High ammonia count w/o anything live in the tank..why?

[BostonJill]

I'm trying to start two small vase tanks. Both tanks have the right ratio of distilled water to salt and sand from Nature's Ocean (Nothing live). One has sea urchins which I boiled and rinsed before placing in. Both vases are covered.
When I tested for ammonia, both small tanks tested between 0.25 and 0.50 ppm while my six month old cycled tank tested 0 ppm (just wanted to make sure the test kit was accurate). Nitrites are normal at 0 ppm. Both small tanks are a week and a half old.
I thought ammonia occurs because of dead decaying stuff?

Is this normal? Where does this ammonia come from?
Is there a way of speeding things up safely?
About how many weeks would you say if left untreated would the ammonia test 0 ppm?

Thank you for answering all my questions.

[KenCotigirl]

I would be lieing if I said I have the answers. Since your cycled tank is ok you could take algae and or snails from it and add it to your new tanks. You could also test the distilled water and the distilled/salt mix and see if ammonia is present.

Ken

[BostonJill]

I would be lieing if I said I have the answers. Since your cycled tank is ok you could take algae and or snails from it and add it to your new tanks. You could also test the distilled water and the distilled/salt mix and see if ammonia is present.

Ken

Excellent idea Ken! My distilled/salt mix is showing 0 PPM which is now telling me it's the "Nature's Ocean" Sand. It's not live sand. I could skim a little algae off the top of my established tank. So just a few drops? The vase tanks are less then a half gallon of water. When do you suggest I test again? Don't want to place my shrimp in till water is testing 0 PPM.

[Mustafa]

Did you wash the sand before putting it into your vases? If so, and you used tap water, you may have residual ammonia from your tap water. Pretty much all water supplies in the US have ammonia as it is used to produce chloramines. If you did not wash it, then the sand probably had some tiny organic particles which may be responsible for the ammonia. Either way, just do what Ken said, except that I I would not put any snails in, yet. If you do use snails, observe them and take them out if they don't look like they're doing well (i.e. they're not moving around grazing on surfaces) Any material from your old tank will introduce the needed bacteria. Then it will take anywhere from 2-6 weeks before the ammonia is gone.