Kat's Birthday Party

[yoshii]

Sorry to hear about the flooding and mold, sounds like a physical and paperwork mess
Hopefully the building managers or whoevers in charge can repair and clean up things quickly

[StinkyBunny]

Pictures??

 

1 little nubbin in there, must have been cold.

[Rehype]

Printed it up and stuck it to my wall. Positive re-enforcement. Re-align my focus.

 

 

Hey Kitty I know im a little late on your TOTM win but just wanted to say im extremely proud of you and inspired by your resiliency and dedication to your reef.

[metrokat]

Hey Kitty I know im a little late on your TOTM win but just wanted to say im extremely proud of you and inspired by your resiliency and dedication to your reef.

Thank you!!

[metrokat]

5 years on Nano-Reef Today!

[metrokat]

The Miso soup conundrum.

Which one to get. What's the difference?

I like the low sodium option but it also says sweet, I don't want sweet.

I like the no MSG option but a little bit doesn't hurt.

I like the organic option.

What is Dashi? What is Awase? What is Shiro? What is red type? White type?

 

 

 

 

 

[natalia_la_loca]

I struggle with that too. Of course I've never bothered until this moment to look it up.

 

Also this

[Boggers]

Just grab one, try it and next time try a new one....You never know what kind of great food you are missing out on until you give it a shot.

[metrokat]

I struggle with that too. Of course I've never bothered until this moment to look it up.

 

Also this

[metrokat]

Still had to google.

Awase means a mixture of white and red miso.

Dashi is a mixture of seaweed and fish flakes - which is Bonito.

So now I know that if it says Bonito, it's not vegetarian. Accounts for the mild fish taste which I originally thought was because of the seaweed.

Wakame is dried brown seaweed, but I scoured the store looking for it. Only saw "nori" others.

[Ebn]

Dashi is basically broth which is a mix of kombu (a type of seaweed) and bonito fish flakes. The mix produces the broth which is used pretty extensively in anything that requires a broth in Japanese cooking. It's part of the umami that is so often spoken of (not exclusively, but it builds on it).

 

The darker misos (reds and browns; aka) are the ones with more soybeans in them, which gives them that color. Usually the white misos (shiro) are the sweeter misos since they have less soybeans in them and the fermentation time is shorter, producing a lighter taste. It usually means less salt as well. That doesn't necessarily mean that all darker misos are less sweeter than the whites though.

 

So with that in mind and knowing that you're looking for the vegetarian option, then steer clear of the dashi miso pastes. Take a closer look at the ingredients in the back as well. This is to check to see if they add anything other than the traditional soybeans, salt, water, etc. (certain pastes have gluten in them, which I avoid - brother is a celiac). Can't really tell from the pics, but do they carry a yellow miso (shinsu)? They're mild in taste right in between the whites and reds.

 

Afterwards, pick up some wakame (check the dry seaweed section), firm tofu, and scallions while you're there (you can also add some green chard to the cart too if you want to beef up the greens). Add whichever miso paste you decide to go with to your broth.

 

Oh one other thing. You can use water as the base of the soup, but it's better if you make your own dashi. Instead of kombu and bonito, try a mixture of kombu and mushroom instead. You can use dry mushroom and soak that in water to reconstitute the mushroom for another dish and use the water from the reconstitution as your mushroom additive. Otherwise, use a mushroom essence of some sort.

[jedimaster1138]

Uh, you need to get those walls open and some major league driers in there IMMEDIATELY. That mold is going to reproduce exponentially and you are all going to get sick. Some people would actually advise moving everyone out ASAP, especially small children, the elderly, asthmatics etc.

 

At the very least, assuming the leak is stopped - permanently - get everything opened up and drying now, and the obviously contaminated surfaces removed ( carefully ) double time. Seriously - drop the baby on getting that stuff out yesterday. Not trying to scare you, the insurance and the building people should be pushing this faster....mold is bad news.

[metrokat]

Sigh

2 bedrooms are out of commission.

The area of the work has been contained with plastic sheets enclosing off the space.

Huge driers, dehumidifiers and HEPA filters are being placed.

3 days to keep drying.

[Chibils]

Nano cube... ?

 

Strong opinions follow:

- uncured live rock

- not sps. they just look goofy when small and overpower a nano when they grow in.

- branchy type scape! keep scale in mind and look at planted tanks to see how they make a 5G look like 50G or 500G. i'm not one to talk, i'm not a master aquascaper with nano tanks, but most nano reefs i've seen the scale is way out of wack.

 

Edit just saw the last few pages. Sorry to hear about what happened Kat. ?

[metrokat]

Nano cube...

 

Strong opinions follow:

- uncured live rock

- not sps. they just look goofy when small and overpower a nano when they grow in.

- branchy type scape! keep scale in mind and look at planted tanks to see how they make a 5G look like 50G or 500G. i'm not one to talk, i'm not a master aquascaper with nano tanks, but most nano reefs i've seen the scale is way out of wack.

Keep the ideas coming - i love it.

Thanks - it's a huge mess but we have a good insurance company and they will take care are taking care of us.

Good thing my parents are not visiting this month. That would be insane.

[Arce]

Hey while their doing renovations this is the best time to get a nice 300g in the wall tank built.

But in all seriousness while you have the walls open if u want to move any electrical or plumbing to better fit the tank id do it now.

[metrokat]

Hey while their doing renovations this is the best time to get a nice 300g in the wall tank built.

But in all seriousness while you have the walls open if u want to move any electrical or plumbing to better fit the tank id do it now.

 

This is the left wing of the apartment. The right wing is where my tank is. So it's a bit of a reach.

We might 're-arrange' some of the dry walls. That closet needs to be opened up, it's a catty corner in that part of the layout and we've always hated it.

Need to find my floor map.

 

So we have 6 ginormous fans, one YUUUGE dehumidifier and a gigantic HEPA filter working non stop for 3 days.

I already feel like I can breathe better. Placebo maybe?

Sorry to hear about the flooding and mold, sounds like a physical and paperwork mess

Hopefully the building managers or whoevers in charge can repair and clean up things quickly

Thanks Yoshi. It's been a stressful week.

[drgibby]

Sigh

2 bedrooms are out of commission.

The area of the work has been contained with plastic sheets enclosing off the space.

Huge driers, dehumidifiers and HEPA filters are being placed.

3 days to keep drying.

Poor Kat. This looks like a giant mess. I hope things go well and as quick as they can.

Im excited for you new tank. Whenever someone starts a new one i enjoy watching and learning and being a part of the process.

[Chibils]

Keep the ideas coming - i love it.

Something I've played with recently for a hopefully-upcoming build is trying to imitate elements of a planted tank hardscape. Instead of an inch of level sand across the tank like a mat, make a hill and place your rockwork on top/embedded in the side/supporting the hillside itself. Use branchy dongs like they're driftwood. Make it angular, make it exciting. Borrow ideas from iwagumi aquascapes like how to place and angle rock pieces, and how to use the substrate itself as part of the scene.

 

Anyway, enough rambling. Your cube will be great no matter what because you're good at this shit. Thoughts are with you on the whole apartment thing - that's really crappy. ?

[metrokat]

Something I've played with is trying to imitate elements of a planted tank hardscape. Instead of an inch of level sand across the tank like a mat, make a hill and place your rockwork on top/embedded in the side/supporting the hillside itself. Use branchy dongs like they're driftwood. Make it angular, make it exciting. Borrow ideas from iwagumi aquascapes like how to place and angle rock pieces, and how to use the substrate itself as part of the scene.

 

Anyway, enough rambling. Your cube will be great no matter what because you're good at this shit. Thoughts are with you on the whole apartment thing - that's really crappy.

Planted tank inspiration. Hmmmm. Like so?

Branchy Dong?

[Chibils]

Exactly. That's why you're killin it Kat. ?

[holy carp]

What's on the bottom right of your zoa island? Is it a favites? Looks like a leopard skin.

 

Also, are those galvanized steel studs in your walls? Are they starting to rust?

[metrokat]

What's on the bottom right of your zoa island? Is it a favites? Looks like a leopard skin.

 

Also, are those galvanized steel studs in your walls? Are they starting to rust?

Jason Fox John Deere Leptastrea.

Starter frag Dec 2011:

The rusting stuff is the pipe that leaked from above. They cut out that dry wall to make sure it dried. That whole section of wall and floor is soaked

[holy carp]

Sorry for that mess. Good that the studs aren't rusting, though.

 

John Deere, huh? Looks cool. The polyps seem more varied in shape than what I see on my spitfire leptastrea. (Which, btw, is a champ and can handle pure 35% h2o2 dripped on it with minimal effect )

 

And unrelated: No treehouse fishies? or were they just hiding in that pic?

[metrokat]

Here's an old picture of the same leptastrea rock (click to enlarge)

Sorry for that mess. Good that the studs aren't rusting, though.

 

John Deere, huh? Looks cool. The polyps seem more varied in shape than what I see on my spitfire leptastrea. (Which, btw, is a champ and can handle pure 35% h2o2 dripped on it with minimal effect )

 

And unrelated: No treehouse fishies? or were they just hiding in that pic?

The mess is just crazy but they put up a containment sheet so at least I don't have to look at it. It's loud as #$%^ in here though.

The tree house pico had a yellow neon goby. Used to jump into the back chambers and it was pretty much a case of empty out the whole tank and turn it upside down to get it out because the back chambers were to small for a small net or my hand.

One day I think it may have jumped back there and I did not notice, did not see it again.

The pico build is the last icon in my signature. The Tea Party.