Rhapsody Peninsula

[Rhapsody Reef]

Tank

RedSea Reefer P-500 (G1)

• 105 gallon display, 132 total system
• 4ft x 2ft x 2ft
• 5/8" Glass

Equipment

• Lights - 3 EcoTech Radion XR15 Pros with RMS Tank Mounts
• Powerheads - 2 EcoTech Vortech MP40s
• Return Pump - EcoTech Vectra M2 (2000 GPH)
• Dosing Pump - EcoTech Versa VX-1 
• Protein Skimmer - Reef Octopus Regal 150INT
• Filter Roller - RedSea Reefmat 500
• Controller - Neptune Apex A
• ATO - Tunze Osmolater 3155
• ATO Reservoir - Innovative Marine 15 gallon
• Heater - Helio Controller with BRS Titanium 600W heaters
• Battery Backup - 2 EcoTech Battery Backups

Rock & Sand

• Dry Marco Rocks
• Tropic Eden Mesoflakes

Livestock

• Ecopods & Galaxypods (Algaebarn)
• Tomini Tang (Marine Collectors)
• 3 Yellow Tangs (Biota)
• Powder Blue Tang (Marine Collectors)
• Male Square Anthias (Marine Collectors) and 2 Female Square Anthias (Biota)
• Melanurus Wrasse (Marine Collectors)
• Diamond Goby (Marine Collectors)
• School of Blue Green Chromis (Cuttlefish & Corals direct from Fiji, QT and treated for Urenoma by me)
• 3 Pincushion Urchin (Algaebarn)

Dosing & Feeding

• Frozen Food - Hikari Blends, Spiurlina Mysis, LRS Herbivore Frenzy with Selcon Supplement (daily)
• Other Food - Nori (every other day), TDO Chromoboost Pellets (occasionally)
• Coral Food - Pohl's Coral Vitalizer by Koralline Zucht
• Dosing - Tropic Marin All-For-Reef
• Other: Koralline Zucht Coral Snow (to clear up water when dirty or maintenance) and Coral Snow Plus (to lower phosphates)

Corals

Acropora

• Bali Green Slimer
• BC Bubbleboy Blue
• BC Dragonfly
• BC Hawaii
• BC Port Rhombus
• BC Reading Rainbow Tenuis
• BC Rosevine Table
• BC Strawberry Fields
• BC Twilight Dragon
• Cali Tort
• GC Acroberry
• JF Homewrecker
• ORA Hawkins
• Oregon Blue Tort
• POTO Afterburner
• POTO Backdraft
• POTO Bladerunner
• POTO Blue Demon
• POTO Blue Devil
• POTO Boomerang
• POTO Bungie Juggler
• POTO Cleopatra
• POTO Dragon Rider
• POTO Dragon Slayer 
• POTO Dreamweaver
• POTO Egyptian Sunset
• POTO Fantastic Beasts
• POTO Golden Dragon
• POTO Goofy Homewrecker
• POTO Judgement Day
• POTO Intergalactic 
• POTO Kaiju Simplex
• POTO Legoland
• POTO Mona Lisa
• POTO Optimus Prime
• POTO Pink Panther
• POTO Red Diablo
• POTO Sidechick
• POTO Showstopper
• POTO Watermelon Milli
• RR Lady in Pink
• RRC Shazam
• RRC Supreme
• R66 Merlin Staff
• TSA Rainbow Fusion
• TGC Orange Creamsicle 
• TGC Northern Crush
• Tyree Kryptonite 
• Tyree Red Dragon
• Vivid Insanity
• Walt Disney

Montipora

• Leng Sy Cap
• JF Fruity Pebbles 
• POTO Blue Rose Cap
• POTO Red Hot Cap

Stylophora

• JF Bug Out Stylo

Parameters

• Salinity - 1.026
• Alkalinity - 8.5
• Calcium - 420-440
• Nitrate - 10
• Phosphate .1
• Temp - 78F

Alk tested daily, all other parameters every 2-3 days 

Initial Timeline

• May 2023 - Aquarium built/placed and aquascape created and started cycling in brute
• June 2023 - Equipment placed, controller cabinet wired, tank filled, bacteria and copepods added, first fish arrive
• July 2023 - More fish arrive, biology builds, algae starts on the rock
• August 2023 - Multiple coral orders arrive, dipped on arrival, frags glued to the rocks after 2 weeks of settling in, 3rd Radion XR15 Pro added and Versa Dosing Pump Added

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Rhapsody Reef

[Rhapsody Reef]

Greetings PNWMAS,

 

I'm starting this build thread to document my SPS Peninsula build. I'm a professional bonsai artist & teacher and while I've turned that passion into a thriving career, reefing is a great hobby to give me a break from bonsai while also playing with containerized life with an artistic approach. I studied at Yale in a field I wasn't happy with, and pivoted to a career in bonsai after getting my master's degree. I've been practicing bonsai for over 18 years, professionally for the last 5 years, and just started reefing in 2022. 

This peninsula is more educational than it is artistic, as it's teaching me the ins and outs of the reefing hobby. I love acropora, as you can see above, and put a lot of coral into this tank so I can begin to figure out what corals I like and what I don't. I know I have too much coral, it's perhaps unsustainable without a lot of future fragging, but I couldn't help myself! To me, acropora display the same fractal patterns we see in woody plants, probably why I'm so drawn to them. I'm quite concerned with pests in the reefing hobby, so I've purchased all QT fish or QT the ones I couldn't source myself. I get my corals from a few select pest/disease free sources and always dip, cut and reglue frags coming into my system. 

I'm starting to think about a future artistic build, I really love blue corals (Oregon Tort is my absolute favorite) so I might do a more artistic tank featuring blue corals, but more on that in a future build thread. Right now I'm just enjoying watching my corals color up, grow and encrust, and learning a lot along the way! You'll probably see me at future PNWMAS meetings or hanging around Cuttle Fish and Corals with my golden retriever Bailey.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Rhapsody Reef

[islandVib3s]

Wow! Sweet sticks!

[obrien.david.j]

Sticks is right!   My favorite.  You've definitely jumped in with both feet, at once. I love it.     

Welcome to the hobby, and thanks for posting about your setup.  If you want to see my inventory;  (which is before I ran out of Nitrate.   Colors are still a touch muted.)

 

[CuttleFishandCoral]

Nice to see u on here. Can’t wait to watch ur reef grow. And I hear there’s another tank in ur future as well. Lol

[Rhapsody Reef]

14 hours ago, islandVib3s said:

Wow! Sweet sticks!

Thanks! I’m obsessed with acros if you can’t already tell

[Rhapsody Reef]

3 hours ago, obrien.david.j said:

Sticks is right!   My favorite.  You've definitely jumped in with both feet, at once. I love it.     

Welcome to the hobby, and thanks for posting about your setup.  If you want to see my inventory;  (which is before I ran out of Nitrate.   Colors are still a touch muted.)

 

I figured if I was going to do this I might as well dive in head first. It helps to have another demanding hobby/profession that keeps you at home so much! 
 

Wow, that’s a fun way to keep track of them, I’ll have to try that once I finish getting everything glued to the rock once they settle in.  I have everything memorized at the moment and have a PowerPoint slide of everything that’s gone in the tank. I like documenting it all. 

[Rhapsody Reef]

1 hour ago, CuttleFishandCoral said:

Nice to see u on here. Can’t wait to watch ur reef grow. And I hear there’s another tank in ur future as well. Lol

Thanks, I find the best way to learn and study is to get off a computer screen and go see things in person. I’ve spent probably dozens if not hundreds of hours are cuttlefish just staring at your acros and asking questions! It’s such a great resource!

[obrien.david.j]

37 minutes ago, Rhapsody Reef said:

I figured if I was going to do this I might as well dive in head first. It helps to have another demanding hobby/profession that keeps you at home so much! 
 

Wow, that’s a fun way to keep track of them, I’ll have to try that once I finish getting everything glued to the rock once they settle in.  I have everything memorized at the moment and have a PowerPoint slide of everything that’s gone in the tank. I like documenting it all. 

I have everything memorized, when I plant it.  And then a few months later... I don't have it memorized.

I now have a system, where I photo document corals/livestock as I buy it.   So I also get better source info.

- For example, I have three different colonies of Oregon Tort.  They're starting to look different.  It was good to know who each came from, and have a conversation with them.