Gwparrothd- I did not retrofit any lights, but I've seen some mods on this board and others that look very interesting. So far, I'm not keeping any insanely high-light corals, so they're pretty happy with what came with the tank. As far as water stability, I make sure to do my top-offs when it needs it, and here in AZ that's about every day or two. I dose Iodine and Calcium (just the Kent stuff you can buy at any LFS) every 3 days, but that would depend also on your coral load. I do add some phosphate absorber once a week to the filter box, and that seems to help a lot. If you're looking to do SPS or clams, you may consider a different tank, or check out MarineSnow's Nano Cube thread on this forum. Like I said though, I'm running mine stock. The only thing I changed was adding a Rio minijet powerhead and pointed it upward for surface agitation. The LFS suggested lowering the water level to accomplish this, but I didn't like that idea.
Katfish- I do water testing every week, but honestly sometimes I slack off and it's two weeks. I change 2 to 2 1/2 gallons, so about 20% every time. I use MarineMix or TropicMarin salt, as they're manufactured in smaller batches than Instant Ocean or Coralife so that they're more consistent in element contents. Plus, they dissolve faster and don't precipitate as much white junk at the bottom of the bucket. I test my water for Ammonia, pH, Nitrate, and Nitrite every two weeks or when a coral or fish looks unhappy. Toxins are virtually zero with these water changes. Specific Gravity stays at 1.022-1.024; because of my climate, I mix it a bit low when I change water so that when it evaporates it goes up into acceptable ranges instead of dangerous ones.
For anyone that's interested, I'm keeping the following species in this tank:
Fish: Ocellaris Clown; Sixline Wrasse; Yellow Clown Goby
Corals: Pagoda Cup Coral; Branching Hammer Coral; Sivertip Xenia; Button polyps- yellow, brown; Zooanthids- cream, brown/orange, orange/aqua; Green Star Polyps; Mushrooms- green, red, purple
Clean up: Hermits- 4 blueleg, 8 redleg (?); Snails- 2 astreas (and 4 pebble-sized babies they had), 8 burrowing snails; Going to add an Emerald Crab within the week.
Macro: I put some feather caulerpa in to absorb nitrates and phosphates, but I have to make sure to trim it every week because it grows like bermuda grass.
I wouldn't say I'm an authority on these tanks- MarineSnow and others on this board have some very sexy setups compared to mine. The only other thing I can offer is if you buy one, REGISTER YOUR TANK WITH JBJ FOR WARRANTY INFO; my ballast went out and jbj was really cool about shipping me a new one since I'd registered it- it cost me 6 bucks to ship. If anyone wants pictures of my tank give me your email address. Hope this helps.
