nitrogen cycle

I was starting a tank with IO salt and Live rock etc. But I was wondering how often do you check your water quality? and methods of dealing with water quality DURING the cycle. (I have a skimmer running).

I can't express the anger I am in right now....the people at my lfs basically told me to leave my tank for 3 weeks before adding fish with live rock. They told me absolutely nothing about the Nitrogen Cycle. After reading more and more on these forums I have learned about the Nitrogen Cycle and...

I started cycling my tank at the end of November. Here is a chart that shows readings that I took occasionally to track the progress. Can anyone look at this chart at tell me if it is cycling correctly or not? I'm not really sure. From what I have read the Ammonia would go up then back down as...