NanoCube-boy
New member
nice tank.
Sonny's Rimless Shallow Reef.
- Thread starter JohnL
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Logzor
New member
Nice frag system! I am working on a similar operation...
I am seeking your advice, considering you have the same lighting fixture I do, with nearly the same combo of T5 bulbs.
The fixture is sitting right on top of my 90g aquarium, some of my acropora are within 3-4 inches of the top of the water - this is near or above the 700 PAR range.
Do you think my light is too close? My sps have decent color but are not meeting their potential. Would the 3-4" constellation risers be enough?
I moved one colony down to mid-way in the tank and the color improved dramatically.
Is there a difference between raising your lights up and reducing your light cycle?
I am seeking your advice, considering you have the same lighting fixture I do, with nearly the same combo of T5 bulbs.
The fixture is sitting right on top of my 90g aquarium, some of my acropora are within 3-4 inches of the top of the water - this is near or above the 700 PAR range.
Do you think my light is too close? My sps have decent color but are not meeting their potential. Would the 3-4" constellation risers be enough?
I moved one colony down to mid-way in the tank and the color improved dramatically.
Is there a difference between raising your lights up and reducing your light cycle?
NanoCube-boy
New member
Yea I really like the frag tank, I need on right now since I have a few frag now.
Hello rkaires and Sonny,
Thanks a bunch for the info!
Gonna scale down on my friend's tank then 
BUT,
any idea how to go about lowering alk? I am thinking of doing a water change first but on the gradual scale I need something proper, else bad **** will happen :S
Happy Reefing,
Marc J.
tmantaylor18
Active member
What lighting setup are you running?
SunnyX
New member
Hello,
Moving the fixture up would be ideal, but if this is not possible you could scale back the photo period to achieve something similar. Is hanging the fixture and option?
My fixture is suspended 3" off of the rim of the tank, the corals are about halfway down. Even that far down my SPS continue to grow and have amazing coloration. Just take into consideration that my tank is only 20" tall, and that my water is clearer then most.
rsuplido
Member
Hey Sonny, thanks for sharing your experience with everyone!
I have a quick question. When you've reached the optimal maintenance dose of vodka, and then you later on see that nitrate is slowly increasing, which parameter do you adjust? Do you increase the dosage of Vodka or Microbacter 7? Or do you do a higher amount of water change than usual? How do you decide?
I have a quick question. When you've reached the optimal maintenance dose of vodka, and then you later on see that nitrate is slowly increasing, which parameter do you adjust? Do you increase the dosage of Vodka or Microbacter 7? Or do you do a higher amount of water change than usual? How do you decide?
SunnyX
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15520558#post15520558 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ancelot
Hello rkaires and Sonny,
Thanks a bunch for the info!
BUT,
any idea how to go about lowering alk? I am thinking of doing a water change first but on the gradual scale I need something proper, else bad **** will happen :S
Happy Reefing,
Marc J.
Depending on your CA levels, you could add more CA into the tank in order to lower the ALK. The only problem with this is that you may get some precipitate and build up on your pumps and such.
What is you CA currently at?
SunnyX
New member
Hello,
That is a great question!
When I see my No3 creeping up I increase the dosage of vodka. Once I have lowered the No3 I scale back the vodka to what I had been dosing.
The only time I would increase the MB7 is if I had an explosion of red cyano or something died in the tank.
Hi Sonny or Anyone else
Sorry to ask this but I REALLY want to try bak7. My problem is I live in Australia and I cant buy it. Most of your online shops want to charge me up to $100 for shipping of the smallest bottle. Anyone feel like sending me a bit to try? I'll paypal you first. PM me anyone can help.
I did have a question for you sonny. how much carbon do you use?
cheers
Sorry to ask this but I REALLY want to try bak7. My problem is I live in Australia and I cant buy it. Most of your online shops want to charge me up to $100 for shipping of the smallest bottle. Anyone feel like sending me a bit to try? I'll paypal you first. PM me anyone can help.
I did have a question for you sonny. how much carbon do you use?
cheers
Lyfey
Member
So I have a question for the general public..
I preformed a 30 gallon water change last night after testing my nitrates and they were at 20 with an API test kit. I will do a full range of tests tonight, I just got my brand new test kits in the mail yesterday and they were made in May of 2009.
Note to newer reefers, if you buy test kits from local petstores, check when they were made on the packaging. On API test kits, the LOT number is written on the bottle and the last 6 numbers I believe is the date it was made. I checked a major brand pet store last week to find that their test kits were made in early 2008, so even if you were to buy them, they would not be accurate possibly. A quick question to go along with that subject. I know certain reagents expire after a certain amount of time. Are there any test kits that do not have expiration dates? I threw away all my year+ old test kits last night including ones that I didnt have replacements too, ammonia and nitrite. I am focusing more on the major three since my tank is established, nitrate calcium and alkalinity.
So heres the question sunny. I have been cooking a tub of rocks ~ 80 or so lbs since July 1, 2009. I performed my first water change and rock scrub down last night. this included a 100% water change and rock shaking / scrubbing down in the old water first. I found alot of baby snails and sea stars and I put as many as I saw into my reef. The baby sea stars are cute! I have a ton in my system, usually when I pick up a frag there is at least one one the bottom of it. So that aside, I am continuing to cook that vat of rock. I also recieved my Caribsea Seaflor special grade reef sand (Sonny ;D)
What would happen if I took out 100% of the rock thats left in my reef and replaced it with already cooked rock? Only 50 lbs or so. I have a feather duster problem in my display reef and the cooked rock has been eradicated of hopefully all the pest algaes and dusters.
I would then clean the 40lbs of new sand and put that into my display. With two possible methods:
1. Push all the sand that is already in the system to one half of the tank and fill the empty half up with the new sand or,
2. Place the new sand lightly on top of the sand until all 40lbs have been displaced evenly.
My concern is for both of those situations, replacing rock and adding the new sand. When I added my first 40lbs of sand, my tank was barebottom so I didnt have this to worry about.
By replacing 100% of all my live rock with select pieces of freshly cooked live rock (has already been in my system for at least 6 months - 18 months) will this create a cycle? Will this technically reduce the age of my tank to zero? Would I lose any age on the tank where the age would be the maturity of the system? How much maturity did I lose by moving my established 1 year system to my new home in Late May 2009?
Sorry for all the questions but these have been things that have been lurking in the back of mind with insecurity. Thank you for the help everyone and especially you Mr. SonnyX
Cheers,
Chris
I preformed a 30 gallon water change last night after testing my nitrates and they were at 20 with an API test kit. I will do a full range of tests tonight, I just got my brand new test kits in the mail yesterday and they were made in May of 2009.
Note to newer reefers, if you buy test kits from local petstores, check when they were made on the packaging. On API test kits, the LOT number is written on the bottle and the last 6 numbers I believe is the date it was made. I checked a major brand pet store last week to find that their test kits were made in early 2008, so even if you were to buy them, they would not be accurate possibly. A quick question to go along with that subject. I know certain reagents expire after a certain amount of time. Are there any test kits that do not have expiration dates? I threw away all my year+ old test kits last night including ones that I didnt have replacements too, ammonia and nitrite. I am focusing more on the major three since my tank is established, nitrate calcium and alkalinity.
So heres the question sunny. I have been cooking a tub of rocks ~ 80 or so lbs since July 1, 2009. I performed my first water change and rock scrub down last night. this included a 100% water change and rock shaking / scrubbing down in the old water first. I found alot of baby snails and sea stars and I put as many as I saw into my reef. The baby sea stars are cute! I have a ton in my system, usually when I pick up a frag there is at least one one the bottom of it. So that aside, I am continuing to cook that vat of rock. I also recieved my Caribsea Seaflor special grade reef sand (Sonny ;D)
What would happen if I took out 100% of the rock thats left in my reef and replaced it with already cooked rock? Only 50 lbs or so. I have a feather duster problem in my display reef and the cooked rock has been eradicated of hopefully all the pest algaes and dusters.
I would then clean the 40lbs of new sand and put that into my display. With two possible methods:
1. Push all the sand that is already in the system to one half of the tank and fill the empty half up with the new sand or,
2. Place the new sand lightly on top of the sand until all 40lbs have been displaced evenly.
My concern is for both of those situations, replacing rock and adding the new sand. When I added my first 40lbs of sand, my tank was barebottom so I didnt have this to worry about.
By replacing 100% of all my live rock with select pieces of freshly cooked live rock (has already been in my system for at least 6 months - 18 months) will this create a cycle? Will this technically reduce the age of my tank to zero? Would I lose any age on the tank where the age would be the maturity of the system? How much maturity did I lose by moving my established 1 year system to my new home in Late May 2009?
Sorry for all the questions but these have been things that have been lurking in the back of mind with insecurity. Thank you for the help everyone and especially you Mr. SonnyX
Cheers,
Chris
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