Need Help With Equipment

[D. Torres]

Hello everyone. I have a 75g standard size aquarium that I've had running with fairly little issues. I thought I'd be able to jump into a 20g nano tank pretty easily but it hasn't been as easy of a transition. For reference I have have the Innovative Marine 20g Concept Panorama (pic included of tank, not my tank). My question is for those of you that have this aquarium or something similar is: What equipment do you consider a "must have" in a nano. This aquarium in particular has 2 overflows. Currently I am running 1 filter sock in 1 and in the other I have a media basket with chemipure blue. I have a heater but isn't running at the moment. The aquarium is currently 3.5 months old and I'm having issues with phosphate and nitrates (who isn't right?). Any suggestions on what equipment I can add to help with nutrient export? Is it too early for a protein skimmer? Should I add a mini reactor? HOB reactor? With limited space it's hard to pick what I should and shouldn't add in the back part of my AOI. Any suggestions/advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Equipment:
20g Innovative Marine Concept Panorama
AI 16HD Prime
Tunze 3155 ATO
Heater (don't remember brand)

Livestock:
1 orange storm clown
1 red fairy wrasse
Several zoa frags (about 30 polyps)
1 small acan colony
1 small bta
5 small turbo snails
4 bubble bee snails
5 nassarius snails

Parameters (average)
SG - 1.025
Ammonia - 0 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 40 ppm
Phosphate - 0.5 ppm
Calcium - 440
Magnesium - 1250
Alk - 10 Dkh
Temp ~ 78F

Feed frozen mysis and brine shrimp 1 time per day, just enough to where there's not a lot of left over
Red Sea Reef Energy AB+ 3ml 2-3 times per week
Lights run for 12 hours per day total including ramp up and down.
Water change 3 - 4 gallons 1/week

 

[Old Fritz]

psst... I'm going to tell you something I do that's fairly unpopular... I don't run a protein skimmer on any of my tanks.

anyways serious answer time. If you have good filtration and your parameters are all good I doubt you really need a protein skimmer. It also sounds like you feed pretty light as well so there is less food to break down. Now if you notice nitrates are going up faster than you'd like or you get on a heavier feeding schedule than yeah you could and probably should get a protein skimmer.

You said the transition hasn't been that great is there a problem you're currently having.

 

[dreamcatcherr9]

psst... I'm going to tell you something I do that's fairly unpopular... I don't run a protein skimmer on any of my tanks.

anyways serious answer time. If you have good filtration and your parameters are all good I doubt you really need a protein skimmer. It also sounds like you feed pretty light as well so there is less food to break down. Now if you notice nitrates are going up faster than you'd like or you get on a heavier feeding schedule than yeah you could and probably should get a protein skimmer.

You said the transition hasn't been that great is there a problem you're currently having.

Why did I read your first line in a whisper in my head. Hahahaha

 

[Crustaceon]

If you’re feeding more than a half cube of frozen mysis or brine per day, you’re feeding too much. I feed one cube per day for eight fish. All food is consumed in less than a minute.

 

[Old Fritz]

Why did I read your first line in a whisper in my head. Hahahaha

that's how it sounded in my head as I wrote it lol. Glad someone read it the way I intended it.

 

[Old Fritz]

If you’re feeding more than a half cube of frozen mysis or brine per day, you’re feeding too much. I feed one cube per day for eight fish. All food is consumed in less than a minute.

I don't think he said he fed more than half a cube a day. Or are you saying that if he's doing that he's feeding too much?

 

[Crustaceon]

I don't think he said he fed more than half a cube a day. Or are you saying that if he's doing that he's feeding too much?

I’d say over half a cube would be excessive IMO.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I had this very drop off tank and went to s larger size one. A cube a day would be enough for 8 fish. 1/2 cube is ok but they can handle more

 

[D. Torres]

psst... I'm going to tell you something I do that's fairly unpopular... I don't run a protein skimmer on any of my tanks.

anyways serious answer time. If you have good filtration and your parameters are all good I doubt you really need a protein skimmer. It also sounds like you feed pretty light as well so there is less food to break down. Now if you notice nitrates are going up faster than you'd like or you get on a heavier feeding schedule than yeah you could and probably should get a protein skimmer.

You said the transition hasn't been that great is there a problem you're currently having.

I feel like my nitrates are stay too high. 40ppm is usually after a 4 gallon water change. Same thing with phosphates 0.5ppm after water change. Also my goal is to be able to feed my corals more and also will he adding another 2 fish. Another goal is to minimize my water changes, if possible to 1 time every 2 weeks. I had an issue with dinos at first. I asked for advice and was told by several people my water was "too clean" so I fed more and they went away but now my nitrates and phosphates seem high to me (correct me if that's not high for a nano) and I've started to experience a bit of algae growth. I've attached a couple pictures. Sorry for the quality but it's the best I could get.