Sonny's Rimless Shallow Reef.

[SunnyX]

Hi Sonny,

Your reef is awesome. Truly inspiring. I began my vodka journey on Monday after two weeks of MB7. My starting dose is 2 ml as my volume is 500 gallons. I will up my dosage today and continue to follow Genetics chart as well as adding the maintenance dose of (50ml) of MB7 daily.

I just have a couple of questions for you. Thanks in advance.

1. Do you reccommend staying with the MB7 maintenance dose of 50ml per day or would it be advisable to wean it down a bit. Even at 50ml per day I am looking at 2L of MB7 every 40 days. That can get spendy. Are you following there recc. maintenance dose or have you come down a bit.

I have been testing no3 (salifert), po4 (hannah) every other day. My Nitrate is hovering between 25-50 color square (closer to 50) and my po4 is testing at .08 on the hannah meter. Nitrate is way high and I think this is why I cant keep acros alive. Montis and birdsnest are doing well with this high no3 number but I am pretty sure this is my problem with acros. Hence the bacteria journey.

2. With nutrients at that level, when could I expect to see them start dropping? Approximately how many weeks of vodka on average is it taking to start to see the numbers coming down? Would it be more beneficial to do large water changes to get them down and then hope the V-MB7 will maintain or should I just let the bacteria do the work for me. With a 500 gallon system, large water changes are't real simple or cheap. All of the other corals are doing well and I wonder if large multiple changes would effect them negatively.

Thank You

Hello,

After 30 +/- days you should start to see the nutrient levels coming down. Dosing MB7 on a 500gl can get expensive, although running a 500gl tank is expensive anyway. After the first month you should be able to adjust your MB7 and vodka dosages. If all goes well you should find the "sweet spot" of dosing, likely reducing the amount required to dose.

I would stick with the dosing for the first month and wait on the water changes. Lets see what happens this first month and go on from there.

Sonny, Would you ever run a refugium again? If/when you go on vacation, how do you ensure who takes care of you tank is dosing properly?

I wouldn't be able to run a refugium again, even if I wanted to. The plants would eventually starve out and die. Oh, and I haven't been on a vacation longer than 4 days in the past 10 years so I have not have any issues with dosing. If you miss a few days of dosing once in a great while it shouldn't be an issue.

Sitting infront of Sunny's tank is a vacation.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[SunnyX]

Sonny, what position did you put the fiji in with the 6 blue pluses.. I have been thinking of trying that out too...

I placed it in the 3rd slot from the front. I am going to see if I can round up a few used bulbs tomorrow and see what sort of combo I can come up with.

 

[BucNtears]

Sonny, stopping by your thread always something I pick up when reading through it. Also doing a bulb change this weekend I'm thinking of going with this
blue+
blue+
fiji blue
blue+
blue+
blue+

I'm looking for more of a blue tint

old setup
blue+
aquablue +
blue+
fiji blue
blue+
blue+

your thoughts

 

[SunnyX]

Sonny, stopping by your thread always something I pick up when reading through it. Also doing a bulb change this weekend I'm thinking of going with this
blue+
blue+
fiji blue
blue+
blue+
blue+

I'm looking for more of a blue tint

old setup
blue+
aquablue +
blue+
fiji blue
blue+
blue+

your thoughts

It depends on your taste in color. I would try and find an old Blue+ bulb and test out the setup first. One thing that does worry me it that I may not be hitting the entire spectrum of light if I were to exclude a white bulb. You can run a tank fine with blue bulbs, but you may lose out on certain colors such as red and yellow.

 

[mojo~]

Well Sunny I am coming back to T5's after trying to run halides on my 57. I was going to get another giesmann fixture with more t5's and Said heck with it. I am just getting the ATI sunpower.I think I am going to run 3 blue plus, a super actinic,a actinic white and a ge 6500. i dunno yet for sure might drop the super actinic for another blue plus.

 

[jbanks]

Glad you like The Fiji Purple Sonny.. It's a great bulb.. I love mine too. One is just enough!

 

[Corry]

Hi Sunny, congrats with MASA TOTM. Really impressive.

 

[Henry Bowman]

Well Sunny I am coming back to T5's after trying to run halides on my 57. I was going to get another giesmann fixture with more t5's and Said heck with it. I am just getting the ATI sunpower.I think I am going to run 3 blue plus, a super actinic,a actinic white and a ge 6500. i dunno yet for sure might drop the super actinic for another blue plus.

Mojo

I ran that exact combo on an Aquactinics Solar Flare. It's a bit white / yellow but if you like it, do it. If you want a color closer to 15K sub the GE lamp for another Blue + or like you said drop the super actinic for another blue +. I believe you'll like it better.

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Hi sunny btw amazing post, i think you have taken the reef world by storm lately lol. well anyways, i have RSM 250, and im buying new bulbs for it today or tomorrow, im tired of it boring white look. what would you recommend. i looking for a nice blue look, but also i want all colors inc reds yellow, etc. not just blues and greens. Jackson6745 has 4 blue plus, 1 GE6500, 1 Fiji Purple, which i love the look, or would you change the 6500 for a Blue special? or your suggestion of bulb combo please help. these bulbs will be ordered as soon as i get your suggestion. also the bulb set up would be nice ty SUNNY keep up the post

 

[SunnyX]

Well Sunny I am coming back to T5's after trying to run halides on my 57. I was going to get another giesmann fixture with more t5's and Said heck with it. I am just getting the ATI sunpower.I think I am going to run 3 blue plus, a super actinic,a actinic white and a ge 6500. i dunno yet for sure might drop the super actinic for another blue plus.

The Sunpower is a great fixture. Good luck! :thumbsup:

Glad you like The Fiji Purple Sonny.. It's a great bulb.. I love mine too. One is just enough!

Yeah, it gives off a "glow" that I have never seen before. Great bulb!

Hi Sunny, congrats with MASA TOTM. Really impressive.

Thanks you! Some of the nicest people I have met have come from South Africa.

Hi sunny btw amazing post, i think you have taken the reef world by storm lately lol. well anyways, i have RSM 250, and im buying new bulbs for it today or tomorrow, im tired of it boring white look. what would you recommend. i looking for a nice blue look, but also i want all colors inc reds yellow, etc. not just blues and greens. Jackson6745 has 4 blue plus, 1 GE6500, 1 Fiji Purple, which i love the look, or would you change the 6500 for a Blue special? or your suggestion of bulb combo please help. these bulbs will be ordered as soon as i get your suggestion. also the bulb set up would be nice ty SUNNY keep up the post

Thank you!

The GE6500 is a little too yellow for my tastes. I really like the ATI Aquablue Special, as it is a crisp white bulb. Its up to you and your preferences, but I think the combo you listed would look great, with either the GE6500 or the Aquablue Special.

I would place them like so:

FRONT
Blue+
Fiji Purple
Blue+
Blue+
GE6500 or Aquablue Special
Blue+

 

[kaserpick]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I think I'll just go with 5 Blue Plus and 1 Fiji Purple.

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Ty sonny i will do just that i think i will go with the special instead then i hope i get decent growth out of it ty once again

 

[Lyfey]

dont forget about the green colors, when not using a white bulb.

 

[BornReefer]

Im planning a tank like yours...Love your lighting setup. Do you think I'll be able to put SPS towards the bottom of the tank with a T5 setup and how come you didn't want the extra hight and go with 24"...I just think it allows for more aquascaping possibilites...

 

[sunnyday]

It depends on your taste in color. I would try and find an old Blue+ bulb and test out the setup first. One thing that does worry me it that I may not be hitting the entire spectrum of light if I were to exclude a white bulb. You can run a tank fine with blue bulbs, but you may lose out on certain colors such as red and yellow.

I've been tagging along from the start of this thread and I had long wondered that about running all blues. Thanks for confirming my hunch!

Sunny

 

[jennmac415]

Thanks for the feedback guys! I think I'll just go with 5 Blue Plus and 1 Fiji Purple.

if you do decide to go with this combo, I would like to see pics of it!

 

[adddo]

Sonny, how about them sumproom pics now?

 

[mojojojo]

sonny i think i missed this on your past post, what brand mo amino acid do you use?

 

[mojojojo]

sonny i think i missed this on your past post, what brand mo amino acid do you use?

brightwell has two AA's which one are you using?
Brightwell CoralAmino or AminOmega?

 

[mojo~]

I believe its the coral amino. from the pics in like 40 pages ago.