Steve's Reef Casa

[305 Steve]

Hey all, its been 6 months since I shut down my tanks and donated all of my corals and inhabitants along with selling my own home and uprooting my family to move to our paradise! With that being said I think it is fair time to start a new first build in our new home!

I have found my passion and recently joined the team over at The Underwater Gardener in Islamorada and they have hooked me up with some great gear and have sponsored this build. I will be updating this thread daily when possible, while also working on a short vlog style series that takes us through the joys, trials, tribulations, and rewards that come with starting, maturing, and maintaining a small mixed reef tank!

Taking full advantage of the opportunity I decided to have some fun with the cycle start of this new 15 gallon Reef Casa tank. Premium cured ocean rock will be used including all of the natural sponges, macros, tunicates. The anticipation is die off with a large ammonia spike that allows for the bacteria to adjust appropriately instead of having to kickstart the process with ammonia or subjecting fish to a harsh conditions (especially toxins from dying sponges). I wont be dosing any beneficial bacteria(not that it would hurt) for the first week or so as I monitor how the existing biome in the Two Little Fishes Outsanding Selections Substrate(packed with biopronto) reacts and establishes paired along with the ultra active biome on the premium rock.

Equiptment list:
Reef Casa 15 gallon AIO
Reef casa AIO starter kit pump
IceCap ATO
AI Prime 16HD
(skimmer to come after cycling and parameters stable if nutrient levels permit the use of one or PH need a boost)

Substrate/Media:
Two Little Fishes Outsanding Selections refugium substrate
KP Aquatics Premium rock ( i would not recommend using this on your initial "cycle") grab the base rock instead

Water:
Saltwater direct from well (compounding biofiltering and off-gassing to achieve the "perfect" makeup)
fresh water from on site RO/DI unit

will be working this week on dialing in the light spectrum for a full schedule though i will be running lights very sparingly over the next few weeks while the tank incubates.

I will also be updating this post with some earlier photos from the actual setup!

Be sure to follow along and you will see me more active on here contrary to my previous decade on RC! Vlog posts to come as soon as some editing gets done!

 

[griss]

Awesome and following.

FWIW, I cycled my tank with KP premium and the only issue I had was a huge outbreak of Dictoya.

 

[305 Steve]

Awesome and following.

FWIW, I cycled my tank with KP premium and the only issue I had was a huge outbreak of Dictoya.

ooo that is a good shout, I haven't seen any Dictoya on it but honestly if I find some I may start a macro build!
so far so good i've found a few Red Mithrax crabs and alot of other unidentified hitchhikers there is a clawless pistol shrimp in there somewhere that my wife threw in before I had the chance to say leave it in the bucket . Surely it will regrow its claw soon and start being a nuisance.

 

[OTTOMATIC]

looking forward to the build. these reef casa tanks are really nice

 

[305 Steve]

The tank has found its new home where the light can be at a better height to avoid spotlighting, working on some cable management still.

So far so good, a few snails and i've decided to add a little mangrove to the scape and let its roots grow in. In the long run this may be more maintenance and i will need to find a lighting solution. But for now this is exactly what i want.

Pod population has started to boom heavily covering every inch of glass. Ive added some Marine Pure Bio Spheres to the fuge area of the rear sump to give them another large surface area to thrive as well as started dosing 7-10ml Phytoplankon (cultured in house) every other day to help increase the pod density.

 

[griss]

Love it.

 

[Reefing102]

Looking fantastic

 

[Dustin07]

oh man now you have me really wondering about mangroves, cool setup!

 

[305 Steve]

oh man now you have me really wondering about mangroves, cool setup!

mangroves are great! they don't do much as far as filtration as people used to claim but they look amazing and add a touch of personality. I love snorkeling through the mangroves and seeing all the creatures they host!

 

[Dustin07]

OK so now I need to know more lol. been doing some research and sent this over to my wife. What is the risk of them outgrowing the tank substantially since mangroves can get very tall and grow very fast in the wild? How about the lighting situation? I could see the majority of the mangrove growing past my current light very fast...

 

[305 Steve]

OK so now I need to know more lol. been doing some research and sent this over to my wife. What is the risk of them outgrowing the tank substantially since mangroves can get very tall and grow very fast in the wild? How about the lighting situation? I could see the majority of the mangrove growing past my current light very fast...

I'm no Mangrove expert, but they do not grow very quickly from what i understand. I would definitely assume that in time they would outgrow the tank if you didn't keep them trimmed back! lighting is pretty simple any 6500k will do and you really cant mess it up they love light.