Okay I will explain water changes on my home tank.
So about 2 months ago I had the opportunity to speak with one of Canada's leading distributors about the project i have ongoing at the school. We talked for almost 4 hours about the project and i got a few hints on how to manage the 9g tank. So every 2 weeks I change 20-30% of my home tank with water from the school tank. They said water changes in a nano tank is very stressful, and by using water from the monitored school tank you will see better results. And they were right, everything looks great except the bleaching green monti(which never was as bright as when I bought it, i just chalked it up to different lighting). I have actually had to move some corals from the nano to the school because they had out grown the 9g. Once we get to the fraging lesson at the school I can bring them back home.
I don't test parameter on the home tank, I keep everything at the school with exception of top up water and water for water changes, it keeps the home neat and tidy. The school tank I do weekly 5% changes with the children along with carbon and GFO changes every 3 weeks. We are currently waiting for new testing kits from the distributor, working on the business plan to get it fully funded. The cheap kits I have are inaccurate. but Phosphate is .045( just changed the GFO so likely lower at this point), nitrates are typically 0-5. Salt is 1.025/7.
We have not started to dose anything at this point, therefore the water changes keep everything else stable. testing will begin once we get to the chemical and dosing lesson.
My lighting is DsunY 165W leds (for now, I am working with distributors for the school for Radions in the future, maybe I can find a way to get an extra one discounted...), they are on 50% blues/reds for 6 hours and ramp up 2 hours before and after. The whites are on 30% for 4 hours and ramp up 1 hour before and after. The light is approximately 12" from the tank.