Nano Salt Water Quality Control

I have a few threads in different categories and I am now realizing they are all connected. I killed a sand sifter star fish and I have red slim algae/bacteria issue. I was told it was due to poor water quality and it was recommended I skim the water... well there are varying opinions on the topic. The more I read about the different skimmers and water change frequency the more I get overwhelmed. For the past two years all my 10-gallon-tank residents have been plenty happy with my routine. I change the water (about 2-2.5 gallons) every 2-3 weeks. I add calcium supplement once per week. Oh... I also recently had an infestation of flatworms which apparently is caused by overfeeding. I only feed every 2-3 days now so the worm population is much less. My tank hasn't been right since. I suspect poor water quality now and don't quite know what to do in terms of routine and filtration. I have a suspicions that my internal Fluval 2 is just not enough. I guess I need more opinions on the matter, please!!!

 

How many fish have you got in this nano and are you using r.o. water? Are you topping off regularly to avoid spikes in salinity? Is temperature steady or does it fluctuate? Changing carbon often? Why are you supplementing calcium? Do you have a lot of stony corals?

 

For fish I only have a Clown and a yellow Gobi. My critters are blue leg crabs and snails... 2-3 each. Corals are 1 of each: ricordia mushroom, colony of some kind of polyp, a white flower pot with short steam, a green flower pot with very long steam and a brand new baby leather I may not be able to keep if he grows too much.

As for the calcium... I forget half the time so they don't often get it to be honest. Carbon doesn't get changed much, I don't use the cartridge, I cut an AquaClear sponge to fit the space and add carbon on top. I used that filter in my 20 gallon fresh water tank in this fashion for many years. I wouldn't mind finding an alternative to the carbon... I hate dealing with that stuff... it makes a huge mess which is why I don't change it that often. Dealing with cartridges gets expensive. For biological filter, I have 1-1.5 inch of sand and about 12-13 pounds of live rock.

The salinity has been rather stable. I don't loose much water in between water changes. I use store bought water from Walmart... believe or not... It's the Value brand with the green cap. It says on the label that it is RO water. Because my water changes require so little water I never invested in an RO unit nor do have the pain of filtering the water... I haven't had any water problems until the past few months. Although my tank population has slowly grown in 2 years.

 

1. I don't see any reason for you to be adding calcium especially considering you're doing water changes.

2. I would lose the sponge and just run carbon which I think is a must in any tank, especially a nano. You have to make sure that water is physically going through the carbon cartridge. Having water just run over it will do nothing. You have to change carbon often or it will eventually leach back into your system everything that it has taken out.

3. Test your store bought r.o. water just for giggles. I don't trust any store bought water unless I test it for ammonia/nitrites/nitrates.

4. I haven't noticed whether or not you've been noticing any temperature fluctuations?