Sonny's Rimless Shallow Reef.

[Lowredranger]

I am sure you have mentioned it but which amino acids are you using? I wasn't sure if it was the Brightwell aquatics or not. And are you on a schedule with that or just as needed.

Your tank is looking awesome as usual.

I am getting ready to order the 2L of the MicroBacteria7 as I already went through the 500ml setting up my new tank. Just started the vodka yesterday.

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15323675#post15323675 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mnml
Sonny, your tank has been such an inspiration that I had to upgrade.

Just picked up a Lee Mar rimless starphire (48Lx30Wx20H) over this holiday weekend. I still need to get the stand and ATI PM before setting it up but I'm quite excited. Hopefully I can get it fired up in a the next month or so.

Thanks for the wealth of info and the support to the RC community.

Soon to be:

Shallow Reef Club
Rimless Aquarium Club
All T5 Club
All Vortech Club
ATB Skimmer Club

Thanks!

The extra width of your new setup should give you some great aquascaping options. Congrats!

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15323977#post15323977 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by naz42
Im siked!!! After reading this thread i decided to start dosing MB7. I have been dosing vodka for a couple months but my nitrates were still around 20ppm. So after 1 week of dosing MB7 my nitrates are cut in half, 10ppm. Im sure they will be undetectable in another week. Im very excited because i have been keeping SPS for a while but could never get it to grow. I have frags that i bought over a year ago that are still the same size as when i bought them.lol. This thread has been great, lots of good info. I also took the fuge out of my sump and placed a powerhead (Korolia 3) in there to keep detris suspended.Thanks for the tips!!! Hopefully my SPS starts growing.

With the nitrate coming down you should start seeming some SPS growth soon so long as the other parameters are in line.

I am happy that the MB7 is working out for you.

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15324027#post15324027 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lowredranger
I am sure you have mentioned it but which amino acids are you using? I wasn't sure if it was the Brightwell aquatics or not. And are you on a schedule with that or just as needed.

Your tank is looking awesome as usual.

I am getting ready to order the 2L of the MicroBacteria7 as I already went through the 500ml setting up my new tank. Just started the vodka yesterday.

Hello and thank you.

I use Brightwells AA's. I dont have a set schedule of dosing. I dose only if the corals look too pale. Be careful with AA's as it can be easy to OD with them.

 

[reefsahoy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15324733#post15324733 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SunnyX
Hello and thank you.

I use Brightwells AA's. I dont have a set schedule of dosing. I dose only if the corals look too pale. Be careful with AA's as it can be easy to OD with them.

wow, you only dose when you think the corals are pale? maybe that's what i was doing wrong! sunny can you go over your feeding regiment again for fish, corals, how often and whats in the ingredients and how much? thanks

 

[ct_vol]

I only dose when my corals start to fade as well... Excessive dosing of AA's can lead to algae blooms and other unwanted occurrences...

 

[Tobit]

Sonny, at what point in a new/young tank would you start dosing Prodibio? Thanks.

 

[Ancelot]

Issue to clarify

Issue to clarify

Hello SunnyX,

nice to see the new avatar! Kaka's a storm! wonder if C.Ronaldo is gonna be so in R.Madird?

Anyway,
I've just hooked up all my equipments, rocks and sand to my 3ft and got water in to start the run. However, I am contemplating if I should kick off the MB7 dosage now or should I continue with Prodibio BioDigest which has reaped me positive results for a new start up tank till the tank stablises then I start MB7 and Vodka?

Concern is mainly because I worry that the bacteria strain in MB7 is different from the bacteria strain in BioDigest. As a result, if I dose BioDigest from the start, it may be hard for me to switch back to MB7 and Vodka in the future.

Secondly, I am gonna use Absolut Vodka as vodka dosing. Do you think it will work? Any guidelines to what brands of vodka to use or not to use to get the best effect?

Thirdly, in relation to vodka dosing, I read that there's a need to bring all necessary parameters down to 0 before I kick off vodka dosing. Any consequence if I start it off in a 1 mth old new tank? Assume that the tank is filled with cured sand, cured rocks and natural seawater. Any issues?

Please kindly advise me.

Thanks and Happy Reefing,
Marc

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15324827#post15324827 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefsahoy
wow, you only dose when you think the corals are pale? maybe that's what i was doing wrong! sunny can you go over your feeding regiment again for fish, corals, how often and whats in the ingredients and how much? thanks

I feed my fish a combo of Formula One Flakes and Spectrum pellets every other day. I feed around 20 pellets of Spectrum and three pinches of flakes.

Recently I have been feeding daily but some of my corals are getting darker so I have cut back to every other day again.

 

[JCR's Reef]

What do you mean by darker?
Darker color? or starting to brown...

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15328808#post15328808 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JCR's Reef
What do you mean by darker?
Darker color? or starting to brown...

Deeper color, not brown. You know I dont do brown.

I prefer the more pastel colors which can really bring out a corals true colors. Some of the pink corals have turned into a deep red which I dont much care for.

Growth has really taken off recently and am not sure whether the extra food, Strontium, or AA's are to blame, probably a combo of both.

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15325596#post15325596 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tobit
Sonny, at what point in a new/young tank would you start dosing Prodibio? Thanks.

I would start the bacteria portion ASAP. This way your cycle will be reduced and you may offset large blooms of early algae.

The carbon source(Biotem) should be added anywhere between 3-4 weeks AFTER the initial start of bacterial dosing.

Reef Booster should be used after corals are added about 4-6 months down the road.

 

[Tritonian]

Hi Sonny,

Regarding Dynoflagellates. And your excellent advice.

I've had a minimal amount of the darker/ almost black algae which has been escalating over the last few months. I hardly feed. But there is obviously another source that is spurring this on. I did monthly waterchanges and sometimes bi-monthly.

It was starting to get out of hand. I skipped on my usual use of Po4 remover and carbon when I started this tank.

It was a standard monthly maintenance thing I did on my old system. Which also had a slight Dyno problem. That was small patches of pink/red slime and some cyano in parts. Although I had a lot of coraline algae due to my high Calcium levels which were close to 500 but battled with KH demand.

Anyhoo, I read your article on Dyno's in your tank and read through the article on reefkeeping.com.

Since last week Sunday, I started bacteria dosing about 20ml a day on my 80Gal system. Using Seachem Stability. They haven't started stocking MK7 yet..bad bad LFS. They had nothing else.

I started Wet skimming and have been monitoring my SG. Which fluctuates btw 1.025 - 1.026. Which I rectify with smaller waterchanges....oh, and I've been syphoning my sand. I end up loosing some of it in the process though.

And my God the skimmate smells something aweful, not a normal smell for my skimmate....perhaps it's the addition of phosphate remover. I'm not sure.

I bought a bottle of Brightwell's PhosphatE Remover(liquid solution) all the stores were out of Seachem Phosguard.
I put a large bag of Carbon into my sump and a powerhead.

I replaced my T5's:
AM Blue Plus
AM Blue PLus
AM 10,000K
AM Blue plus
KZ Figi-Purple
AM Blue Plus

Not a great selection yet but I'm getting there and they are all new tubes. Marked the date and I'll change them again around Christmas.

Since then I have got my Ca and KH stable. With a few large doses.
15ml per day of each for 3 weeks. Now I dose 10ml's of each per day.

Ca - 400
KH - 8

I tested my PH which I haven't since I set up this tank. (I know, I know - most of us are guilty of this)
Recently I've been testing like crazy, monitoring daily for everything I can. And logging everything in daily journal. Which helps

My PH was sitting at a low 8.0 (oops)

2 days ago I started my first dosing 5ml(teaspoon) of Kalkwasser to raise the PH. Dropped my photoperiod by 2 hours. So I now have about 8 hours of light a day. But I started with a full blackout for 24hours or so.

after day 1 of Kalk - raised to 8.3

I dosed 5ml again yesterday. I will check PH again this evening to see where I am at now. But this morning I have noticed that most of the black algae has disappeared.

and still skimming heavily. Increased my flow to 14500g/h.

So - safe to say your advise is paying off. But only through diligence.

Thanks

 

[SunnyX]

Re: Issue to clarify

Re: Issue to clarify

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15327794#post15327794 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ancelot
Hello SunnyX,

nice to see the new avatar! Kaka's a storm! wonder if C.Ronaldo is gonna be so in R.Madird?

Anyway,
I've just hooked up all my equipments, rocks and sand to my 3ft and got water in to start the run. However, I am contemplating if I should kick off the MB7 dosage now or should I continue with Prodibio BioDigest which has reaped me positive results for a new start up tank till the tank stablises then I start MB7 and Vodka?

Concern is mainly because I worry that the bacteria strain in MB7 is different from the bacteria strain in BioDigest. As a result, if I dose BioDigest from the start, it may be hard for me to switch back to MB7 and Vodka in the future.

Secondly, I am gonna use Absolut Vodka as vodka dosing. Do you think it will work? Any guidelines to what brands of vodka to use or not to use to get the best effect?

Thirdly, in relation to vodka dosing, I read that there's a need to bring all necessary parameters down to 0 before I kick off vodka dosing. Any consequence if I start it off in a 1 mth old new tank? Assume that the tank is filled with cured sand, cured rocks and natural seawater. Any issues?

Please kindly advise me.

Thanks and Happy Reefing,
Marc

Hello

I wouldn't worry too much about mixing bacterial supplements. Eventually the MB7 will out compete the Prodibio strain if you continue making regular additions of MB7.

I am not sure what proof Absolut Vodka is but follow the dosing according to the proof in the Reefkeeping article. Why not use a cheap generic vodka instead?

I understood that the whole reason one dosed vodka was to reduce nutrient levels down to 0 so I am not sure where you read that. As long as you dose bacteria for the first month you should be fine to start up with vodka afterward. Just start out slow and watch your levels as you wont have much waste in the tank to process.

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15328855#post15328855 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tritonian
Hi Sonny,

Regarding Dynoflagellates. And your excellent advice.

I've had a minimal amount of the darker/ almost black algae which has been escalating over the last few months. I hardly feed. But there is obviously another source that is spurring this on. I did monthly waterchanges and sometimes bi-monthly.

It was starting to get out of hand. I skipped on my usual use of Po4 remover and carbon when I started this tank.

It was a standard monthly maintenance thing I did on my old system. Which also had a slight Dyno problem. That was small patches of pink/red slime and some cyano in parts. Although I had a lot of coraline algae due to my high Calcium levels which were close to 500 but battled with KH demand.

Anyhoo, I read your article on Dyno's in your tank and read through the article on reefkeeping.com.

Since last week Sunday, I started bacteria dosing about 20ml a day on my 80Gal system. Using Seachem Stability. They haven't started stocking MK7 yet..bad bad LFS. They had nothing else.

I started Wet skimming and have been monitoring my SG. Which fluctuates btw 1.025 - 1.026. Which I rectify with smaller waterchanges....oh, and I've been syphoning my sand. I end up loosing some of it in the process though.

And my God the skimmate smells something aweful, not a normal smell for my skimmate....perhaps it's the addition of phosphate remover. I'm not sure.

I bought a bottle of Brightwell's PhosphatE Remover(liquid solution) all the stores were out of Seachem Phosguard.
I put a large bag of Carbon into my sump and a powerhead.

I replaced my T5's:
AM Blue Plus
AM Blue PLus
AM 10,000K
AM Blue plus
KZ Figi-Purple
AM Blue Plus

Not a great selection yet but I'm getting there and they are all new tubes. Marked the date and I'll change them again around Christmas.

Since then I have got my Ca and KH stable. With a few large doses.
15ml per day of each for 3 weeks. Now I dose 10ml's of each per day.

Ca - 400
KH - 8

I tested my PH which I haven't since I set up this tank. (I know, I know - most of us are guilty of this)
Recently I've been testing like crazy, monitoring daily for everything I can. And logging everything in daily journal. Which helps

My PH was sitting at a low 8.0 (oops)

2 days ago I started my first dosing 5ml(teaspoon) of Kalkwasser to raise the PH. Dropped my photoperiod by 2 hours. So I now have about 8 hours of light a day. But I started with a full blackout for 24hours or so.

after day 1 of Kalk - raised to 8.3

I dosed 5ml again yesterday. I will check PH again this evening to see where I am at now. But this morning I have noticed that most of the black algae has disappeared.

and still skimming heavily. Increased my flow to 14500g/h.

So - safe to say your advise is paying off. But only through diligence.

Thanks

I am very happy that it is working out well for you. :thumbsup:

Diligence, as you alluded to is key here. You must create a plan/regiment and stick to it. After only a month of sticking to the plan your hard work will start to reward you with increased growth,coloration, and an overall clean system.

Kalkwasser is great, isnt it?

If I had an easier way of dosing Kalk I would be dosing so to supplement my two part. Kalk has always produced amazing results in terms of growth, too bad I dont have the kalk stirrer anymore.

The key to keeping a successful reef system are good habits and careful eye for the details.

 

[Gondore]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15328797#post15328797 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SunnyX
I feed my fish a combo of Formula One Flakes and Spectrum pellets every other day. I feed around 20 pellets of Spectrum and three pinches of flakes.

Recently I have been feeding daily but some of my corals are getting darker so I have cut back to every other day again.

Man Sunny...you do feed REALLY small amounts of food. I usually feed PE mysis one night and then Rod's food the other and I have never had nutrient issues. Is there a reason you feed so little besides nutrient problems?

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15328912#post15328912 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gondore
Man Sunny...you do feed REALLY small amounts of food. I usually feed PE mysis one night and then Rod's food the other and I have never had nutrient issues. Is there a reason you feed so little besides nutrient problems?

The nutrients are a big part of it I guess. Even with a great bacterial system and a large skimmer I am wary of increasing feedings. I recently did so and some of my pink corals turned to a darker shade of red.

I have never fed my tank too much so I guess its a habit. My fish are used to it, and as you seen when you were over the fish for the most part are fairly fat and healthy. I just need to hurry up and get a larger tank or give the tangs away.

Decisions, decisions.....

 

[Gondore]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15328960#post15328960 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SunnyX
The nutrients are a big part of it I guess. Even with a great bacterial system and a large skimmer I am wary of increasing feedings. I recently did so and some of my pink corals turned to a darker shade of red.

I have never fed my tank too much so I guess its a habit. My fish are used to it, and as you seen when you were over the fish for the most part are fairly fat and healthy. I just need to hurry up and get a larger tank or give the tangs away.

Decisions, decisions.....

Hmm...it's interesting that you should say that about your pink corals because I have struggled to get my birdsnest to every be as bright pink as yours is. It is more of a rust colored pink.

Do you still have those two yellow tangs in your tank?

 

[platax88]

Hey Sunny ...

Have you ever tried stopping vodka dosing and only continue with the daily addition of MB7? If so, did your nutrient levels go up?

I am just trying to determine that if MB7 alone does the job if i should still dose vodka? I don't mind stripping it ALL out which will allow me to feed heavy and dose AA. I just wonder that if without vodka, i could achieve that super clean system.

Thanks!

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15328973#post15328973 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gondore
Hmm...it's interesting that you should say that about your pink corals because I have struggled to get my birdsnest to every be as bright pink as yours is. It is more of a rust colored pink.

Do you still have those two yellow tangs in your tank?

Yeah, the yellow tangs are still in and getting beat up by the Sohal. I really need to get a larger tank or give them away.....