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

[banasophia]

It’s coming together… still trying to get a pipe organ, some xenia, a couple more rock flowers, and some green cloves. 
 

 

[PJPS]

Looks great, A+ for lower lighting on that beautiful fan 😍

[banasophia]

Thanks. I’m not planning on lowering the lighting… I don’t think the light will harm it, it just doesn’t need light.

[PJPS]

6 hours ago, banasophia said:

Thanks. I’m not planning on lowering the lighting… I don’t think the light will harm it, it just doesn’t need light.

Oh,it looked dim (good) imeant kudos for getting an NPS mood is all❤️

[banasophia]

4 minutes ago, PJPS said:

Oh,it looked dim (good) imeant kudos for getting an NPS mood is all❤️

Yeah, the rest of my corals are photosynthetic, so I will need to maintain plenty of light for them while making sure to maintain enough feeding for the sea fan and I’ll have to monitor for algae growth. Algae growth is also an issue with my photosynthetic gorgonians. 

[debbeach13]

9 hours ago, banasophia said:

It’s coming together…

Your tank looks fantastic. 

[banasophia]

3 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Your tank looks fantastic. 

Thank you! I just need to get the sand bed cleared up and I will be happy… it has what looks to me like a mix of cyano and diatoms… I’m thinking it may be related to my rodi filter needing maintenance, all of my tanks have been having sand bed issues…I can see some subtle improvements in all the tanks after just one water change with the refreshed filter. 

[PJPS]

27 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Thank you! I just need to get the sand bed cleared up and I will be happy… it has what looks to me like a mix of cyano and diatoms… I’m thinking it may be related to my rodi filter needing maintenance, all of my tanks have been having sand bed issues…I can see some subtle improvements in all the tanks after just one water change with the refreshed filter. 

Silicates (diatom steroids), is a likely culprit, as you've identified.  New RODI filters should fix, 100% agree with your assesment.  Not that you're asking, I'm just agreeing with you 🙂

[banasophia]

I just tried to make my first gif, let’s see if it works:

 

 :

[banasophia]

The sea fan and the hermit crab that loves to chill out in it. Not sure if the polyps will extend any further, but they open and close throughout the day. 

 

 

See the tiny baby clove polyp, growing on the stolon right by the candy cane? So cute. 

[PJPS]

I love that fan ❤️.  I may have to try one in the softie tank.  I plan to feed it heavy anyway….

 

The PE is likely better sans hermit, my gorgs retract when a crab is climbing them.  But a hermitless nano is just madness..  Nanos aree perfect for watching invert antics 😊

[banasophia]

9 minutes ago, PJPS said:

I love that fan ❤️.  I may have to try one in the softie tank.  I plan to feed it heavy anyway….

Thanks, I love it too… hope it continues to do well in the tank. Check out Seahorse Saavy and KP Aquatics… I’ve gotten great gorgonians and sponges from KP Aquatics, and thinking of placing my first order from Seahorse Saavy. 

[PJPS]

23 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Thanks, I love it too… hope it continues to do well in the tank. Check out Seahorse Saavy and KP Aquatics… I’ve gotten great gorgonians and sponges from KP Aquatics, and thinking of placing my first order from Seahorse Saavy. 

I’m in 🇨🇦 so no US livestock for me, but I know who keeps NPS and freakier more advanced livestock.  (The kind of place that occasionally has sea dragons, and tests you before purchase).  You better know your plan to keep it, cuz they’ll want to know your life support plan ❤️.

[banasophia]

I got these awesome little guys last weekend: a hi-fin red banded goby and a pistol shrimp. I adore them, but they are tiny and seem intimidated by my numerous emerald crabs, which seem to be tormenting them by taking up residence right outside all the openings to their tunnels under the rock, so they are staying hidden most of the time. The fish pops out to eat and on occasion at other times during the day. The shrimp stays hidden almost all day but I can hear him snapping from time to time, which I love so I know he’s okay. 

 

[banasophia]

I also picked up a pretty yellow and green rock flower nem, a xenia frag, and a combo of neon green clove polyps and xenia growing together on a frag plug last weekend. So far the rock flower has been staying put right where I placed it, in a big crevice.
 

I moved the two coral frags tonight because I wasn’t happy with their placement as they were opening up… looked too crowded. Unfortunately it looks like I dislodged one of the gorgonians in the process tonight so I’ll have to glue it back in place tomorrow.

Here’s a pic from right now, lights are about to go out. May be hard to tell from the picture, but the sea fan has closed up and looks shiny again. 
 

[debbeach13]

Love the shrimp goby pair. I haven't had a shrimp goby pair in years. Their antics provide hours of entertainment. I almost got a candy cane shrimp with a randalls goby. The fish did eat some frozen brine but he just looked off. His belly didn't just look sunken it looked like he was injured or deformed so I passed. Then I saw the green banded gobies and got them. I hope you enjoy them for years to come.

Your coral variety is impressive. This tank is going to be spectacular as they grown in a little bit more. 

[banasophia]

8 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Love the shrimp goby pair. I haven't had a shrimp goby pair in years. Their antics provide hours of entertainment. I almost got a candy cane shrimp with a randalls goby. The fish did eat some frozen brine but he just looked off. His belly didn't just look sunken it looked like he was injured or deformed so I passed. Then I saw the green banded gobies and got them. I hope you enjoy them for years to come.

Thanks, Deb! I'm hoping I can get at least 2 of the 3 emerald crabs out of the tank so I’ll see the fish and shrimp more. They were front and center when I first added them but the crabs chased them into a hole on the left side of the scape. I think the crabs are stressing Hank out too… more on that later.

 

I think my lil shrimper may be a candy cane shrimp too. Which I guess is perfect for the tank given the candy cane theme!
 

Bummer it didn’t work out for you to get the shrimp/goby pair, but it’s so important to really try our best to get healthy fish when we’re not quarantining, so it’s good you noticed something seemed off. I try to watch fish really closely too before I get them, and always have to avoid the temptation to get them anyway when they are the type off fish I’ve been looking for for a long time but something doesn’t seem quite right.

 

Your green banded gobies are perfect! I would’ve swooped them up too… I think I’ve only seen them once at my LFSs… not easy to come by!!
 

And I’m not totally sure on the fish name/ID for my new little guy… it looks like this one on live aquaria, but neither the one on live aquaria nor mine seem to have any red bands, so maybe it’s really a different type and better referred to as just a hi fin goby or yellow rose goby? 

 

[debbeach13]

8 minutes ago, banasophia said:

I think my lil shrimper may be a candy cane shrimp too. Which I guess is perfect for the tank

Candy cane shrimp are perfect for nano's, Mine was a real land scapper. Are your rocks mostly on the glass or the sand? If on the sand keep an on him, oh and like all pistols they steal corals if there aren't some empty shells or rubble to decorate the cave. Still they are great, IMO. 

[banasophia]

So Hank has gotten through the intake grate into the back chambers twice this past week during the night. The first time I couldn’t find him in the morning and he was missing for a few hours, but thankfully I finally spotted him in the first chamber. 😅

 

 

 

Here’s a pic of him on the back wall near the intake slots, which you can see are pretty big compared to a YCG:

 

This morning he was missing again and I found him in the middle chamber. Which means he most likely went into the first chamber and swam down to the bottom between the media bags to get over into the middle chamber, though I suppose he could have jumped from chamber 1 to 2.

 

[banasophia]

Hank’s adventures led to my big project today… searching all my stuff looking for the spare fish guard that I had from the two pack I bought for my IM Nuvo 10 several years ago. 
 

I found the box, but unfortunately it was empty and I couldn’t find the spare fish guard anywhere today, so I ordered a new pair (though in the smaller size), hoping it will fit this tank. It’s an Amazon overnight order so I will let you guys know tomorrow if it fits, in case you want to order one for your tank if you have one. 
 

[banasophia]

On the bright side I was able to organize my cabinet and finally try out my new drawer set and dosing reservoir I got for Christmas, and they fit really well:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[banasophia]

Reo, hanging out by the tank right now.

 

Oh yeah, and you can see the little mangrove shoot I picked up last weekend. We don’t get any significant natural light in our house, so I’m trying to figure out what grow lights will work to make it happy.
 

I had ordered some cute halo style grow lights this week, but I think they will shine into the tank too much and lead to algae growth. They seem really great for houseplants though… this plant has perked up within a few hours of adding the light this evening:

 

I ended up finding the lights that I bought for my copepod / chaeto culture setup from a few years ago, and set those up tonight as you can see in the pics.

 

[banasophia]

[debbeach13]

Glad to see Hank back in the DT. All safe and sound for now.

[banasophia]

7 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Glad to see Hank back in the DT. All safe and sound for now.

Yeah… and thankfully he stayed in the display last night. Sure hope the fish guard fits when it arrives. I thought about making something out of mesh to put over the intake last night, but I was afraid that could do more harm than good and he could get stuck in it.