Right now, with a color that means at last 0.25 ppm, I would do just one 50% water change. Yes the nitrite phase is likely to mean larger and more frequent water changes, both. The real number is about 2.7 but who would quibble with the difference? The point is to be aware that things will get worse before they get better. It will seem like you are moving backward but that is just the way that nitrites can seem at first. Once you get through that part of the cycle, things will get much easier as you start dealing with just nitrates. Although each ammonia can give about 3.6 ppm of nitrate, the nitrate is safe at much higher levels in the tank. Anything less than a build of 20ppm, not 0.2ppm, of nitrates means that things are moving along just fine at that point. It makes things much easier to control with small weekly water changes.
