Many questions

Current set up:
100l open top tank with T5 overhead luminaire.
2 small internal filters with a variety of media including basic floss, www.poly-bio-marine.com/polyprod.htm , a small bag of what I presume is live sand (inherited with orignal nano tank).
There was also some live rock frags in a refugium which I put out in the new tank.
I am not running a skimmer(although I have a prism sitting in the press), in the opinion of the Marine Boilogist in Seahorse Aquariums I didn't really need to.
Weekly 20% water changes, with fresh water top up every second day because of evaporation.

Params:
Temp - 25'c,
Amm - 0,
Nitrite - 0,
Nitrates - 0ish,
ph - 8.0,
Phosphates - 0

I don't have tests for Gh or Kh yet.

Some fish seem to do well for me, some do not.
I have had problems with white spot and had a bubble anenome die for no apparent reason. One Yellow Clown Goby is very sick at the moment, having recovered from WS a few weeks ago. He has just faded away and looks emaciated. Despite being very active at feeding time he only picks at food that I can see.

Current stock:
Yellow Clown Goby - Not doing well
Green Mandarin - Thriving (touch wood)
Flame Hawkfish - Thriving
Blue Faced Goby - Thriving
Maroon Clown - Thriving
A few tube worms - Thriving
A couple of soft corals - seem to be thriving.
One Atlantic Red Anenome - I'm thinking about getting rid, but it is very nice - Thriving
Three Hermits
Three Turbo snails (need to get how many more?)

Feeding: Frozen brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, daphnia(phasing this out). New life spectrum small fish formula.
Marine Snow (for the filter feeders).

So here are the questions:

What should I be testing for, how often, and what test kit should I buy?

What should I be feeding or adding to this feed?

Am I over feeding? Approx half a cube of frozen food every day. A teaspoon of marine snow every second day.

Does anyone have a sample regime that I could maybe adopt?

Any other hints, tips, or questions?

Thanks in advance.

This is a great FAQ and I have consulted it frequently, but it doesn't explain everything.

www.reefcentral.com/FAQ/general/index.php#needproteinskimmer

anenomes are notorious for not doing well in captivity. just browse a marine forum's anenome section and you'll see every second post is a sick or dying anenome.
Im guessing you dont qt your livestock. this and a freshwater dip (with meth blue if possible) are the best ways of eliminating disease before fish are introduced to your display system . very important. if you choose not to qt, at the very least you should do the freshwater dip. proper
acclimatisation is also an important step. termal or ph shock can mean brain damage and death in a day to a week. a sudden change in salinity is also to be avoided.

now for some bad news. your mandarin fish does not have good odds of thriving long term. they eat copepods as their staple diet, the supplies of which will in time become exhausted and he will starve. even if he has adapted to eating bs this will not be enough for him. ill point out i have never kept one but really wanted to and so read up on them a fair bit.

so the only fish you have in trouble is the yellow clown goby. this could be any number of things. bullied or overstocked, but i imagine due to its size it is ignored by tankmates. could be diet. fish have different dietry requirements. try some chopped up krill/plankton. mysis is generally accepted by all fish. IMO this fish should really be isolated in a qt tank of a lower salinty to be given a chance to recover. soaking food in garlic can make it more appetising.

i assume you are using live rock...if so how much (in weight). if you have a sufficient amount there is no need for your two filters. carbon is a much cheaper alternative to polyfilter. i cant remember why but i've read filter floss is generally not a good idea unless you change it every other day. your carbon will catch any floating particles. if you decide to remove your filters do it slowly.

the amount of hermits/snails you need all depends on your algae. i.e. no problem micro algae and rocks covered in purple coraline algae= you have enough.
they eat detritus aswell so are very usefull. 5 or 6 of each should be plenty.

you haven't mentioned your salinity reading.
I test weekly for ph, salinity, nitrate and kh. i've found salifert test kits the best. (buy online for half the price).

i feed 3 SMALL meals a day. spirulina flake, mysis and then either sqid, plankton (small krill) or enriched bs. bs is the least nutricional so once to twice a week max. i use less than a fifth of a cube for each frozen meal.

If you are feeding half a cube in one go its def too much. spread over three meals would be about right, maybe still too much. vary their diet. like flake morning, frozen afternoon, different frozen or granules evening.

hope this helps
fran

ps if you dont overfeed/overstock 10% weekly would be a sufficient wc.

Thanks Fran!
Sitting under my desk here is a spanky new Tetratec EX700 that I intednd to replace the two internals with.
I'll use carbon in this with the polyfilter media too.
Will cut down on portion size.
Feeding times are a problem though, how do you feed when you are out of the house from 6am to 6pm?
Must get Spirulina flake.
Is enriched BS the frozen variety (with garlic I think it is) you see in some LFS's or something you make yourself?
I'm about to order immuvit too, it has good write ups.

Salinity is 1.023 and tends to go up to 1.024-5 with evaporation.

salinity is fine. i aim to keep mine at 1024.
i use spirilina enriched bs, its available in most shops. i soak this or flakes in kent marine zoe and or kent garlic extreme. this should not be used all the time. i dont have a set schedule myself i just use it a couple of times a week. others use it all the time for one week a month.
polyfilter might do to good a job...personally i would only use in an emergency!

re Feeding times...wht not set your lights to come on at 4pm ?

ps i forgot to mention i have had no luck with tube worms..they seem great for a few months and then die on me.

exactly the same with me, i cant really have a tube worm for longer than 2 months or so, they do look great but im sick of having them spitting there crown out and then dying on me, so no mare tube worms for me either

Tubeworms tend to do best when there is some form of plankton available to them,they don't do well long term in well skimmed tanks as this removes alot of beneficial food etc .Tanks fitted with refugiums for example supply a constant source of food suitable for them.I have one that has been ther about 12 months without any direct feeding.