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

[banasophia]

Two gallon water change with RSCP. Had to order some Aiptasia X… the aiptasia really spread while I was on vacation. I don’t want to use the Joe’s Juice again… it really seemed to knock back my knopia. 
 

And check out my conch tonight… he was climbing the back wall! Marshall my possum wrasse / photo bomber wanted to make sure I noticed what was going on. 

 

 

 

[Lebowski_]

Love possum wrasses 🙂

[banasophia]

Came so close to getting a tailspot blenny at my LFS when I stopped in to get crickets for the lizards and frog tonight, but I decided I didn’t want to take the chance of exposing Hank and Marshall to a new unquarantined fish… I think I’ll start looking for one from one of the vendors that prequarantines… I feel like the tank needs another lil fish. 

[banasophia]

Marshall my possum wrasse would like me to show you that I seem to have two types of aiptasia in the tank at this time - the ones I usually see that are brownish, and also some white ones. Have you guys seen this difference before with your aiptasia? 
 

I hit them all with Aiptasia X which arrived via Amazon today… Aiptasia X definitely seems to be less bothersome to my knopia corals than the Joe’s Juice. 

[Woodini]

Have you seen the laser?

[banasophia]

20 minutes ago, Woodini said:

Have you seen the laser?

Yeah, I’ve heard of it but when I looked it up on Amazon the reviews were mediocre. Do you have any experience with using one? 

[banasophia]

I was also considering the possibility of getting a captive bred aiptasia eating filefish which I would temporarily keep in this tank and then move to the Biocube 32 after it eats the aiptasia. 
 

Or I could do berghias or peppermints. But I think with the filefish and peppermints I run the risk that they could eat my rock flower anemones. Berghia would probably be the safest bet… I’ve used them before successfully. 

 

I’m hoping I can just control the aiptasia with the Aiptasia X though… we’ll see. 

[debbeach13]

At least those two in the picture are in locations that should be relatively easy to get at. Plus, you can see well enough to check if it works. I hope it does. 

[ml86743]

filefish would be cooooool though 😇

[Woodini]

7 hours ago, banasophia said:

Yeah, I’ve heard of it but when I looked it up on Amazon the reviews were mediocre. Do you have any experience with using one? 

I do not personally, heard it’s fun though! You can also inject them with a STRONG/THICK kalkwasser paste 🗡️ 💉 

[banasophia]

1 hour ago, debbeach13 said:

At least those two in the picture are in locations that should be relatively easy to get at. Plus, you can see well enough to check if it works. I hope it does. 

Yeah, it does usually work, but it’s hard to get them all, so I typically I just have to keep treating from time to time to wipe more of them out. Definitely helped to use the curved needle that comes in the kit, to get to the ones that are growing up from under the scape.

 

34 minutes ago, ml86743 said:

filefish would be cooooool though 😇

I know… I think they are so dang cute, kinda like sea hares… and several places have captive bred ones in stock right now… some being bred by Biota and some by ORA. LiveAquaria has the Biota ones, which I’m partial to. 
 

27 minutes ago, Woodini said:

I do not personally, heard it’s fun though! You can also inject them with a STRONG/THICK kalkwasser paste 🗡️ 💉 

Yes, agree, I think the laser would be totally fun to try, but I was thinking it would be like the other methods such as the Aiptasia X where your success will be determined by how many of the aiptasia you can actually see and get to. 

 

I’d be a bit worried that the kalkwasser paste could change the water chemistry quite a bit? Also saw that some people have had success using boiling hot water to squirt on them.

 

Berghias are good, but I think I’ve had the white aiptasia before and I have a vague recollection they may not have eaten the white ones. 

[banasophia]

Well, not the greatest pic, but just got home from a Fourth of July party and wanted to wish you all a happy 4th if you celebrate!!

 

 

 

[banasophia]

I’m getting really excited about testing out the refugium light that @Reef Casa is sending my way… looks like it shipped out today and it will arrive next week. 
 

I think I’m going to try to grow some red macro algae with it first because I’m thinking it will be easier to get takers for the reds rather than chaeto if it grows quickly and I have to trim/remove some on a regular basis.
 

Plus I really love red macro algae in my display, so if it doesn’t do as well in the refugium for whatever reason, I can always move it to the display and switch to the more tried and true chaetomorpha in the refugium. 
 

I ordered two reds from eBay today, Gracilaria Hayi and Botryocladia. I’ve kept both successfully in the display in previous tanks… it will be so nice to have them again!

 

 

 

I’ll probably just do the Gracilaria in the refugium (and keep the Botryocladia in the display) because I think it tends to be the faster grower of the two, which is ideal for nutrient absorption in a refugium. 
 

I’ll have to head on over to @Tigahboy’s Insta and scope out what he’s feeding his macros in all his beautiful macro tanks these days. 
 

Are any of you keeping a refugium in an all-in-one? Any tips? Do you feed them? What algae are you keeping? 

[ml86743]

Thats real exciting news!  I've been toying around with trying to figure something out for the IM fuge wise but I literally have no room..

 

Tigahboy's macro tanks are just immaculate..

[banasophia]

Had to snap this quick of Hank, looking cute as usual when I walked past the tank earlier. 🥰

 

Things are still going well with the tank… maybe I’ll relocate the yellow anacropora from the other tank after I do my water change tonight… it’s not very yellow in the other tank… wondering if the Halo light might help it recover. 

[banasophia]

Haha… check out Marshall, peering out from the scape and looking around while lights were still out this morning. 👀 

Let’s see if it works to paste an Instagram link here so you can see the video with his lil eye looking around:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CufJWKogIVU/?igshid=OGIzYTJhMTRmYQ==

[sugar]

Total goals!

 

I'm with you about adding more fish. I've gotten my 3 from the same place and the idea of adding any more from somewhere else makes me nervous! But I know I'll have to if I ever have a chance at getting a possum wrasse (a total dream). 

[banasophia]

3 hours ago, sugar said:

Total goals!

 

I'm with you about adding more fish. I've gotten my 3 from the same place and the idea of adding any more from somewhere else makes me nervous! But I know I'll have to if I ever have a chance at getting a possum wrasse (a total dream). 

Yeah, it’s nerve wracking… definitely lean toward spending the extra $ to order a prequarantined fish from one of the retailers recommended by Humblefish.
 

I see they have one retailer listed in Canada… looks like they don’t have a possum wrasse but I wonder if they take requests for stocking certain fish. 

 

https://ethicalaquatics.ca/collections/fish

[banasophia]

Pretty happy with the way the tank is looking after moving some corals around last night, moving some to the Biocube 32, and moving the anacropora into this tank. I hope the anacropora will turn yellow again in this tank! 
 

[Lebowski_]

Looks great!

[banasophia]

8 minutes ago, Lebowski_ said:

Looks great!

Thanks so much! I may need to reposition the gorgonian so it’s not sticking out quite so far to the right, but at least it has plenty of room to grow. 
 

Not sure if I should do anything extra to try to help the anacropora color back up right now, or just give it a little time in this tank to adjust and see what happens…

[sugar]

6 hours ago, banasophia said:

Yeah, it’s nerve wracking… definitely lean toward spending the extra $ to order a prequarantined fish from one of the retailers recommended by Humblefish.
 

I see they have one retailer listed in Canada… looks like they don’t have a possum wrasse but I wonder if they take requests for stocking certain fish. 

 

https://ethicalaquatics.ca/collections/fish

Omg thank you! This is a new one for me!

 

I've spoken with a few that have suppliers that ship in copper or they will keep for a week, make sure they eat, etc. But they still recommend QT of course. I've heard possum wrasses do poorly in QT 😬 so we'll just see what happens if/when the time comes! 

[debbeach13]

Very natural looking. It's hard to believe this tank isn't a year old yet.

[Sharbuckle]

Every time I see your tank with the blue caulastrea with the goby sitting on it it makes me smile and want that combo!

The whole tank just looks so perfect. Your placement of coral is spot on. 

[Sharbuckle]

No corals on the sand is perfection.