What can I change for the better? Parameters, Lighting, my process? etc

[DAWREEFER]

Hi all,

This post is me being selfish and wanting some advice on how to get better practices on my husbandry and overall more knowledge on this wonderful hobby we all love. I’ll be going over my lighting, parameters, equipment, water change process, and livestock I have in my 20g long nano reef. At the bottom, I'll be bullet-pointing questions that I need a second opinion on. I hope that maybe my breakdown can help someone else in the hobby.

Lighting
7am to 9:30am is my ramp time, then it ramps up a bit more for 3hrs. After those three hours, it ramps down to the same percentages as it ramps up to at 9:30. Finally, it gradually goes down to zero at 7:30pm. A total of 11.5hrs total light time.

7am
UV: 0%
Violet: 0%
Royal: 0%
Blue: 0%
Green: 0%
Deep Red: 0%
Moonlight: 0%
Cool White: 0%
9:30am | 5:30pm
UV: 116%
Violet: 116%
Royal: 95%
Blue: 95%
Green: 7%
Deep Red: 7%
Moonlight: 0%
Cool White: 25%
12pm-3pm
UV: 126%
Violet: 126%
Royal: 100%
Blue: 100%
Green: 7%
Deep Red: 7%
Moonlight: 0%
Cool White: 30%

Parameters
This category is the real spark that made me think of making this post, but I decided to post everything I possibly could think of to get the best results. Mid-January of 2022 I decided to create a google spreadsheet and capture all of my readings from testing my parameters. For testing, I have an API Saltwater Master Test Kit and a Reef Master Test kit. I also have Hanna Alk / pH testers and an ATC refractometer. I test before and after water changes, I wait about 3hrs+ after the water change to test. Here are my results for Feb. I wanted to give a full month's results. (thought of this after the 4th so no results in the after category, sorry)

Equipment
I’m going to include what I have for filtration here and the salt that I use because I don’t know where else to put them.

Ai Prime 16
Ai Nero 3(24hr Random mode 25% to 50% with a variance of Medium)
Aqueon Pro Adjustable Heater 100W
Reef Glass Nano Skimmer (Newest addition as of last week)
Instant Ocean Reef Crystals salt
ATC Refractometer
Filtration top to bottom
1st Chamber

• Coarse Foam
• Medium Foam
• Fine Foam
• Filter Media in a mesh bag

2nd Chamber( bottom outlet from 1st chamber to 2nd)

• Reef Glass Nano Skimmer

3rd Chamber( top outlet from 2nd chamber to 3rd)

• Heater
• Return Pump 50gal/hr

Water Change Day is Friday
So, Fridays I have off work, but that doesn't mean it's a relaxing day for me. I start my process by mixing my water the previous night Thursdays to let it get completely mixed with a cheap water pump. On Friday morning I get my coffee and break off a small piece of my Mysis shrimp sheet, rinsing it in R/O before putting it in a cup with some tank water. I then take my water out of my tank for testing, fill all the vials, and after I feed my fish the Mysis ( they get saltwater spectrum pellets the rest of the week) They get pretty excited about Friday’s I give them some time to eat, starting my testing and stopping halfway through to dose some Polyp Lab Polyp Booster, then go back to testing. I’m usually about done testing(10-15min later) when I have to mix the Polyp Lab Reef Roids. I then slip on my shoulder-length glove(Don’t like to get my bare hands in there a lot of the time, because I feel that's just adding another thing to track) and start to feed the corals. I give them about 45mins to eat then I start to clean the glass and scrub hair algae if needed. I also use an eyeliner brush to get the places where I have to be gentle. I remove about 15-20% and replace it with the Reef Crystal mixed water.



Livestock
(2)Ocel Clownfish
(1)Two Spot Blenny
(2) Red Legged Hermit(I think… at least 1)
(4)Nassarius Snails
(1) SandSifting Starfish
Frags
(3)Zoa Variants: Armor of God, Deep Blue Sea, and Blue Fusion
(1) GreenCandy Cane
(1) WWC Juicy Fruit Pipe Organs
(1) WWC Rainbow Pocillopora
(1) WWC Midnight Daisy Polyps
(1) WWC Honeycomb Leptastrea
(1) Christmas Favia
(1) Blood Orange Cyphastrea
(1) Greeneye Cyphastrea
(1) Green Star Polyps
(1) Purple Tipped Green Hammer

Lighting

• What do you think about the total lighting time? Is it too much?
• Is the ramp-up for a bit higher percentages worth it for those 3hrs?
• Am I completely wrong with my lighting?

Parameters

• How can I keep my Calcium more stable?( Could it be as simple as switching salts? )
• What other parameters am I failing at or need to start recording?

Equipment

• Could I be using a better salt for my nano, is there a “best” salt to use if you have a smaller tank?
• Is my flow good? Can it be improved? ( This is probably one of the least things I know about)

Water Change Process

• Can I improve these methods in any way?
• I have AB+ that I was dosing every other day, but I had a hair algae bloom and stopped. Should I try every other day dosing now that I have a skimmer?

Livestock

• I want to add one more fish to my nano reef and that would be a Mandarin Dragonet, but I don’t think I’m ready for that. It's more of an endgame goal for me, I have added a jar of AlgaeBarns tig pods this month too.
• A Scarlet Skunk Shrimp would be cool too. I tried adding one this month and it was tiny, I think it got eaten by my emerald crab before he perished.
• Any suggestions on the CUC?(I had an emerald Crab for quite some time, but he died this month )
• I’m thinking about adding two more frags, but I don't know what…. Let me know

TANK SHOT!

 

[Spare time]

I am a bit ocnfused how you got those parameter values using API since some of those numbers are not possibly to read on the API chart.


As for alk, I would raise it and keep it at least a little above 7. This could help with pH too. The "instability" you might find in calcium could just be the realistic error range of the test kit.

Salt brand doesn't matter. I use the red sea salts as they mix super fast.

Flow should have corals acting like a tree swaying in the breeze.

Lighting is hard to answer without a par meter.

You can keep dosing AB+ daily if you get a better phosphate and nitrate test. You might even want to run the skimmer on a timer if you find with a better test that they are both 0.00 ish. I would stop reef roids until you know your phosphate levels better.

As for the mandarin, add tisbe or apocyclops pods as they survive in reef tanks much better than tigrio.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Api is garbage.
Don't waste your $.
Tank looks pretty blue but from what I can see its a lot gha.
D

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Lmk how that glass skimmer works out for you. Mine turned into a bubble trap and became useless. I'm sorry not trying to Debbie down this just my exp.
D

 

[DAWREEFER]

I am a bit ocnfused how you got those parameter values using API since some of those numbers are not possibly to read on the API chart.


As for alk, I would raise it and keep it at least a little above 7. This could help with pH too. The "instability" you might find in calcium could just be the realistic error range of the test kit.

Salt brand doesn't matter. I use the red sea salts as they mix super fast.

Flow should have corals acting like a tree swaying in the breeze.

Lighting is hard to answer without a par meter.

You can keep dosing AB+ daily if you get a better phosphate and nitrate test. You might even want to run the skimmer on a timer if you find with a better test that they are both 0.00 ish. I would stop reef roids until you know your phosphate levels better.

As for the mandarin, add tisbe or apocyclops pods as they survive in reef tanks much better than tigrio.

Yeah I had to guesstimate on just a few because the color was in between two blocks of color

 

[DAWREEFER]

Api is garbage.
Don't waste your $.
Tank looks pretty blue but from what I can see its a lot gha.
D

Any test kits you suggest?