water change ??

hi i am on day 24 of my cycle . i have around 90 lbs of lr and 50 lbs of aragonite sand in a 55 gallon tank. my levels are ammonia: 0.25, ph: 8.4, nitrate: 5.0, and nitrite: 0.25. am i way overdue for a water change? my lfs says no but i don't like to have only one opinion.

 

no water changes while cycling. it will just prolong the cycle. long enough as it is. so just wait til your done cycling, then can start doing them.

 

thanks for the quick reply! i will leave it alone

 

You don't want to do a water change until the end of your cycle, even then you may want to wait a week or two after you have added some livestock.

 

Hello, I have written this mini essay.......

There are some who would tell you that once "the numbers" are
all good the cycle is over and you are ready to go, I am not one of
those. What many beginner (even some advanced) aquarium keepers are not
(fully) aware of is that the full cycle takes at least 6-8 months. The
reason being, mainly, is this is the time required to fully cultivate a
total beneficial bacterial base and achieve a saturation of such. Also,
allowing the tank to "season" and go through the inevitable mini-cycles
and diatom blooms and get fully established is the key to a healthy and
stable tank in the future. You could have one fish after about the 6
week mark, let the tank get established by light feeding and going
through a moderate light cycle (6-8 hours) for the next 3 weeks.At the
2 month mark, A 25% water change of the "total"water volume is in
order. After that, add a few clean up critters (crabs and/or snails)
and allow the tank to "catch up" to the added load (you may at this
time add some live bacteria to help in this process) and give it
another 2 weeks doing all your tests on a regular (weekly) basis and
determine if the tank is stable. Water changes of 30% should be carried
out once a month to once every 5-6 weeks. Coral should not be
introduced (even soft) until the tank is around 3-4 months old. Too
many beginners don't exercise the proper patience and discipline at
this early stage of getting their tank going only to have problems and
head aches down the road. Once the tank has gone through this full
cycle period and the tank is stable, then and only then, should you add
more difficult coral like hard coral. I always employed a bit of advice
I got when I was starting out to add bacteria after each water change
for the first and subsequent next 4-5 changes. After the 4th water
change then and only then add to the tank and minimally at that.
Another good tactic I learned is to add (whatever you are adding) a
couple days after a water change. This gives the new creature fresh
minerals and trace elements and a good 3-4 weeks (I adhere to 4-5 week
intervals between changes) to adjust to the new water parameters,
light, temp etc. before disrupting the tank for the next water change.
I hope this helps.