i seem to get a good portion of debris out of the tank when i vacuum. im sure its not everything, but is water changes that often good for the fish?
There are no issues with making large-volume water changes that often. I rescued four oscars from 5" to 9" and kept 'em in a 90 gallon tank for four months until my 225 was set-up after this last move (it was 'sposed to be a two or three week stay in the 90, but that is another story). I did 50% water changes every day during that time. It was necessary to keep 'em healthy and keep the water clean. Not only did they survive, I cleared up severe HLLE on all four and each managed to grow an inch or two.
The 90 gallon was cycled and I was concerned 'bout building nitrates and metabolites that would slow healing and stunt growth, not ammonia. In your situation, failure to do water changes will result in ammonia poisoning to your fish. Ammonia can be fatal at 1 ppm within 96 hours for smaller fish, at higher concentrations it will be fatal sooner. In addition, you'll hafta be concerned 'bout nitrites later on as the tank cycles. They are as lethal as ammonia.
I would suggest buying a nitrifying bacteria supplement and adding it to your tank fairly soon. This will help establish a bacteria colony sooner. Add the supplement after completing a water change, so the bacteria have time to attach to a substrate. If ya add it before a water change, the bacteria will not have settled in and will be sucked out with the water ya drain off the tank.
Good luck.
WYite