just a question

the first time I set my tank up I rushed and as many of you probably learned yourself there is no rushing in this hobby. So after a year and a half of nothing but problems and a bunch of wasted money I started the tank all over. After patiently waiting I've finally got the spikes I've been waiting for. Which brings me to my question. How long should I leave it with spiked parameters before I start the water changes to bring everything back down. Then once I get everything back to zero I'm safe to start slowly adding stuff right?

Thanks for any help and Merry Christmas!

 

You could call it recycling. I started with all new dry rock and everything. I do have some cheato in my sump may have some pods in there. I would also like to know when I should put the clean up crew in. There has to be enough algae in the tank to keep them alive right? Last time I didn't have a clean up crew and I constantly fought algae. So if I understand correctly I need to let everything come down on it's own and then start with water changes and proceed as normal?