes since then...

i actually found a thread in reefcentral which says a small amount of sugar can help... i tried it a few hours ago... ill check again to see if it somehow works tomorrow

[cwschoon]

Pong: you need to slow it down. Do a 25% water change, add no more live stuff and feed little or nothing.

[cwschoon]

you have a black tip shark in a tank in your house?

[jun_celis]

I would do a 25% water change just for the sake of the nitrates shooting up. It should be done with the cycle anytime soon. And then, as soon as you reach 0% on nitrites, do a 50% water change to dilute some more of those nitrates. I've had the same experience about a year ago. Only my Nitrates was over 150, yours is only 100. Your nitrites might drop to zero anyway as soon as you do a water change.