So how come this tank is "working"

I've been trying to figure out why this tank seems to be violating every "rule" that has been put forward on starting new tanks. Have to get fresh water, live rock, start the cycle and watch it for 4-6 weeks watching for the values to go down and make the tank safe. The books and the online forums all reiterated the same thing. Over and over. Do not rush. Take your time, it takes time to make it work for the long run.

Well with all of that, it was my intent all along to go slow. Get this salt water, add LR from Smitty's and add even more LR from SWF and then start the cycle and let her rip per the pundits. However, once I figured out I had polyps in there and the live sand "hatched" critters I began to have second thoughts. Then I read a post in an online forum that essentially said if you have critters hatching from the LS and on the LR then you have sufficient bacteria to handle your bio load. It was at that point (coupled with two successive days readings of decreasing values for Ammonia and Nitrite) that I decided to work to keep the tank alive. I didn't want to lose what I had. So my intent was to cycle for life. I had read about this and it essentially said test constantly and when ammonia goes up - do a water change to help keep it in check and let the cycle run. Essentially manual intervention in the soup to keep it sustainable for whatever may be alive.

So that was my intent. And then I did the one bad impulse thing. I bought my inverts. It was impulsive and I was of a mind that if the corals were alive the inverts would do well to help keep the "feedings" under control. So here I was with a tank "full of life" and unable to do water changes. And yet, three days later the tank seems to be doing well. How?

I don't know about saltwater chemistry but I have a sense of hmmm, this makes sense. And to me this is the same thing as taking a tank down to move it across the room and then put it back together.

First: I used water change water. While the parameters were higher than fresh salt water; they were not off the scale.

Second: I used live rock with a well sustained bacterial load and life on it too boot. The rocks were never not moist and were only out of the water on the order of 2 hours tops.

Third: The bioload I added was very minimal. And is serving to keep the detritus under some level of control. Thus reducing the "rot" and "decomposition" that adds ammonia to the water.

So all in all I think I took a "mature" system and made a juvenile system. No way do I consider my tank nearly mature. Way too much work still waiting. But I do think I knocked off the largest part of the 4-6 week cycle period.

My updated plan is 20% water changes weekly for the next week (tomorrow and one more). By that time I should have the SWF live rock cured and in the tank and be looking to add a member or three to the CUC and see how it goes. After the third water change - depending on how the tank is functioning it may be time to go to biweekly changes and consider adding some more.

As Smitty told me - you can read and listen but when its all over "it's your tank that matters." So I'm learning as I go and trying very, VERY hard to be patient. Besides sometimes it pays to be ignorant. Then you don't know you can't do that.