Sonny's Rimless Shallow Reef.
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143gadgets
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I'm lost for words bro! Looks STUNNING!!! Glad to see everything is doing well.
SunnyX
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15684784#post15684784 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 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 growat 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
Hello,
Yeah, visiting any foreign land can be both strange and exciting. I was born in the USA but my parents came here in the late 70's from Lebanon, escaping the civil war. I have never been to Iraq, but I have been to Lebanon a few times. My Uncle is a career Marine and told me that Iraq is very different from the Lebanon and the USA. Thank you for serving, hopefully your injuries weren't too bad.
Concerning the lighting you have, individual reflectors make a big difference when using T5's. I have experience with the bulbs you have listed but can tell you that the ATI bulbs I use and recommend have higher PAR numbers, and have given great success in coloration and growth.
Maintenance of CA and ALK is key when you are trying to maintain proper SPS growth. I have been adding two part daily manually but am looking into a good pump to add it in automatically. I am busy these days and sometimes I miss dosing the system.
The Vortech MP40w is a great pump and will aid your corals in respiration,growth, and feeding. Flow is something that is hard to recommend over the internet as every system is different, based on rock structure, tank dimensions, and placement of power heads. The surface of your tank should have no dead spots or build up of film.
Here is a picture of what the surface of my tank looks like:
Hey Sonny,
Your tank is looking fabulous as usual.. :thumbsup: My system is doing pretty good at 4ml a day(vodka) and 4 drops of MB7, but I am noticing that my colors are starting to fade... especially on my tri-color acros (you can see pictures on the lates post in mybuild thread). I'm a bit late on my last water change so, I will get that done this evening and hope that has some good effect.. Might you have any other suggestions.. aminos( currrently at 1.5 ml 2x/wk).. heavier feeding...strontium..etc... All my params are in check and both nitrate and PO4 are undetectable.. Thanks in advance Bro..
Your tank is looking fabulous as usual.. :thumbsup: My system is doing pretty good at 4ml a day(vodka) and 4 drops of MB7, but I am noticing that my colors are starting to fade... especially on my tri-color acros (you can see pictures on the lates post in mybuild thread). I'm a bit late on my last water change so, I will get that done this evening and hope that has some good effect.. Might you have any other suggestions.. aminos( currrently at 1.5 ml 2x/wk).. heavier feeding...strontium..etc... All my params are in check and both nitrate and PO4 are undetectable.. Thanks in advance Bro..
SunnyX
New member
Hello,
No professional coaching, just teenagers.
Depending on the age of the DSB, some have reported issues and crashes when dosing a zovit type system in an established system/DSB. I am not sure what the warning signs may be, but I would bet that you would see some things out of the ordinary when viewing the DSB.
Once your nitrates and phosphates hit 0, and your corals begin to lighten up you can then add AA's. With your reef being a mixed one you may want to keep your NO3 at around 5ppm.
fernandokng
New member
Sunny, have you noticed your substrate harderning due to the excess bacteria? I think this is the case for me at the moment... Calk and Alk levels are fine at the moment...
waterart
Member
Sonny -
I will be making a third attempt on establishing a successful SPS tank in the next month. I am stubborn and am determined to have a successful tank in my lifetime. My family thinks I am crazy for re-building my system....again...and again. I suppose they could be right.
Anyway, my question is, 1) if I go the Vodka dosing route for Nitrate reduction, how long should I wait before starting to introduce Vodka to the system once the tank is finished cycling? 2) Then how long should I wait before introducing MB7?
Two more questions and I'll shut up.....
3) do you have a weekly routine for feeding your corals? Or, do they just get fish leftovers?
4) Is a phosphate reactor not needed when doing vodka, or is it good to have a second phosphate removal source?
Thanks!
Damon
I will be making a third attempt on establishing a successful SPS tank in the next month. I am stubborn and am determined to have a successful tank in my lifetime. My family thinks I am crazy for re-building my system....again...and again. I suppose they could be right.
Anyway, my question is, 1) if I go the Vodka dosing route for Nitrate reduction, how long should I wait before starting to introduce Vodka to the system once the tank is finished cycling? 2) Then how long should I wait before introducing MB7?
Two more questions and I'll shut up.....
3) do you have a weekly routine for feeding your corals? Or, do they just get fish leftovers?
4) Is a phosphate reactor not needed when doing vodka, or is it good to have a second phosphate removal source?
Thanks!
Damon
Anemone0524
New member
Sonny - Not to have you repeat yourself, but, is your substrate this stuff?
http://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSea...Reef_Aquariums-CaribSea-CS0020-FISSDS-vi.html
http://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSea...Reef_Aquariums-CaribSea-CS0020-FISSDS-vi.html
newsalt
Active member
I'm starting to see some green hair algea. Any advice to eliminate the HA? I'm also seeing a red covering on my LR that doesn't look like coraline. I read this in one of Sunny's earlier posts"
"It may not even be red slime. Its look less slimy and more like velvet or something."
I'm getting the same thing on the LR. I stopped dosing Vodka and only dosing 4 drops of MB7 daily. Any advice?
"It may not even be red slime. Its look less slimy and more like velvet or something."
I'm getting the same thing on the LR. I stopped dosing Vodka and only dosing 4 drops of MB7 daily. Any advice?
Tigé21v
Active member
Sonny,
Looking for your opinion .
Have a 90 gallon DT, 70 gallon sump, 25 gallon cryptic zone (just started it last week) and 20 gallon fuge full of chaeto. ...And cyano everywhere.
Do you think if I continued to dose Micro7 at the "new tank" rate for an extended period of time it would help to rid my tank of cyano? Nitrates are less than 0.2 and phosphate tests come up clear, but the cyano continues to grow, even increase. When I first started using Micro I dosed at the new tank rate for the first two weeks , and it seemed as if the cyano may have been receding, at the least the color of it was getting lighter. But now that I've been dosing at the maintenance rate it is growing as much as ever. My thought is the heavy Micro7 bacteria dosing would hopefully outcompete the cyano. Any thoughts? And do you think I should dose vodka at the same time? I currently do not because it seems like the extra carbon dosing would just be more food for the cyano.
Looking for your opinion .
Have a 90 gallon DT, 70 gallon sump, 25 gallon cryptic zone (just started it last week) and 20 gallon fuge full of chaeto. ...And cyano everywhere.
Do you think if I continued to dose Micro7 at the "new tank" rate for an extended period of time it would help to rid my tank of cyano? Nitrates are less than 0.2 and phosphate tests come up clear, but the cyano continues to grow, even increase. When I first started using Micro I dosed at the new tank rate for the first two weeks , and it seemed as if the cyano may have been receding, at the least the color of it was getting lighter. But now that I've been dosing at the maintenance rate it is growing as much as ever. My thought is the heavy Micro7 bacteria dosing would hopefully outcompete the cyano. Any thoughts? And do you think I should dose vodka at the same time? I currently do not because it seems like the extra carbon dosing would just be more food for the cyano.
I'm getting similar **** happening in my tank. Just that the difference is that I'm using dead rocks as scape, 11 drops of MB7 daily, sugar dosing only and yet still seeing LOTS of HA growing!
And, the back of my tank is growing cyano. Cleared one day, came back again today! :S
In anger, I dumped one capful of MB7 and 1 amp of BioDigest as well as half a sachet of sugar!
I'm also contemplating changing one of my dead rock which is a big one to a live rock. It has tons of bad HA algae growing on it!
What do you think, Sonny? I feel helpless :S
Marc J.
reefsahoy
I can see thru you!
sunnyx,
do you notice a "whitish clear peach fuzz" type algae on the glass and possibly rocks when you dose vodka? I had noticed that on my previous tank and i notice it on this tank. From my experience i believe it's from OD of vodka. I notice it recede when i stop dosing vodka. so far fom my experience OD of vodka produces this "peach fuzz" and OD MB7 produces the "diatom type brown slime" comments?
do you notice a "whitish clear peach fuzz" type algae on the glass and possibly rocks when you dose vodka? I had noticed that on my previous tank and i notice it on this tank. From my experience i believe it's from OD of vodka. I notice it recede when i stop dosing vodka. so far fom my experience OD of vodka produces this "peach fuzz" and OD MB7 produces the "diatom type brown slime" comments?
SunnyX
New member
Hello,
I have a few friends that run Radiums with great results so they should work out well for you. Wait until the two week MB7 large dosage is completed before starting up the vodka. You will have to wait on using the AA until your corals start to lighten up and you nutrients sink to 0. I wouldn't worry much about issues with Lugols. I have been dosing it for many years with no issues.
SunnyX, I'm sure I've posted this before but your tank is quite impressive!
Ancelot and newsalt, are you guys seeing an increase of algae when you are dosing vodka and MB7 together? If you are seeing HA, I would increase vodka and decrease MB7 dosing. If you are seeing cyano, I would increase MB7 and decrease vodka.
Ancelot and newsalt, are you guys seeing an increase of algae when you are dosing vodka and MB7 together? If you are seeing HA, I would increase vodka and decrease MB7 dosing. If you are seeing cyano, I would increase MB7 and decrease vodka.
Sunny, thanks for your responce.
I'm on day 8 of the mb7. So far everything is going well. Skimmer is pulling out more waste and my glass is staying cleaner. Browned sps are beginning to lighten. I have a very small amount of light brown very fine haired algee on my rocks only. It is only growing up high in the tank. Upper third I would say. I'm guessing its from accumulated nutrients in my rocks. Hopefully as I near ulns it will go away. I'll keep you posted as progress goes along and try to post some pics as sps improves.
I'm on day 8 of the mb7. So far everything is going well. Skimmer is pulling out more waste and my glass is staying cleaner. Browned sps are beginning to lighten. I have a very small amount of light brown very fine haired algee on my rocks only. It is only growing up high in the tank. Upper third I would say. I'm guessing its from accumulated nutrients in my rocks. Hopefully as I near ulns it will go away. I'll keep you posted as progress goes along and try to post some pics as sps improves.
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