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

[banasophia]

21 hours ago, sugar said:

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! 

Yeah… I’ve heard that about possum wrasses too. And I lost my first one trying to quarantine him myself, which was truly heartbreaking… I won’t do that again, will definitely leave it to those with experience. One of the US based retailers that pre-quarantines had one that was pre-quarantined in stock for a while, hopefully the shop in Canada will get one in. 🤞🤞🤞

[banasophia]

20 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

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

Thanks so much, Deb. I do really like a natural look, so that’s a really nice compliment. 🤗😊
 

Before having kids I was really getting interested in gardening and I particularly liked cottage-style gardens with all kinds of plants and flowers growing together. Once I had kids I got so busy; it was hard to devote much time to gardening, but now I think I go for a similar style when stocking corals in my tanks.

 

It’s so satisfying planning and caring for these beautiful living things we are all growing together (hopefully) in harmony in our reefs. And with my tank where it’s set up, it’s especially sweet to be able to sit on my couch with my cat on my lap, all I have to do is look over and enjoy it. 
 

 

https://www.bhg.com/gardening/design/styles/english-cottage-garden-curb-appeal/

[banasophia]

17 hours ago, Sharbuckle said:

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. 

 

17 hours ago, Sharbuckle said:

No corals on the sand is perfection.

Thank you so much! Yeah that candy cane has always been Hank’s favorite; I’m glad it has thrived in all of my tanks I’ve grown it in because he always seems like he feels so cozy in it. It’s not the most colorful candy cane, but it’s the one he always hangs out in the most. 

 

I’ve actually been thinking about my coral placement in this tank lately and one thing I wish I had done differently is that I should have glued the two other candy canes to small rubble rocks first before gluing them to the scape.

 

I would like them to be raised up above the cloves a bit more so they stand out and have more room to grow. My cloves and knopia didn’t grow as tall and flowy in my Biocube 16 as they do in this tank, so I didn’t really think about it. Still debating whether to raise them up. 
 

I do really like the sand with the open space now too… though I do have some red macros coming this week that may need to go there… annnnddd I really want a sponge from seahorse savvy which I might add to the sandbed as well… have you seen their sponges and gorgonians? 
 

https://seahorsesavvy.com/collections/gorgonians-and-sponges?page=2

[Sharbuckle]

3 hours ago, banasophia said:

 

Thank you so much! Yeah that candy cane has always been Hank’s favorite; I’m glad it has thrived in all of my tanks I’ve grown it in because he always seems like he feels so cozy in it. It’s not the most colorful candy cane, but it’s the one he always hangs out in the most. 

 

I’ve actually been thinking about my coral placement in this tank lately and one thing I wish I had done differently is that I should have glued the two other candy canes to small rubble rocks first before gluing them to the scape.

 

I would like them to be raised up above the cloves a bit more so they stand out and have more room to grow. My cloves and knopia didn’t grow as tall and flowy in my Biocube 16 as they do in this tank, so I didn’t really think about it. Still debating whether to raise them up. 
 

I do really like the sand with the open space now too… though I do have some red macros coming this week that may need to go there… annnnddd I really want a sponge from seahorse savvy which I might add to the sandbed as well… have you seen their sponges and gorgonians? 
 

https://seahorsesavvy.com/collections/gorgonians-and-sponges?page=2

Omg I hadn’t seen their selection until now. Not somewhere I can order from, which is probably a good thing because I see soooo many gorgonian I would buy. 

[banasophia]

3 hours ago, Sharbuckle said:

Omg I hadn’t seen their selection until now. Not somewhere I can order from, which is probably a good thing because I see soooo many gorgonian I would buy. 

Oh right… what a bummer!!! Yes, their selection is pretty impressive.

[Sharbuckle]

28 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Oh right… what a bummer!!! Yes, their selection is pretty impressive.

Now I’m sad haha 

[banasophia]

The packages with the macro algae and the refugium light both arrived today - so excited to figure out how to set up the refugium!! 
 

[

[debbeach13]

That macro in the display is the perfect addition.

[banasophia]

2 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

That macro in the display is the perfect addition.

Thanks! For now, I think I’ll keep the botryocladia in the display and move the gracilaria to the refugium to see how they do, since the gracilaria is the faster grower I expect it to be the better refugium choice. The potential benefit of the refugium will be have a little refuge for pods to grow, in addition to the nutrient absorption. 
 

I need to check my parameters asap too, to see where they are right now, so I can see what happens as far as nutrient absorption. 

[banasophia]

So I got the package with the Nova refugium light from Reef Casa .. it looks really nice. I went to set up my House Keeper media rack and the refugium light last night when I did my water change, but the water deflector needed for the media rack was just a tad too long to fit, so I wasn’t able to get it all set up just yet.

 

I emailed Fragbox this morning and they got back to me right away and said a couple of other people have had the same issue with the deflector since it was designed to be such a tight fit. Sounds like they are trying to fix the problem, but they said that in the meantime I may be able to just shave a tiny bit off the deflector to get it to fit in place so I’ll give that a shot… maybe try to sand it down. 
 

Meanwhile, I tested my parameters prior to my water change and found a more urgent matter to address - my alkalinity is only 83 ppm which is 4.65 dKH!!  I can’t believe my corals are doing as well as they are! I guess it’s time to start dosing this tank. 😳😳😳

 

[banasophia]

Started manually dosing alkalinity today using ESV B-Ionic (Part A) and the BRS calculator:

 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-calculator/alkalinity-calculator-reef

 

We have some guests visiting from out of town for the week so I probably won’t have a chance to set up the doser of fix the water deflector until next weekend. 

[banasophia]

I’m happy to report that I finally had some time today so I was able to fix the water diverter piece so it fits in place and I can now set up the House Keeper media rack and refugium. 
 

The diverter piece was just a tiny bit too big… like maybe a millimeter… so I just sanded the plastic down a bit on both sides (just rubbed it on the sandpaper, nothing high tech)… it was pretty easy!! Now it fits and works!! Yayyyy!!!

 

 

 

 

[banasophia]

Water change tonight with RSCP, two gallons. Set up the House Keeper media rack and it seems to be working well now that I have the water director piece. Hope to set up the refugium tomorrow. 
 

Enjoying my view from the couch with our new coffee table and decor.

 

 

[Murphs_Reef]

3 hours ago, banasophia said:

Water change tonight with RSCP, two gallons. Set up the House Keeper media rack and it seems to be working well now that I have the water director piece. Hope to set up the refugium tomorrow. 
 

Enjoying my view from the couch with our new coffee table and decor.

 

 

Looks awesome 👍🏼

[banasophia]

5 hours ago, Murphs_Reef said:

Looks awesome 👍🏼

Thanks so much! I’ve been thinking of setting up another tank somewhere, maybe in my office… but it sure is nice when a tank is in the main room one hangs out in. This tank is my favorite, so I’m glad it’s center stage from my spot on the couch!!

 

Have you seen the guy on Instagram who has been doing the funny reels about trying to convince his wife he needs a recliner in front of his tank - hilarious!!  
 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuMgE7JIk6K/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[Murphs_Reef]

1 minute ago, banasophia said:

Thanks so much! I’ve been thinking of setting up another tank somewhere, maybe in my office… but it sure is nice when a tank is in the main room one hangs out in. This tank is my favorite, so I’m glad it’s center stage from my spot on the couch!!

 

Have you seen the guy on Instagram who has been doing the funny reels about trying to convince his wife he needs a recliner in front of his tank - hilarious!!  
 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuMgE7JIk6K/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Lol yeah I seen that... 🤣

[banasophia]

Hey guys!! I just set up a Meetup Group so we can have monthly virtual meetups. If interested, you just join Meetup and RSVP for the meeting if you would like to join us! I hope you can make it!!

 

https://www.meetup.com/nano-reef-keepers-international/events/295267421/?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=share-btn_savedevents_share_modal&utm_source=link

[Sharbuckle]

Cool! I’ll try my best to join in! 

[banasophia]

4 hours ago, Sharbuckle said:

Cool! I’ll try my best to join in! 

Awesome!!! I hope you can make it! ☺️

[banasophia]

Okay, I finally had a chance to do another YouTube video - it has been months!! Since I was feeling rusty I wanted to do a practice one before I do one about the refugium light, so tackling an aiptasia infestation seemed like a good (and timely) topic. Warning: it’s still not great, but it’s only video # 5… all the YouTube tutorials say to just keep at it and build your skills, so here we go!! 
 

There are some pretty silly things about it… I know. 😆😆😆

 

[banasophia]

Also, have I mentioned how much I love the House Keeper media rack this time around??? When I initially tried it out a few months ago, I didn’t realize it had come with a water director. So when I put it in the tank without the water director, the water was seeping down between the chamber wall and media rack, it was very noisy, and it didn’t seem the water was passing through the filter media very efficiently. 
 

Lo and behold - it comes with a water director - I just didn’t know what it was and probably tossed it!! 😬🫣🤫

 

They sent me two new water director pieces (one is a spare, I think), and as I mentioned in a previous post, I did need to sand it down a bit on each side because it’s designed to fit snugly. Now that I did that and I’ve been using the media rack for a week or so, I love it!! It’s nice and quiet this time around, I know the water is flowing through my media, and I’ve freed up the middle chamber where I could add a skimmer or refugium. 
 

I’ll be trying out the refugium light from Reef Casa… eager to see how it works. The gracilaria is growing nicely in the display and looks pretty, but growing it in the refugium could add a nice lil protected refuge for copepods and amphipods. 
 

In addition, the anacropora is yellowing up and growing, and woweee now I understand what people say about mushrooms… I’ve gone from one to seven with this Halo light… I’ve never seen this kind of growth in my other tanks.
 

[debbeach13]

Nice job on the video, especially the DEMO! 

Seeing Hank swimming around was a nice bonus. So glad to hear the media basket is working out. The tank looks great.

 

[banasophia]

5 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Nice job on the video, especially the DEMO! 

Seeing Hank swimming around was a nice bonus. So glad to hear the media basket is working out. The tank looks great.

 

Thanks so much for checking out the video! 🤗😊 The demo should have been better, but sadly I moved the camera to get some close ups and apparently the tripod must have tipped and I missed the shots. 😩😩😩 I was glad I had enough to make do!!

 

Yeah Hank and Marshall are just cruising around… I’m not sure whether the little yellow rose goby is still in the back… haven’t seen him since my Wyoming trip a month ago but he could be living his life behind the scape in a secluded little fish home. 

[banasophia]

Wanted to mention here in this thread that something just came up in my schedule for tomorrow and I’m going to have to postpone the virtual Meetup. My apologies!!! I didn’t have any RSVPs yet, so it’s probably just as well, but hopefully we can try to reschedule!! 

[banasophia]

Hey guys!! The House Keeper media rack has been working great and I finally had a chance to set up the refugium with the Nova refugium light that Reef Casa sent me to try out. Check out my video about it, hot off the press. If you have a moment to kindly give it a like on YouTube that would be awesome… I need all the help I can get there!! 🤗😊