Riding the Wave with Reef Casa: My Studio 12 Saltwater Build 🌊

[banasophia]

TGIF! Pics from tonight. Increased up to 60% whites tonight.
 

 

 

 

 

 

[sugar]

Following! The possum wrasse is a dream fish for me, he is just adorable. And I can't believe how small he is! The goby definitely puts it into perspective (they are tiny too 🙂). Lovely setup!

[banasophia]

Thank you! Yes, Marshall the possum wrasse must be very young… my LFS has had a couple others in stock since I got him and they have been 2-3 X his size!!
 

I have been very surprised by him… Marshall is one of the most active fish I’ve kept and is not shy at all… he’s very similar to my sixline and my clownfish how he is out swimming around and zips around pretty fast all day and likes to swim in the current from the return.
 

I’m hoping I’ll be able to photograph him better as I adjust the lights to be more white… he really blends in with the blues. 

 

 

[banasophia]

Shot a quick video tonight for @sugar to show how active Marshall my yellow banded possum wrasse is. Hank my yellow clown goby was also particularly active tonight too… I think he didn’t want Marshall to steal the show. 😆😆😆

 

 

[banasophia]

Also, my green mushroom split again, now there are three! Hard to make out the third one because they overlap… will they spread out? I am really excited about this because mushrooms never grew much in my Biocube 16. 
 

The sea fan has been closed up for a week or so and tissue is retracting on the tips… hopefully it will open back up again and recover after a water change. 

 

 

[banasophia]

Turned the whites up to 70%, need to do my water change but I haven’t been feeling up to it. 

[banasophia]

Marshall says hi! 👋 

 

Tried Joe’s Juice for the aiptasia tonight since I ran out of Aiptasia X… let’s see how it works. It really clouded up the tank at first so I was worried, but it cleared up quickly. Have you guys tried it? 
 

This pic is with no clip on filter, but with the lights at 70% white, 100% blue and 100% cyan. The iPad camera still can’t quite manage, but it’s getting better. Will ramp up the whites further soon. 

[Woodini]

¡Muy Bonita!

 

[banasophia]

1 minute ago, Woodini said:

¡Muy Bonita!

 

¡Gracias! 🤗😊

[Woodini]

6 minutes ago, banasophia said:

¡Gracias! 🤗😊

Zooxanthellae 🤙🏾 

[banasophia]

29 minutes ago, Woodini said:

Zooxanthellae 🤙🏾 

 

 

Omg… did we just coin a new term? May be a cool t shirt design in the works… I need to come up with more designs for my merch store… I only have two so far they’re going to revoke my privileges cuz I’ve been slackin. 😩😩😩

[Woodini]

BUMBLES BOUNCE! 
😂 GADZooxanthellae! 
I kneel to only Zo!

Yep! You nailed it 

[Woodini]

I have to jet ski in 5 hrs, so now I must sleep.  #Gadzooks

Run for it Marty!

[banasophia]

13 minutes ago, Woodini said:

I have to jet ski in 5 hrs, so now I must sleep.  #Gadzooks

Run for it Marty!

“have to jet ski”… doesn’t sound bad, but the in 5 hours part… bummer… rest fast!

[Woodini]

Wake in 4. I will be unimpressed with myself. 🖕🏿lol

[Woodini]

Live by the barnacle, die by the barnacle (;

[debbeach13]

Hi Marshall. Looking good.

[banasophia]

19 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Hi Marshall. Looking good.

Thanks, Deb! 

 

The tiny little yellow rose goby is apparently still living its best life on the back side of the scape… I caught a brief glimpse of him at feeding time tonight. 

 

Increased the white lights to 80% today.

Just did a belated 2 gallon water change. I had mixed my water (RSCP) in the middle of the week last week… you’re supposed to use it right away, but something came up and I had to postpone… when I went to test the water yesterday the salinity was all over the place, ranging from 1.024 to 1.038 on my Milwaukee refractometer so I dumped it and made a fresh new batch that tested normally tonight and I’m sure my tanks were happy for the refresh. 

 

Hit the aiptasia a second time with Joe’s Juice before the water change, which seems like it’s not 100% harmless toward some of my corals… the knopia in particular really shriveled up in areas close to where I treated, but that coral has really spread in the tank, so I think it will grow back. In fact I took the opportunity to remove one of the half pieces of frag disk it came on… it’s usually hidden when the coral is open, but I didn’t like seeing the edges of the disk when the coral closed up at night (and after it shriveled). I usually try to avoid frag plugs in my tank to have a more natural look. 

[banasophia]

Not the greatest photo, but just wanted to post a quick pic. I’ll have to get some better ones with the whites on soon.
 

[Woodini]

WOW dude 😳 

[banasophia]

1 minute ago, Woodini said:

WOW dude 😳 

Thanks ☺️ 

[sapling]

11 hours ago, banasophia said:

Not the greatest photo, but just wanted to post a quick pic. I’ll have to get some better ones with the whites on soon.
 

A little random I apologize; 

the coral that looks like a trumpet in the bottom right of the scape, is it all blue or is the color just off from the light? was wondering about that when I see it, I don't recall seeing a blue one before, just the neon green ones, and red/green ones. 
 

 

[banasophia]

13 hours ago, sapling said:

A little random I apologize; 

the coral that looks like a trumpet in the bottom right of the scape, is it all blue or is the color just off from the light? was wondering about that when I see it, I don't recall seeing a blue one before, just the neon green ones, and red/green ones. 
 

 

Not random at all, but even if it was random, ask anything. 🙂

 

It’s a tannish-pink, but it doesn’t fluoresce at all under blues so it just kinda blends in. Here’s what it looked like under whites in my Biocube 16… it has always been one of Hank’s favorite corals, so I like to keep it for him.

 

 

 

 

I also grew frags of it in my Evo 5… in this pic it’s on the left and up top behind the gorgonian… it grew really fast in that tank. 

 

[Woodini]

Hank is cool, what is he?

[banasophia]

So I had one of those worrisome moments when I looked in the tank tonight because one of the acans looked kinda sagging like it could be melting… but it does look like new heads are forming and the rest of the corals are looking fine, so hopefully it’s okay. 

 

 

 

I’m extra worried though because the encrusting aquaman montipora in my Biocube 32, which I’ve had maybe 3 years and it has been fine through thick and thin, totally started to lose its flesh tonight, so I’m worried about a possible contaminant in my tanks from my water changes a couple nights ago, but I’m thinking that more likely the montipora is dying off because the mint pavona encrusting below it just reached it so maybe it’s just because the montipora is losing. 

My montipora and mint pavona in my Biocube 32 tonight: