Now cycling

[55reef]

I have had everything in place minus the protien skimmer for 1 week now. Should I do a water change and if so how much? If not now when should I?
55gal
70 lbs LR
40 sand
30 LS
2 powerheads
1 waterfall/ carbon

 

[sailfin]

You should do a check for pH, trites, trates and ammonia. When the trites and ammonia are at zero, then do a water change.

 

[squidd]

Test Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte levels and post them.
You want to be able to "track' the cycle, the rise of Ammonia levels then a drop as NitrIte rises and then falls...
When Ammonia and NitrIte are back down to 0 and NitrAte level rises your cycle is coming to an end...(actually it doesn't end but is continuous, just without the Ammonia and NitrIte "spikes")
When the cycle is "over" and levels stable for a day or two, then do a 25-30% water change and start the skimmer.

 

[55reef]

So don't do any water changes until everything is at a safe level ? Then wait again until that settles back down to add anything (anemones, inverts etc.) ?

 

[55reef]

So I don't want to start my skimmer until after the cycle?