Feeding schedule

[CostaRicanReefer]

Two years ago when I started with fish only in salt water i had a pair of clowns, one bg cardinal, royal gramma, a fire shrimp and a couple of hermits and one emerald crab all tuck into one 30 gal tank, I used to feed twice a day half a cube of frozen food, now that i understand the error of my ways im going for a 22gal nano custom aio, however my nitrates seem to be in the high 15 ppm, at this moment I targetfeed my clownfish just what they can eat in about 15-20 seconds, one user here told me to throw away the water that my frozen food comes with to cut down on nutrients in the water but I would like to know if it would be ok if I cut down feedings to every other day instead of everyday, will my clowns still be healthy and how much on average will my nitrate production cut to if I do this.
Currently tank inmates are:
-Pair of regular clowns(my family wanted these over black storms, also my wallet is still hurting after the lightning price)
-pair of nassarius(coralfish12g recommended these as beginners friendly, I love the way they hide and just zombie out of the sand)
-gso(since yesterday, my neighbour brought me a frag of gsp cuz his tank is covered in gsp and also beginners coral)
Water change schedule:
2 gallons every day.
Salinity 1.026(measured from refractometer)
Redsea test kit readings:
Amm 0.
Nitrites 0.
Nitrates 15.
Ph and dkh havent been measured since last week and I didnt put it in my excel for measuring history.
Shallow 1.5in Oolite Live sand from caribsea.
20 pounds of caribseas liferock.
1 pound liferock from neighbours sump in my sump for kickstarting cycle.
Hydor nano 35gal skimmer

 

[LesPoissons]

so you could do every other day feeds but it sounds like the issue is not the food. is this a new tank? unless you are having an algae issue, 15 nitrates is fine. many reefers aim for a 15-20 range, esp if they have soft corals.
If you want it lower though, instead of changing 2 gal of water a day (bc you are barley lowering nitrates that way) do 1 big 30% change, make sure you vaccum the sand and blow off the rocks.) Then refill and check your nitrates. track them for a week or 2 and adjust accordingly. bigger water changes work better for nutrient export than tiny daily changes and are less stressful for your tank. aim for a 20% change every 2 weeks or so, or less as needed, and continue blowing off your rocks weekly.

 

[CostaRicanReefer]

I thought it was the food. however after further testing my water is getting 20nitrates straight from the outlet, I have contacted the mayor from my town to see because weeks ago my nitrates where low, and ive tested water from my neighbours and I get the same readings. For now Ive bought some chaeto to help a bit but I got recommendation from my lfs to use carbon dosing via nopox, think that would help?

 

[LesPoissons]

You should use RODI water. Tap water has all types of dissolved metals and chemicals that can screw with your tank. Your LFS probably sells rodi water for around 1$ a gallon or you can buy your own rodi filter and make your own. I'd drain the tank, rinse everything, and start over with rodi water.

 

[LesPoissons]

Once you get it all sorted, just buy 4 gallons every 2 weeks or 2 gallons a week for water changes (or less if your levels are okay). Tap water will bring you nothing but problems.

 

[A. Ocellaris]

RODI water is the way to go. Many still run carbon even with RODI water. You can get a simple filter for around $80 that will likely suit your needs.

Not sure if I'd drain and rinse everything out - depending on how much of a pain it is, you could do a carbon filter for a while to remove metals, etc., and change out all the rest of the water with water from your LFS or RODI. Probably worth getting the water from a LFS and changing it ASAP, though.

 

[CostaRicanReefer]

RODI water is the way to go. Many still run carbon even with RODI water. You can get a simple filter for around $80 that will likely suit your needs.

Not sure if I'd drain and rinse everything out - depending on how much of a pain it is, you could do a carbon filter for a while to remove metals, etc., and change out all the rest of the water with water from your LFS or RODI. Probably worth getting the water from a LFS and changing it ASAP, though.

I'm going to buy store water to sort things out early next week, shipping a rodi filter to costa rica can cost upwards of 200$ so it is a little difficult to dish that amount

Hoping I will move to florida by december/january

On another note do you know how effective is nopox at dealing with nitrates and how much time it takes, dosed 1.5ml today as bottle instructs 3ml because I heard it can rip nitrates off the water.

Current plan is to buy 40 gallons of drinking water(supposedly its harvested from a clear source but will further investigate) next week from supermarket and dose nopox daily and test twice a day for changes to dosing amounts to avoid crashing the tank

 

[CostaRicanReefer]

Update after dosing 1.5ml at morning of nopox I came come today to some cloudy water from the bacterial bloom and absolutely no nitrates(***) so i'm doing a waterchange in the morning to introduce nitrates and 0.2ml of nopox to keep bacteria up, did double test to make sure im not going crazy and both tests are at 0ppm

 

[Calpoly2103]

You definitely want to try and use RODI water. Tap could have dissolved solids detrimental to your tank. Could also have chlorine. Local fish stores likely sells salt water and RODI water. Long term, I'd recommend an RODI unit. Ever since I got one it makes water changes and cleaning equipment easier, and I save lots of time and $$ not making trips to LFS