A few general questions

I have a few questions beacuse im new but in a way i know a little.

Whats the + side to having an over flow and should i have it on a 55 gallon reef tank?

I never test my water, whats is the best way to do so? Also is it bad i changed my water about 10 gallons a week.

What i have:
65 Gallon Filter
110 Gallon Protein Skimmer
Two power Heads
50 Pounds Live Rock
50-70lbs Fiji life sand
Compact Lighting 55watt x 4
Heater @ 76-80
Fish / Corals

What i do normally is 3x a week add Liquid Calcium, 1x week add Strontium & Molybdenum, 1x lodine a week. Once a week change about 10-12 Gallons of water. Lights on from 9-6:30

Am i doing anything wrong? Tanks about 4/5 months old.

 

I'm no expert, but-

* Does it seem like something is wrong?

* How many and what kind of fish and coral?

* 55's are deeper than wide as I recall, so the PC lights may not reach the bottom well enough for some corals. Stick to easy to care for kinds.

* Do the filter and powerheads provide enough flow to keep algae down and corals happy?

* 10 gal/week is ~20%, and may be more than you need to do. If you don't mind mixing water not a problem.

 

Nothing seems wrong but just making sure im not messing up on something.
I have a Yellow Teng, Coral Beauty, Yellow Gobie, Cleaner Gobie, Trigger Gobie, 1 tested fish which is a blue small guy, a Red and White striped shrimp, Horse shoe crab, snails + hermits, 2 clowns, two enemys, 1 buble enemy, two leathers, 2 random ones i dont know the names of. Power heads seem like they are good, the reason i do 12 a week or so is beacuse it evaperates that fast.

 

Do you test for everything you put into your tank? If you don't, then don't do additives without testing for them. 10 gals a week is plenty of change for a tank of that size. What species are in the tank? Corals? Fish? Inverts? Are you using actinic light AND daylight? If so (and you should if you have corals), then the actinic should come on before the daylight, and stay on after the daylight go off. A general rule is 12 hours for actinic and 8 hours for daylight...not etched in stone. Get some Salifert test kits and begin testing your parameters. If you're adding iodine, then test for it; likewise with the calcium, strontium, and molybdenum. These can cause other tank parameters to get out of control if not monitored; especially your ph. Get a ph test as well to make sure you are not overdosing with calcium.
The good thing about an overflow is that it allows more room in your tank for specimens, as your equipment is located below or elsewhere.
My tank is a DAS and the pump, skimmer, and other stuff are located inside the tank; but then I have the entire cabinet underneath to store other things.
If all looks good, and your fish are not dying, you're probably doing a lot of stuff right.
Do some testing. That evil ph can get away from you.

 

the overflow will allow for more efficient protein skimmer, it will allow all of the stuff that builds on the surface to be skimmed too. Also makes it easier to add a sump, refugium etc . I personally don't have one on my 55, also don't have a sump or refugium. I have just started my tank and it is now up and running for about 3 months. If you don't have an overflow, like myself, you will have to have an inlet and return hanging on the side of the tank, not really a big deal.

 

Give it time and you'll want a bigger tank anyway at least for the yellow tang. Do it up right when you upgrade to a larger one. I run a 55 with HOB skimmer, canister filter, and no sump. I change out 10 gallons every 2 weeks. It's only until I find the right tank I want later.
But the answer to what you're doing wrong is that you should be testing your water paramters, no matter how often you change the water.

 

almost same setup, totally agree, waiting until i get my permanent home and an upgrade