Newbie Cycle Question

[rtsen]

Hey all,

i'm into day 4 of my water cycle and i'm seeing some unexpected results. I'm trying a fishless cycle; cycle with LR and live sand.

75 gallon Tank
100 lbs of cure LR
10 gallon water from a established tank (the rest of the water was RO water)
Sand from an established tank

Salinity - 1.024
PH - 8.1
Temp - 80 F

Day 2:
Ammonia - ~0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 2 ppm
Day 4:
Ammonia - ~0.25 ppm
Nitrite - 1.5 ppm

I was expecting to see a big spike in ammonia at the start but my ammonia levels have been low. Is this normal? should I add some fish food and let it declay? or a fresh dead cocktail shrimp?