Sonny's Rimless Shallow Reef.

[dvanacker]

Totally off topic but WOW....buns o' steal. Shwiiiinng. Want to touch the hiny!

 

[SPSpirate]

Totally off topic but WOW....buns o' steal. Shwiiiinng. Want to touch the hiny!

lol..:dance:

 

[nu2reefva]

Hey sonny I wanted to hear your opinions on my new setup im running reef biofuel in place of vodka basically and also running GFO all the time now im having great growth from my SPS but lately the growth has slowed just slightly not much but some do you think im taking out to much P04 i change my GFO when i read 0.01 on the Hanna colorometer.
aside from that any suggestions for getting better colors in my corals should i try AA's or something along those lines.

 

[scaryperson27]

Hey Sonny, I have been employing your system for my tank and it looks as though the Zooxanthellae in the coral has died to the point where the coral is not getting fed anymore. I have started trying to put phytoplex and feed the fish too much but I cannot get the Zooxanthellae population to come back. I am sure the SPS corals are going to die if I don't do something soon. Do you have any suggestions?

::edit::
Sonny, I just did a write up on my problem. I was hoping you could help.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/newthread.php?do=postthread&f=73

 

[newsalt]

Still don't know what to do. I still have the whitish "peach fuzz" growth on my LR and overflows. I'm dosing:
6 drops/day of MB7
9ml/day of Vodka
1 drop/day of Lugol's
What do I need to do to get rid of the peach fuzz? I read that Nerite Snails will take car of it.

 

[Bzar]

Sunny,
Just curious what you have for a Clean Up Crew in there?

 

[tas5tas]

Still don't know what to do. I still have the whitish "peach fuzz" growth on my LR and overflows. I'm dosing:
6 drops/day of MB7
9ml/day of Vodka
1 drop/day of Lugol's
What do I need to do to get rid of the peach fuzz? I read that Nerite Snails will take car of it.

Stop dosing vodka....or at least cut your dosage in half. The clear peach fuzz is a form of bacterial bloom caused from over dosing vodka with MB7. It will take about a month for it to go away.

 

[newsalt]

Stop dosing vodka....or at least cut your dosage in half. The clear peach fuzz is a form of bacterial bloom caused from over dosing vodka with MB7. It will take about a month for it to go away.

I would gladly take your advice, but I had the "peach fuzz" before I started dosing vodka.

 

[SunnyX]

Just a quick question. I'm dosing MB7 for about 6 weeks now on my 60 cube. I had a little hair algae before I started and some red turf. About 3 weeks in, the hair algae and red turf exploded in growth. My average dose is 4 drops a day of MB7. I wanted to start Vodka but was afraid to do so with all the hair and turf algae. I have 0 TDS in my RODI water. If you need more tank info let me know. Thanks Ryan

Hello,

Not sure why algae growth would explode. Have you been doing of feeding anything out of the ordinary? The vodka is fine to add now, it will help starve off the algae. Be sure to follow the dosing charts for the vodka, and your algae should start to die off within a month.

Hey Sonny, love your thread and thanks for all of your help so far.

I've been dosing mb7 now for 2 weeks and was about to start with the vodka dosing.

My question is, I do have a bit of diatom algae on my sand bed. Should I hold off on dosing vodka before it's gone? Or, can I go ahead and start dosing vodka? If i have to hold off on the vodka, any tips on how to get rid of it? Will the mb7 help?

Thanks!

Hello,

Start up the vodka. The addition of vodka will aid in reducing your nutrients and driving out the diatoms. You should hit 0 nutrients within a month with this method.

 

[SunnyX]

Sonny - I would love to see your baby frag tank. Just to see the difference in colors.

-Dave

I actually just swapped out the MH bulb in that tank yesterday. For some odd reason the Phoenix 14K bulb I had in their wasn't working right. I had very little growth and all my corals had browned out. I am thinking that maybe the bulb was defective?????

I swapped it out for a Hamilton 14K. So far so good.

I just starting using the neomarine salt this week. I have done 1, 15gallon water change and I plan on doing 15 gallons a night for as long as it takes to get my nitrates down to zero. I am changing over from RC and it is 65$ a bucket before taxes here in central NJ.

Which brand of salt is cheaper???

Thanks for the reply! Are you planning on putting any softies in your tank?

Never. Softies and SPS dont mix very well. The softies release are sorts of chemicals and combat the SPS. Im not saying it cant be done, but you will need you run large amounts of carbon to offset the chemical warfare.

Totally off topic but WOW....buns o' steal. Shwiiiinng. Want to touch the hiny!

Thanks, but I dont swing that way!

 

[SunnyX]

Hey sonny I wanted to hear your opinions on my new setup im running reef biofuel in place of vodka basically and also running GFO all the time now im having great growth from my SPS but lately the growth has slowed just slightly not much but some do you think im taking out to much P04 i change my GFO when i read 0.01 on the Hanna colorometer.
aside from that any suggestions for getting better colors in my corals should i try AA's or something along those lines.

Hello,

If you nutrients are getting too low this can and will decrease growth. This is the reason why you must feed your fish more or add AA's. The beauty of this system is that you can provide your corals with large amounts of AA's and nutrients without worrying about outbreaks of algae. Have you thought about dosing Lugols soultion?

Hey Sonny, I have been employing your system for my tank and it looks as though the Zooxanthellae in the coral has died to the point where the coral is not getting fed anymore. I have started trying to put phytoplex and feed the fish too much but I cannot get the Zooxanthellae population to come back. I am sure the SPS corals are going to die if I don't do something soon. Do you have any suggestions?

::edit::
Sonny, I just did a write up on my problem. I was hoping you could help.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/newthread.php?do=postthread&f=73

Hello, the link didn't work for me. Are your corals lightening up and pale? If your nutrients are at 0 you must feed the fish more or dose AA's. A short term solution would be to lower your photoperiod by two hours and decrease the dosages of vodka.

Any pictures of the affected corals?

 

[SunnyX]

Sunny,
Just curious what you have for a Clean Up Crew in there?

Two snails and two Serpent stars. Clean up crews are overrated.

I would gladly take your advice, but I had the "peach fuzz" before I started dosing vodka.

Is the peach fuzz that noticeable? Is it causing any issues with you corals? Snails could help eat it, but usually these things go away on their own.

 

[Bzar]

Sunny,
Wow that's awesom about having such a low number of CUC. Ok so let me ask one more question here. If I was going to start using this system how would I impliment it with where I'm at now.

My tank is in week two of the cycle stage. I have a ton of dead rock that has been seeded with a couple pieces of live rock, some water/sand from my nano, and some cocktail shrimp (shrimp are now decomposed into the water column).

I've just started getting my first diatom bloom, and I already see pods on the glass/rocks. In what order, at what times, and what dosages would you recommend I be testing for & adding MB7, Vodka, AA, Lugols, etc.?

Thanks. I'm very excited about this method, and would love to get it going before I add livestock.

Edit: You should make a thread called the "SunnyX System" that oulines all this stuff for nubs like me

 

[Anemone0524]

Hi Sunny - can you help me out here? Rapid fire questions

1) What's the substate you're using? I assume you syphon it to keep it clean, since you have barely any CUC

2) What setting do you have your Vortech's on? Short Pulse? Reef Crest?

3) Does your T-5 unit get any salt creep or splash on the reflectors/bulbs? If so, how do you deal with that.

Thanks! Great tank, and an inspiration to us all.

 

[thejuggernaut]

Great looking tank. Ive slowly read through the entire thread over the last week and I'm really impressed by both your system and the amount of effort you put in to helping out fellow reefers. I had a few things I wanted to ask your opinon on. First off I see that you run Eheim water pumps submerged in your sump. Do you like them, and why did you decide on running them submerged? Is it just for ease of setup or does it cut down on noise. The reason I ask is because I'm trying to decide on a new return pump. My panworld is so loud that I would like something quieter. Secondly I know you dose everything manually but had expressed interest in maybe setting up a top off for your two part and maybe vodka. Have you looked at any of the different dosing pumps and if so which ones would you recommend? Finally the vortech pumps. I know you had a problem with your first one but they repaired it and sent it back to you. Have you had any other problems with it? How about the noise, as you can tell I'm trying to quiet things down and every little bit helps. Everyone says they make amazing flow but some people complain that they are much louder than the Tunze pumps.

Thanks for all your efforts!

Taylor

 

[Lyfey]

Sonny, Im not sure exactly on the prices of all the salts here in NJ, but I know for sure that the Brightwells at 65$ is the most expensive I have seen here. I bought all my RC from DRSfosterssmith with an old coupon code (that I googled for) and bought 3, 160gal buckets all for under 100$ So all that salt took me a while to burn through.

Last night I did another 35 gal water change. I have done 1x 15gal, 1x 30 gal and finally my 35 gal water change last night in one week. All seperated by a day or two, running a 75gpd RODI.

I am trying to get my nitrates to zero, for some reason my nitrates were almost at 40. I am not running any MB7/vodka at the moment. With my second water change my nitrates were down to 10. I have not checked since my last 35gal water change last night.

I just want to emphasize on Sonny's statement about cleaning your powerheads. I got my first vortech MP40w on 25 August 2009 (my birthday) and I did not clean it until yesterday. Before I cleaned it, I was trying to make a decent wave and I noticed I could not, so I cleaned it and wow, I cant run a decent wave without it almost overflowing my system, Cleaning that vortech at least upped the power and output by 50% at least! I was overwhelmed and stoked on how much gunk was in that vortech that I couldnt see until I took it out and cleaned it, The flow is almost twice as powerful now that its cleaned up. and that was just about 2.5 months worth of use without cleaning. I usually clean all my pumps quarterly unless I see it fit to clean beforehand, I will now be cleaning my vortech monthly, Thanks Sonny!

 

[rs1831]

Hello Sonny,

As always your tank looks amazing! I have a question about microbacter and biocarbon. I know that you don't use biocarbon but maybe you can still help. I've been dosing now for a couple of months and I have noticeable algae besides some film algae on the glass. Does that normally indicate that I am dosing too much or not enough? I'm very happy with everything else but it seems like I am cleaning my glass every other day or so.

Thanks,
Roland

 

[ryno212]

If anyone on this thread could help.
I have been dosing MB7 for about a month and a half and just started vodka 5 days ago.
After the loading phase I'm only doing 6 drops of MB7 on a 60gallon and doing .2ml of vodka. I noticed about a day into the first dose of vodka my water got cloudy and some stringy slime in my sump. It is not bad, but don't want to mess anything up. Should I stop anyone of the 2 or dose more of one than the other. Wednesday I would be doing .4ml of vodka. I also run carbon and do weekly water changes. I'm doing this dosing because of hair algae and maroon turf algae. Thanks for any help

 

[Bricky]

Just got my MB7 and BioFuel. I've run the Elos purist line and was happy with results, but the price and number of additives had me looking at the Brightwell product. Well, I've got them now. I'll also be running 4-5 liters of Filtra M in a reactor when running MB7 and BF.

 

[moo0o]

is that a 5 gallon bucket of mb7? didn't even know they sold those!