2nd week of cycling

[eeldarb21]

I have a 55 gal. in it's cycling phase. it's been two weeks now and my levels are somewhat decent. My nitrites is the only one that's a little high... less than 10ppt... i have done one water change so far. I was planning on doing them every week. would this be sufficent enough? Are my levels normal at this point.. should i see it spike again?

 

[kpogue]

Do not do any water changes until you can read 0 on all levels for 5 days in a row. Once that happens, do a 20-25% change. By changing your water before the cycle is complete, you are basicly starting the cycle all over again.

 

[cboyfan2020]

i agree that you should not do any water changes during your cycle. I did one during mine cause my ammonia was crazy but I didn't end up finishing my cycle for another 5 weeks. Just be patient.
Sombody told me once that nothing good ever happens quickly in this hobby. Only bad things happen fast.

 

[hookedonreefs]

I know that you're supposed to do a rather big water change after your cycle is complete, but why? Is it just to lower the nitrate level? If so then (as many posts have stated) 'you're just putting a band-aid on a problem rather than fixing it'. Instead wouldn't the end of a cycle denote a perfect time to add some plants -sorry macroalgae- into your tank in order to lower the trates????
I might be missing something 'cause this seems much more natural, and way too easy for me to figure it out and nobody to mention it yet.

 

[cboyfan2020]

you want to do a water change after your cycle to replace trace elements, lower nitrates, and basically throw some clean water in there. Everybody does water changes it just varies how often. Would you want to stay in the exact same water for 3 months? Probably not.

 

[killafins]

that's a very good analogy. Water changes is essential after the cycle but I wouldn't recommend doing such a drastic change at first. I would do a ten percent change and then raise the change as you go. Some people claim it is better to do waterchanges once a week but I feel that stresses out alot of the fish. I would recommend once a month, just as long as your tank is highly filtered and has a decent cleaning service