Sonny's Rimless Shallow Reef.

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15663679#post15663679 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maroun.c
Well deserved Sonny.

Need some help with a dilemma I'm facing in my tank.
most of my corals are doing good with great growth on montiporas, milleporas and over all good coloration and PE.
However the followings:
ORA green Birdnest
Green Birdnest
superman montipora

are all loosing colours. the birdnests are still showing good PE, the superman lost all of it's coloration and became cloe to white.
Lowered all of them as I was told this could be an increased lighting issue but no change except for little improvment in coloration of the superman.
My water tested as follows:

Temp 83 (hottest duing the day and going down to 80 at night)
Sal 1.026
PH 8.15
alk 9.3
Ca 370
MG 1260
PO4 0-0.03
No3 has rised from 20 ish to 30-35 in 1 month

DSB looks black from below and shows some airbubbles so starting to work
fuge only has 1 strain of caulerpa left as it wasn't thriving in my tank and I never had to prune in years.
I can't dose vodka as I'm rarely around to monitor and think it's a bit risky if not properly monitored.
Couldn't find MB7 so I got probidio biodigest and will start dosing it without a carbon source.
Checked and cleaned sump and fuge from settled detritus and got 4 buckets of very dirty water out of the system which I presume was par tof the nitrates.
I'm a bit confused with the fact that some corals are growing like crazy and have very good coloration and PE while others are looking really bad.
Lately the ORA green birdnest got some brown tips which I was told was due to alkalinity shift.

other corals that are loosing some color but still are opening really well:
- Fropspan opening like crazy but looks a bit faint in color.
- RBTA that bleached and lost most of it s volume months ago looks a bit better colorwise.

I try to feed my corals with the following on alternating basis and no more than 1-2 times a week when I'm not on travel:
Kent phytoplex
Kent Chromaplex
Kent Coral accel
Reefsnow
JBL Korall Fluid
Tropic Marin Pro coral Phyton
Tropic Marin Pro coral Zooton
Tropic Marin coral snow
in adiditon to target feeding with some fish foods soaked in chormaplex coral accel and kent coral accel (1-2 times a month)

Do you think it's OK to dose some Amino Acids (prodibio reef booster) after a couple of doses of bacteria?
Any hints if this fits more with a high light, low or high nutrient problem? any idea on how to better assess what's happening.
Thanks.

Hello,

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. Between work, school, coaching football, and Ramadan I have been stretched out all over the place. :eek2: :lol:

Are all of your green corals looking bad? I know in the past with my systems that increased water changes have brought about changes and increased coloration in my green corals, most likely due to an increase in Iron.

The first thing I always do when I am having an issue with my corals is stop dosing all nonessential additives. I then wait a week and look for signs of improvement. I then slowly begin to add back the additives one by one, using the process of elimination to determine what may be causing the problem.

Based on your high nitrates I would stay away from all organic additives for a while, such as the Reef Snow, Zooton, and Pyton you are dosing. The addition of biodigest should aid in the reduction of nutrients in your system, but keep an eye on things as it has been known to cause problems with established DSB's.

Concerning the AA, I would stay away from them until you have reached a ULNS level(Ultra Low Nutrient System). Too many people are adding AA's when they are not needed, and where a simple increasing in fish food would suffice.

Based on the information you have provided me, the only issues I see that may be a contributing factor to the corals stress are the NO3 and temperature. Even though the Ca is a little low it is fine. It is fine because you ALK level are elevated, and when ALK is elevated it can and will compensate for CA level as low as 280, for short time though.

Good luck, and please let me know how it works out for you. :thumbsup:

 

[SunnyX]

Re: a question for you

Re: a question for you

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15673434#post15673434 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ancelot
Sunny,

Just wondering if MicroBacter7 bacteria are able to feed on Prodibio Biotim. My friend just tossed me a 30 amps as birthday gift. So I am thinking hard now.

Vodka or Biotim with MB7?

LMK what you think

Happy Reefing,
Marc J.

Hello,

You will be fine with Biotim. As soon as it runs out you can then use the cheaper alternative, vodka.

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15679430#post15679430 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hansonfam
Sonny, I have the same light fixture and i was wondering how deep do you have sps with this fixture?

Thanks

Hello,

The light fixture is 2.5" off of the rim of the tank, and the SPS corals about 10-14" down.

 

[SunnyX]

I will get some more pictures for you guys but probably not until tomorrow, as I have a busy day ahead of me today.

 

[reefman76]

Thanks for all your help Sunny. Most of my green hair algae and red cotton algae are gone. I just have a little red slime left to deal with. I will continue dosing MB7 daily untill it goes away.

Ramadan Mubarak!! We got one week left.

 

[Lyfey]

Sonny,
The calculator says that I could use Epsom salts + RO/DI water to raise MG. Also baking soda with Ro/Di to raise Alk.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

Can I just use Epsom salts + RODI to raise my MG and Baking Soda to raise ALK? What would be a good recipe for each? 1 gal water RO/DI to Xgrams of product? I bought Epsom salts, Arm and hammer pure baking soda, and I have a bag of Calcium chloride (no name brand salt melt) I am alittle sketchy on the calcium substitute so I have been dosing Kent liquid calcium.

I also have Brightwell Aquatics The Elemental and AlkalineP 8.3 products and I have used them before but since the Elemental has multiple reagents in it, it is hard to dose correctly. I have not kept up on my dosing, actually trying to set up an initial dosing schedule / dose quantity. I find it really hard to find this out. I need help

I havent supplimented anything in the last two weeks since my last 30 gallon water change with reef crystals at 1.025sg. I have a 75 gal tank with a 30 gal sump, I think my total net volume is around 90 gallons of water, to be safe I will use 80 gallons of water.

I dose vodka/MB7/Lugols at the moment every day and that has been working nicely. I plan on getting my CA/ALK dosing set up but I am having a hard time with that. Would you all be able to help? I dont want to hijaak this thread, sorry.

I run the sump (oceanic model 2) 3/4ths high of water and the tank itself has around 70 lbs of live rock and 80lbs of live sand in it. I am a little weary of dosing pure baking soda/epsom salts to raise anything in my tank and wanted to run it by you and the general public before I did so.

I have not taken any current levels for the last two weeks. I had some sort of cloudy water and I wasnt sure if it was calcium/alk related or an algael bloom. What do you guys think and thank you very much.

Update to my issue with the cloudiness. My water was very cloudy for a period of about 2-3 weeks. It was cloudy enough that on a 75 gallon tank, when looking in from the right glass pain I could not see the other side of the tank. I started my vodka regimen of .3ml 10 days ago. On the 4th day I upped it to .6ml a day. I am on my 10th day and I am going to do a full set of tests tonight to see if I need to raise it up to 1ml / day. My water currently is the clearest I have ever seen it been and I am only on day 10. Day 24 for MB7. Currently dosing 5 drops of MB7 along with the vodka.

I added a filter sock a few days ago and I think that really helped clear up some of the floating debris in my tank. I am thinking about perminately adding a filter sock to my system and have them on a rotation of max 3 days at a time. I am currently debating that situation. I just wanted to thank you Sonny for all your help and I hope that everything works out for people with problems.

I still have nuissance algae on my overflow. I have brown algae that looks like circular montipora capricornis growing on my overflow. Also on the teeth of my overflow I have alot of red and green algae growing, also inside of the overflow on the durso pipes. Will this algae dissapear after a month or so of vodka? I am not really following the vodka dosing chart, I am more dosing on accordance of my tanks responses.

-Chris

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15684152#post15684152 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lyfey
Sonny,
The calculator says that I could use Epsom salts + RO/DI water to raise MG. Also baking soda with Ro/Di to raise Alk.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

Can I just use Epsom salts + RODI to raise my MG and Baking Soda to raise ALK? What would be a good recipe for each? 1 gal water RO/DI to Xgrams of product? I bought Epsom salts, Arm and hammer pure baking soda, and I have a bag of Calcium chloride (no name brand salt melt) I am alittle sketchy on the calcium substitute so I have been dosing Kent liquid calcium.

I also have Brightwell Aquatics The Elemental and AlkalineP 8.3 products and I have used them before but since the Elemental has multiple reagents in it, it is hard to dose correctly. I have not kept up on my dosing, actually trying to set up an initial dosing schedule / dose quantity. I find it really hard to find this out. I need help

I havent supplimented anything in the last two weeks since my last 30 gallon water change with reef crystals at 1.025sg. I have a 75 gal tank with a 30 gal sump, I think my total net volume is around 90 gallons of water, to be safe I will use 80 gallons of water.

I dose vodka/MB7/Lugols at the moment every day and that has been working nicely. I plan on getting my CA/ALK dosing set up but I am having a hard time with that. Would you all be able to help? I dont want to hijaak this thread, sorry.

I run the sump (oceanic model 2) 3/4ths high of water and the tank itself has around 70 lbs of live rock and 80lbs of live sand in it. I am a little weary of dosing pure baking soda/epsom salts to raise anything in my tank and wanted to run it by you and the general public before I did so.

I have not taken any current levels for the last two weeks. I had some sort of cloudy water and I wasnt sure if it was calcium/alk related or an algael bloom. What do you guys think and thank you very much.

Update to my issue with the cloudiness. My water was very cloudy for a period of about 2-3 weeks. It was cloudy enough that on a 75 gallon tank, when looking in from the right glass pain I could not see the other side of the tank. I started my vodka regimen of .3ml 10 days ago. On the 4th day I upped it to .6ml a day. I am on my 10th day and I am going to do a full set of tests tonight to see if I need to raise it up to 1ml / day. My water currently is the clearest I have ever seen it been and I am only on day 10. Day 24 for MB7. Currently dosing 5 drops of MB7 along with the vodka.

I added a filter sock a few days ago and I think that really helped clear up some of the floating debris in my tank. I am thinking about perminately adding a filter sock to my system and have them on a rotation of max 3 days at a time. I am currently debating that situation. I just wanted to thank you Sonny for all your help and I hope that everything works out for people with problems.

I still have nuissance algae on my overflow. I have brown algae that looks like circular montipora capricornis growing on my overflow. Also on the teeth of my overflow I have alot of red and green algae growing, also inside of the overflow on the durso pipes. Will this algae dissapear after a month or so of vodka? I am not really following the vodka dosing chart, I am more dosing on accordance of my tanks responses.

-Chris

Hello,

for a recipe of CA/ALK/MG go here: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

As you dosing progresses, you may find that you will be running into issues with the filter socks. They can clog up quickly when dosing bacteria.

I am happy yo see that your water is now clearing up. Usually, cloudy water is caused by an imbalance in CA/ALK or excess bacteria.

I wouldn't worry much about the algae in your overflow, as it will likely be there no matter how clean your system may be.

After mixing the correct dosages of CA/ALK/MG I would test the levels in your system and stabilize the levels via the calculator you linked. Once the levels are normal you can then add a daily dosage which should keep things nice and steady. You will have to check the levels every week for the first month, increasing or decreasing dosages based on the test results.

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15684110#post15684110 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefman76
Thanks for all your help Sunny. Most of my green hair algae and red cotton algae are gone. I just have a little red slime left to deal with. I will continue dosing MB7 daily untill it goes away.

Ramadan Mubarak!! We got one week left.

No problem. Yeah, one week left.

Usually I have no issues, but this year my days have been long and fasting 14 hours a day while going to work, school, and coaching is draining me.

Oh well, no room for me to complain. At least I get to eat at sundown, while many others out there are less fortunate.

 

[kuyatwo]

Sunny I am a big clam fan I have 12" derasa and 5 maximas have you had any trouble dosing mb7 and vodka with any of your clams with the water being to clean.

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15684590#post15684590 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kuyatwo
Sunny I am a big clam fan I have 12" derasa and 5 maximas have you had any trouble dosing mb7 and vodka with any of your clams with the water being to clean.

Hello,

I have 3 Maxima's and a Derasa, all are growing well and look healthy. The only time I can see a clam having an issue with low nutrients is when the clam is small. At a small size, the clams mantle has very little surface area in order to absorb light. Once the clam grows out it depends less on food and more on light.

 

[Lyfey]

I dont mean to offend anyone but since your on the topic of Ramadan, I spent 26 months in Iraq and I remember the season quite well. Very interesting place to be, not sure if anyone has ever lived in a Muslim country before. Culture is very unique and very pretty IMO, its just a few that scew things to the side. Sorry if I offend anyone, I didnt mean to. I was in the Army for almost 5 years, Im a disabled veteran now and I chose reefkeeping as my therapy of choice for the mind.

Sonny as far as finding how much you need to dose daily. Once I get my levels exactly at what I want them. CA 420, ALK 8DKH (until I find better) I dont think my system has ever been stable, I have never dosed anything for CA / ALK on an organized basis, usually a squirt of calcium here and there and relied on reef crystals and weekly/bi-monthly large water changes. I am sure once I get that issue correct, my corals will actually grow at this moment I am using a Nova Extreme PRO 8x54w T5 unit (only 6 bulbs work, a ballast blew) I am running:
2 Icecap twilight bulbs
1 Gman Actinic+
1 UVL 75.25
2 Gman Aquablue's (11k)

I run the 3 blue bulbs and the 75.25 from 1030 to 2230 and the 2 white bulbs from 1200 to 2000. Critique?

I am wondering now that I have a vortech mp40 if the reason my corals are not growing is either my light (which only has 1 reflector) it is not powerful enough or my lack of CA/ALK/MG attention and dosing. Can someone have a successful SPS reef without every paying attention to CA/ALK/MG and just rely on weekly water changes?

I know what I need to do, Im just wondering if anything would make it noticeably better. Thanks

-Chris

 

[maroun.c]

Thanks for your help Sonny.
Do you just coach or play football? Is it on professional level?
Can't imagine fastin that long while playing football...
Couple of questions,
-Any specific problems that biodigest can cause with a DSB? do I need to test or look for something specific?
-Not all my green corals are affected, only my ORA Green birdnest and another birdnest in addition to my Superman montipora. Xenia is a bit closed but not melting.
my ORA green birdnest is shedding its tissue and only a branch is left. the other green birdnest is improving colorwise. Montipora is still the same.
My nitrate is down to 20-25 and I still have a couple of water changes to do this week end so hopefully it'll go even lower. Sump and fuge were cleaned with very dirty water taken out I'm also increasing circulation in sump and removed most rock from fuge.
finally you mention dosing AA only when I reach ULNS can you clarify when that would be? is it when nitrates are at 0?
Thanks again for your great help and sorry for hijacking your thread however my build thread isn't that active lately.

 

[reefrad]

Sunny,
What tiem of your light cycle do you dose your MB7, Vodka and AAs?

Shukran!

 

[9501gle]

Sorry for the late response. What bulbs did you end up going with? I like the XM 10K's with a few actinic supplements, but the color and intensity isn't for everyone.

I do not run filter socks. I ran them in the past on my old setup but that was only to combat micro bubbles. In the new tank I am using a MUCH smaller return pump so I no longer have to mess with socks.

If you do decide to go with a bacteria/carbon dosing regime I would stay away from filter socks as they will quickly clog up due to excess bacteria and bio-film.

Thanks for the response Sunny.

I went with the 20K Radiums. I dont have any acentics so I hope these will give me a good look.

I have the same problem as you did on old tank. Big return pump, so I'm fighting micro bubbles with socks. Maybe I should get a smaller pump and add some vortecs. What do you think.

Started the mb7 yesterday at 5ml per 25 gal. I'll follow the recommended dosing on the bottle and do this for 2 weeks. Should I then start the vodka. I also got the AA's. When should I start them. I'm also dosing lugols at one drop per day and stronium (brightwells dry) at 1 tsp per day. I'm a little concerned about adding lugols everyday but you seem to be having good luck with it so I'll try it and see. I thought iodine could build up in a system and cause problems. Is this true.

Thanks for all your help

 

[trueblackpercula]

Hi Sonny I posted this in another thread any thoughts?
quote:
Originally posted by trueblackpercula
Finaly zero Po4 and zero nitrates but have a small problem and need some advice. The sps are getting very light in color is now the time to start adding Amino Acids? (how much? I have Elos amino acids)
Also I am dosing 3.3 ml a day so I need to cut that in half correct? And that's my new dosing daily until there is a spike again correct?

 

[newsalt]

I'm starting to see some green hair algea. I'm dosing 1.6ml of Vodka and 2 drops of MB7 daily. I'm not dosing anything else. Any advice to eliminate the HA?

 

[NanoCube-boy]

What is HA? Hair Algae?

 

[newsalt]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15687988#post15687988 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NanoCube-boy
What is HA? Hair Algae?

yep

 

[evil4g63]

Sunny what would be best for a 75g tank, would a 6 bulb fixture work or do I need 8 bulbs.

 

[Joel A]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15690258#post15690258 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by evil4g63
Sunny what would be best for a 75g tank, would a 6 bulb fixture work or do I need 8 bulbs.

6 bulb... ati sunpower or powermodule would be a great one...

not only is 8 bulbs overkill, almost all 8 bulb fixtures are about 20" wide, so it would actually hang over the sides of the tank and spill light down to the floor...