Sonny's Rimless Shallow Reef.

[BucNtears]

Sunny, your sump is empty, No baffles or extra live rock? I understand that you're also dosing lugols(kent) what has that done with the tank and corals as far as with colors? I'm fixing to start with adding lugols,mb7 I'm already dosing vodka and lastly are you useing any amino acids?

[SunnyX]

Originally Posted by BucNtears

Sunny, your sump is empty, No baffles or extra live rock? I understand that you're also dosing lugols(kent) what has that done with the tank and corals as far as with colors? I'm fixing to start with adding lugols,mb7 I'm already dosing vodka and lastly are you useing any amino acids?

Yeah, my sump is very simple. Some people like plumbing and working on the "guts" of a system, but I would rather concentrate on the main display.

The Lugol's has brought out my Blue's quite well, and it has improved my overall coral coloration. I am dosing 6 drops of AA's once a week. If you feed enough then the AA's aren't necessary.

[ziyaadb]

Originally Posted by SunnyX

I didn't go with the standard 24" height because I felt that the extra 4" would be wasted and unused space.

HI Sunny

Can you please tell me what is your water level at?
all you have in your sump is the feed pump for the skimmer and nothing else? No DSB, Cheato, ect?

[SunnyX]

Originally Posted by ziyaadb

HI Sunny

Can you please tell me what is your water level at?
all you have in your sump is the feed pump for the skimmer and nothing else? No DSB, Cheato, ect?

The water level in the main display is about 2-3" from the rim of the tank.

The sump has nothing other then the feed pumps and carbon.

[ziyaadb]

So your water level is about 18" max? Can you please tell me what are the pro's and con's to such a water height? As i am building another tank 51Lx27.5Wx21.6H water level to be at 19,6 and after looking again at your tank I may want to have my water level at 18 as well

[BucNtears]

Sunny, you still dosing Prodibio Reef Booster? I retraced your thread(page 48) and found you also dose prb.. Also what type of AA you useing?

thanks

[Ancelot]

Originally Posted by BucNtears

Sunny, you still dosing Prodibio Reef Booster? I retraced your thread(page 48) and found you also dose prb.. Also what type of AA you useing?

thanks

Brightwell Aquatics Coral Aminos

[flying_dutchman]

Sonny do you you have any problems with micro bubbles since you don't have a bubble trap in you sump?

[SunnyX]

Originally Posted by flying_dutchman

Sonny do you you have any problems with micro bubbles since you don't have a bubble trap in you sump?

No problems with micro bubbles. I run a small return pump so the water coming back into the sump isn't as turbulent.

[ryno212]

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

[zachslow]

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!

[Bzar]

Great thread and tank Sunny.

Just another question about your dosing.
1) So does MB7 and vodka replace a refugium? Or is it just the MB7 that replaces the refugium?
2) Is this method more efficient and stable than a refugium?
3) can one have a refugium and vodka dose?

tyvm

[DheereCrossing]

I'll throw this out there, sorry to cut in Sonny.

Depends on what the refugium is being used for - there are two main uses for a refugium.
1. Filtration/denitrification
2. Live food growth

A sump is not a refugium and vice versa. You COULD have a sump that contains a refugium section but the terms are not interchangeable.

So, to your questions, bacteria dosing and vodka, in a perfect world, replace the filtration/denitrification use refugium. A fuge growing macro algae in a system that begins nitrate and phosphate carbon dosing will at some point probably become a ULNS and no longer support algae growth.

No, I would not say it's more stable than using a DSB/Macroalgae for nutrient elimination - someone else can comment and add to this.

You can vodka dose and have a refugium. Eventually, you will notice the macroalgae dying back however and that is a good indication that the vodka/carbon dosing is doing what it's supposed to do.

[DFason]

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

-Dave

[Lyfey]

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.

[BornReefer]

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

[dvanacker]

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

[SPSpirate]

Originally Posted by dvanacker

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

lol..

[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/ne...ostthread&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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by tas5tas

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]

Originally Posted by ryno212

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.

Originally Posted by zachslow

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.