water change on new set-up

[g. mcclean]

My aquarium set-up will be 4 weeks old this weekend and I am just leveling out the balances(ammonia-0, nitrite .25, Ph 8.2, nitrate betwwen 5.0 and 10, salinity 1.022.) We had planned to add another fish and some more live rock this weekend, but don't know if we need to do a partial water change first. Advice?

[OrionGirl]

I wouldn't add another fish until the nitrites hit zero. Otherwise, you're adding a fish just to damage it's gills. Not a good idea.

[g. mcclean]

Thanks for the reply. How about the water change? Rule of thumb says once a month but does that apply to a new set-up?

[BrianH]

The water change advice from orion was probably due to your statement of "another fish". Since you said you still have nitrites your tank has not fully cycled. In order to save your current fish, you should do water changes to reduce the nitrite levels. IMHO you should wait until you have 0 nitrites before adding anything else to your tank.

Brian