Sonny's Rimless Shallow Reef.

[syrss]

Hi Sonny,

Another question for you.

Quoting you "At first, I was only dosing vodka alone without any bacteria. The following two days after initially dosing vodka I was shocked to see how clear my water had become"

When you said "clear", does it mean you used to have tiny specks/particulate in your water? What does clear (compared to before) mean in your case?


Thanks again.
Ron

 

[SunnyX]

Hey sonny,

are you back to dosing 14drops of MB7 daily?

Do you feel carbon is better in a reactor or just like you have it in a bag in your sump? where about in the sump is your bag?

I have the same water volume as you and 2 weeks ago started 6 drops of MB7 daily. 1.5ml vodka. will see how it goes.

thanks

Hello,

I am at 10 drops a day of MB7 this week. I may go back up next week based on observations. Running carbon in a reactor is fine, you just need to watch the amount flow going into the reactor. I have the mesh bag place on the opposite side of the skimmer intake, next to the return pump.

Heres a pic of the tank. Also had to show off the new acro, its beautiful, has glowing green tips. Not sure what it is though.

Great looking setup! Its cleaner then mine! :thumbsup:

That would be great if it's not too much for you to carry those for sure. It'll be great to have my tank assessed by you to know whats right and what's wrong.


Great, then allow some time when you vist for a fine Cuban Cigar them. I always have some special ones. We do get Cuban Cigars here:smokin:

Sounds good! :bum:

This post was a while ago but maybe you can help us out. Thanks

Sunny, I love the thread and have learned so much about dosing and the reasons behind it. What I am wondering is what you are looking for, and how are you changing or remedying the problem? Is it algae, or are you looking for coloration? Does this have to do with the vodka, MB7, nutrition, or Calcium and Alk levels?

I hope this helps others following this thread on how to read your tank, what to look for, and how to adjust your dosing.

Thanks Sunny
Adam

Ideally I am looking for stability. With stability comes coloration and growth. Once the basics are are fully implemented you can then concentrate on color and growth of SPS. When you dont have to deal with algae and nutrients you have much more time to focus on everything else. I am not sure how else to answer this question. :hmm5:

Sonny..

Mind snapping a few pics of the sumproom?

//

Will do.

Move the Fiji Purple to slot number 2 or 3. You want the red to strike the viewing side of the corals.

+1

Thanks Sonny for the inspiration. Now all I think about is 48x24x20 rimless starfire. I have found a local builder here in Salt Lake that can build it. I can hardly wait to get started. I think I will go with an ATI 6 bulb and Vortechs. What do you think about the new Deltec TC skimmers? Are they worth the price?.......thanks again

I am really liking the new Deltec skimmers. If my Deltec were to die out the new model would be next on my list.

Hi Sonny,

Another question for you.

Quoting you "At first, I was only dosing vodka alone without any bacteria. The following two days after initially dosing vodka I was shocked to see how clear my water had become"

When you said "clear", does it mean you used to have tiny specks/particulate in your water? What does clear (compared to before) mean in your case?


Thanks again.
Ron

Hello,

By "clearer" I meant less particles floating around.

 

[9501gle]

Hey Sunny,

I was getting some of the peach fuzz on my glass and have reduced from 12 drops mb7 and 2ml vodka to 8 drops and 1ml. Seems to have solved the problem. Should I stay at this dose or slowly start increasing. My nwv is around 250 gal. Also my green sps are getting very light. I've been dosing for 5 weeks. Should I start with some AA's.

 

[SunnyX]

Hey Sunny,

I was getting some of the peach fuzz on my glass and have reduced from 12 drops mb7 and 2ml vodka to 8 drops and 1ml. Seems to have solved the problem. Should I stay at this dose or slowly start increasing. My nwv is around 250 gal. Also my green sps are getting very light. I've been dosing for 5 weeks. Should I start with some AA's.

Hello,

Stay at the reduced dosing level for now. Keep an eye on the corals and nutrients. I would increase the feeding of the fish before adding in the AA. Take it week by week and understand that you will have to adjust the dosages weekly. Some weeks you will need to increase the dosages, and some weeks you may need to decrease them. Too much brown or "peach fuzz": Decrease dosing. Corals getting too light: Increase feedings.

You could start to add some AA's, but I would take it very slowly if you do. Perhaps only four drops to start, twice a week. Keep an eye one the corals and tank, adjust based on your observations.

In time, the dosing will come with ease, and you will know exactly what to do in any situation.

Judging by the success you are having with your current setup you will do great! :thumbsup: Sweet tank you have!

 

[9501gle]

Thanks Sunny,

I'll give that a go and see what happens.

I had gotten, I don't know, frustrated I guess with my tank and let it go for 6 months or so till I discovered your post. The help you are giving everyone is to be commended. Your patience is amazing and your advice priceless. With your help I have turned my tank around and I think most important gotten me back into it.

Thanks a million.

 

[grego]

Hi Sunny, awsome tank, is that all the live rock you have in the tank, is that enough, no refugium with any LR or macro algae ?

Thank you.

 

[Tigé21v]

Hello,

No additional rocks in the sump. Many reefers out there have way too much rock in their systems. I only use enough rock to support my corals so that they have a sturdy base on which to grow on.

Interesting. My thinking was just the opposite, the more rock the better, to give more surface area for the bacteria, especially if dosing vodka. Why do you keep minimal rock?

 

[DFason]

Sonny - Do you have any pictures of the frag tank? I would just like to see the difference in the colors!

-Dave

 

[Lavish62]

Ideally I am looking for stability. With stability comes coloration and growth. Once the basics are are fully implemented you can then concentrate on color and growth of SPS. When you dont have to deal with algae and nutrients you have much more time to focus on everything else. I am not sure how else to answer this question.

Sonny,

Thx, I was just wondering how to tell if you should add any more additives or AA's for color, or less vodka, MB7 ect...

Its hard to tell just by looking at the tank, what to do what to look for, for the different additives and tank parameters.

 

[grego]

Hi again, just want to know about expiration date for the MICROBACTER 7? any especial care for the bottle, temp or so ?

 

[Lavish62]

Thanks Sunny,

I'll give that a go and see what happens.

I had gotten, I don't know, frustrated I guess with my tank and let it go for 6 months or so till I discovered your post. The help you are giving everyone is to be commended. Your patience is amazing and your advice priceless. With your help I have turned my tank around and I think most important gotten me back into it.

Thanks a million.

Ahhmen!!!

 

[Bricky]

I just spoke with the lone sales rep (Kevin). He said that the MB7 has a one year shelf lifte. He also mentioned that this is quickly becoming the most popular Brightwell product and it's only a little over 8 months old.

 

[Reefer08]

Sonny did you ever get the baceteria bloom while dosing vodka? I got a slimy white stringy stuff in my sump from dosing too much vodka, I ramped up the dosage a lil too fast. Im wondering if this is bad for my tank in any way? Does it stress out the corals in any way? It went away after reducing dosage by 50%, in a few days it completely went away. Do you think I stressed out my corals from the OD? thanks

 

[Reefer08]

sorry double post!

 

[Henry Bowman]

Sonny did you ever get the baceteria bloom while dosing vodka? I got a slimy white stringy stuff in my sump from dosing too much vodka, I ramped up the dosage a lil too fast. Im wondering if this is bad for my tank in any way? Does it stress out the corals in any way? It went away after reducing dosage by 50%, in a few days it completely went away. Do you think I stressed out my corals from the OD? thanks

I'm not SunnyX but have had a similar experience. The white stuff is most likely bacteria growth of some type. My corals were not stressed nor did I notice a slowdown in growth.

The largest danger with overdosing is where the carbon source causes the O2 in the tank to become depleted causing fish to really stress and corals can follow closely behind.

My .02 cents FWIW

 

[A.VOID]

Sonny: I had the brown film algae showing,so I cut the MB7 for a week now. I continued vodka dosing, and I just hit 0 NO.
Cyano was alive and well this AM.

I'm not ready to pull out the red slime remover. I'm going to wait another week.

Should I try cutting dosing to see if the cyano goes away? It's not horrible, but it's enough...

 

[aquaph8]

the vodka is feeding the cyano. reduce vodka and continue with mb7. the mb7 should out compete the cyano.

 

[hatemeyet]

sonny or anyone,

started dosing mb7 but dont really have a good idea on a starting point..My tank is a 220 with a 75 gallon sump..My nitrates are 0 and phosphate around .25..I do have a pretty good amount of cyano,I started dosing 2 days ago at 40ml but is this to little or should i cut back..Im not dosing vodka at this time...thank you

 

[nemeth27]

Hi Sonny,

About 4 weeks ago, I decided what I originally though was the brown film was probably from too much MB7 was actually red cyno, as it wasn't going away when I decreased the amount I was dosing. Actually it was getting worse. So I stopped the vodka and for the last 3 weeks I've been dosing the high nutrient level of MB7 4 capfuls a day (I have roughly 80 gals), and vacuuming as much cyno as I can. Unfortunately, it keeps coming back.

Any ideas? In my 5+ years of experience I've never had any cyno before and I really don't want to use red slime remover. Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[NexDog]

Stood on a stool and took this shot:

Been a while since I checked in on this thread. Incredible stuff. The balance of colour is awe inspiring.