new tank- water test

Hello,
So my tank has been sitting with live rock in it for a little over a week now. About 25 pounds of live rock to about 40 pounds base rock in a 55 gallon tank. I tested the water and got a a reading of ammonia at .5 ppm, nitrite at 20 ppm and nitrate at 80 ppm. I thought there was going to be an ammonia spike but it has not changed at all while the nitrite and nitrate have steadily increased. I was told by an employee at a petstore that all i needed to do was do a partial water change and then i could add fish in a couple of days, but that doesnt seem quite right to me since it has been such a short amount of time and i didnt believe that the cycle has even started yet, but then why is the nitrite and nitrate so high? and wouldnt the ammonia be at zero then? Sorry for all the questions, im just starting and am really confused.
Thanks

 

That would be bad advise from the LFS. If you still have ammonia of any amount your still in the early stages of the cycle. Try putting a piece of raw shrimp n the tank or some fish food. This will help with the cycle

J