Reefcasa Isla Peninsula 12 - The Gameroom Build

[yambeezy23]

Oh man where to start!

I got into reef tanks back as a senior in highscool, circa 2011. I had a 20 gallon long tank that I basically used to "borrow" clown fish from the local fish store. After a couple months, I moved out of Moms house and gave basically the whole tank back to the local fish store. It wasn't anything special, it was just live rock, a canister filter, and two clown fish for 2-3 months.

In 2013, I got back into the reefing hobby since I just bought my own home. It was a budget build but a great learning experience. Had that for about a year and in 2014 I had a kid. I wasn't keeping up with water changes and eventually I sold it for pennies on the dollar.

Fast forward 2023/2024 - We moved in our final house in 2020 and I've been asking for a fish tank from the wife. She always said no because back in 2018 we had a 7.1 earthquake (Anchorage, Alaska) and we lost a lot of water from my kids 20 gallon glo fish tank.

Christmas 2023 my gift was a 6 gallon tank from Petco. She said you can either use this or get whatever tank you want for the living room. We made the return and I bought a WB 35.2


SOOOOOOO much research went into that tank and its up and thriving right now. I want to eventually start a build thread for that but I have 8 months of work with that tank to sift through. Gotta have a gameplan to post that build.



So to test the waters on creating a build thread, I will start with this tank! Praise the wife for saying yes to this tank even though it took her years to say yes to the living room tank lol

Plus, there are no dang threads in regards to the Reef Casa Isla Peninsula 12 so I am here to help!


I present to you..

The Reef Casa Isla Penisula 12 - The Gameroom build


Tank: Reef Casa Isla Peninsula 12

18L X 14W X 11Tall

https://reefcasa.com/product/isla-peninsula-aquarium/

Stand: Ikea gaming/work desk
Lid: Custom Kraken Lid
Lights: AI 16HD
Wavemaker: N/A
Return Pump: IM Desktop or IM Mid ( I don’t have back chamber dimensions yet) AI Axis 40
Skimmer: lol
ATO: Tunze 3 with Reef Casa 2.5 Ato Reservoir 2.5 Gallon Aqueon tank with custom lid
Rock: Macro Shelf Rock Purple
Heating: Inkbird 306A with Aqua el 50 watt or IM Helio 50
Dosing Pump: not planning on one
Salt: Finishing bucket of reef crystals then switching to Tropic Marin Pro
RO/DI: Aquatic Life RO Twist In 4 Stage 100 Gallon a day with Booster
Bio Media: Maxspect Bio Balls and Bio plugs
Reactor: Carbon in little throw away bags

Testers: Red Sea Ammonia and Nitrite. Hanna Nitrate, Phosphate, Alkalinity. Salifert Calcium and Mag. Milwaukee MA887 Digital Salinity.
Extras: In Tank Filter floss, Nano flipper scrapper, dual RFG.

Future Livestock List:
Dr. Reef: Mocha Storm Bonded Pair
2-3 Blue legged hermit crabs (will take from Waterbox 35.2)
3-4 Trochus snails (Will take from Waterbox 35.2, Trochus snails had babies)
Tiger Conch

Future Corals:
Goni Island
Torch Island
Hammer/Frogspawn Island
Small zoa island
Sandbed - Possibly 1 Scoly, Acans/Aussies

Note: A lot of equipment are used in conjunction of my waterbox 35.2



I will try my best to post everything as I go. I can talk about the equipment I already have since I have most of it already being used in another tank.
Here are the pictures of the gameroom, tank spot, and the 35.2, which I will do another build thread on… eventually!
How should I attack the 35.2 build I started in January?

Living Room Waterbox 35.2

Gameroom - Blue tape marks tank location

Bonus

 

[yambeezy23]

Working on getting the tank right now. I tried buying it over the weekend but Reefcasa doesnt ship to Alaska from their site.

I emailed reefcasa and they said it will cost 149 for shipping. I have to manually email them my order and they will write me an invoice. This will probably take a week since they email me once a day.

In the meantime I am doing research on the equipment I need to get.

On its way from BRS are Maxspect Bioballs that I will drop into the 35.2 tomorrow to seed and my Tunze 3. Surprise surprise I had to pay for shipping lol

I plan on seeding the Reef Casa with Maxspect Bioballs (seeded 8/13/24) and Maxspect Bioplugs (seeded 8/12/24), dry shelf rock, and maybe 2 pounds of extra live rock from my 35.2

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Oh man where to start!

I got into reef tanks back as a senior in highscool, circa 2011. I had a 20 gallon long tank that I basically used to "borrow" clown fish from the local fish store. After a couple months, I moved out of Moms house and gave basically the whole tank back to the local fish store. It wasn't anything special, it was just live rock, a canister filter, and two clown fish for 2-3 months.

In 2013, I got back into the reefing hobby since I just bought my own home. It was a budget build but a great learning experience. Had that for about a year and in 2014 I had a kid. I wasn't keeping up with water changes and eventually I sold it for pennies on the dollar.

Fast forward 2023/2024 - We moved in our final house in 2020 and I've been asking for a fish tank from the wife. She always said no because back in 2018 we had a 7.1 earthquake (Anchorage, Alaska) and we lost a lot of water from my kids 20 gallon glo fish tank.

Christmas 2023 my gift was a 6 gallon tank from Petco. She said you can either use this or get whatever tank you want for the living room. We made the return and I bought a WB 35.2


SOOOOOOO much research went into that tank and its up and thriving right now. I want to eventually start a build thread for that but I have 8 months of work with that tank to sift through. Gotta have a gameplan to post that build.



So to test the waters on creating a build thread, I will start with this tank! Praise the wife for saying yes to this tank even though it took her years to say yes to the living room tank lol

Plus, there are no dang threads in regards to the Reef Casa Isla Peninsula 12 so I am here to help!


I present to you..

The Reef Casa Isla Penisula 12 - The Gameroom build


Tank: Reef Casa Isla Peninsula 12

18L X 14W X 11Tall

https://reefcasa.com/product/isla-peninsula-aquarium/

Stand: Ikea gaming/work desk
Lid: Custom Kraken Lid
Lights: AI 16HD
Wavemaker: N/A
Return Pump: IM Desktop or IM Mid ( I don’t have back chamber dimensions yet)
Skimmer: lol
ATO: Tunze 3 with Reef Casa 2.5 Ato Reservoir
Rock: Macro Shelf Rock Purple
Heating: Inkbird 306A with Aqua el 50 watt or IM Helio 50
Dosing Pump: not planning on one
Salt: Finishing bucket of reef crystals then switching to Tropic Marin Pro
RO/DI: Aquatic Life RO Twist In 4 Stage 100 Gallon a day with Booster
Bio Media: Maxspect Bio Balls and Bio plugs
Reactor: Carbon in little throw away bags

Testers: Red Sea Ammonia and Nitrite. Hanna Nitrate, Phosphate, Alkalinity. Salifert Calcium and Mag. Milwaukee MA887 Digital Salinity.
Extras: In Tank Filter floss, Nano flipper scrapper, dual RFG.

Future Livestock List:
Dr. Reef: Mocha Storm Bonded Pair
2-3 Blue legged hermit crabs (will take from Waterbox 35.2)
3-4 Trochus snails (Will take from Waterbox 35.2, Trochus snails had babies)
Tiger Conch

Future Corals:
Goni Island
Torch Island
Hammer/Frogspawn Island
Small zoa island
Sandbed - Possibly 1 Scoly, Acans/Aussies

Note: A lot of equipment are used in conjunction of my waterbox 35.2



I will try my best to post everything as I go. I can talk about the equipment I already have since I have most of it already being used in another tank.
Here are the pictures of the gameroom, tank spot, and the 35.2, which I will do another build thread on… eventually!
How should I attack the 35.2 build I started in January?

Living Room Waterbox 35.2

Gameroom - Blue tape marks tank location

Bonus

Following along! I have a similar game collection (mostly stuff from when I was a kid or random, rare odds and ends), slowed down on it over the past few years due to pricing of games getting expensive, and having most of what I want (also nice boxed Chrono Trigger)

 

[yambeezy23]

Following along! I have a similar game collection (mostly stuff from when I was a kid or random, rare odds and ends), slowed down on it over the past few years due to pricing of games getting expensive, and having most of what I want (also nice boxed Chrono Trigger)

Thank you! I slowed down a little as well. The main thing I collect for is Final Fantasy, favorite series of all time. But screw Square Enix and the collector edition pricing! Now that I am back into reef tank I got to pick and choose where the money goes lol

I got so lucky with Chrono Trigger. Got the CIB boxed set for $160 10 years ago

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Thank you! I slowed down a little as well. The main thing I collect for is Final Fantasy, favorite series of all time. But screw Square Enix and the collector edition pricing! Now that I am back into reef tank I got to pick and choose where the money goes lol

I got so lucky with Chrono Trigger. Got the CIB boxed set for $160 10 years ago

I never grew up with final fantasy (maybe I just couldn’t comprehend it as a kid, haha). Now? I enjoy the franchise and think they are well made games, with fun and unique stories.

 

[yambeezy23]

Update !

Just bought a ton of stuff last night from amazon, reefcasa, and aquacave
Reef casa
Reef casa isla 12
Reef casa foto Camara
Reef casa resovoir
Dual rfg
Reef casa misc items
-
Amazon
IM helio 100 watt heater. I know it’s overkill but it was going to be almost the same price as getting the 50 watt because the 50 watt didn’t come with the magnet to hold the heater.

Also, with the height being only 11 inches a lot of the heaters were close to 9-11 inches. I didn’t want to put the heater diagonal because I was going to stuff media back there also

Kasa wifi power brick

10 pounds Carib sea special grade

AI Axis 40

-

Aquacave
I used aqua cave for the first time because it gave me the cheapest for shipping.

20 pounds of life rock Flatz
Tunze coral glue instant ( I’m running out)

I had extra rocks from my last build but I wanted to try another scape with the Flatz

Today - I’m receiving my Tunze 3 and more bio spheres

Going to throw that in the WB 35.2 today

 

[yambeezy23]

Womp womp
Aqua cave showed 9.99 shipping during check out and they emailed me the next day saying it was going to be 125. No thanks.

Went to saltwater.com and grabbed the same thing. 80 shipped for 2 day shipping

Good news! I can start the scape tonight. Get the tank wet possibly Sunday since those are my water change day anyways. I’ll just make more water

Excuse the mess. Will post updated pics of the scape

 

[stewy14]

Following!

 

[yambeezy23]

It ain’t much but it’s something

Glad I got 20 pounds of life rock because I broke a lot! I should weigh it before I get it wet. Maybe 5-10 pounds? Flatz was amazing to work with. In my dream build I will probably use all flatz I had my angle grinder at a worksite so I couldn’t use it to break things done. Instead a chisel and a plumbing pipe lol

Had 2 different versions before the final scape. The first scape was too tall. I only have 11 inches of height. I forgot to subtract that the water will probably be an inch lower than the glass also.

Here’s the build !

90 percent lps build with a few softies

One side will be gonies, the other hammer/frogspawns, and the other will be torch. Don’t know which yet order yet

 

[yambeezy23]

8/22/24

Reef Casa Isla 12 is wet! Been busy working that its been sitting dry for a couple of days now. I also wanted to wait till my AI Axis came in Wednesday.

CaribSea Special Grade is where its at! On my waterbox 35.2 I used fiji pink which I like also. I gotta admit, I like special grade better!

Rear Chamber dimensions are: 3 X 13.5 Inner glass
Chamber 1 - 3X3 Filterfloss, Maxspect Bioballs
Chamber 2 - 3X5 Live rock rubble, IM Helio 100
Chamber 3 - 3X5 Temp Probe, AIO Sensor, AI AXIS 40

I do not/will not need a powerhead! This Axis 40 is a beast. So much surface agitation at 65%.
I read reviews/watched on youtube that the axis only goes in incraments of 20 percent. I guess it had an update because I can control it from 1-100 percent.
100 percent was way too much power shockingly. Water was leaving the main display so fast so it was super loud. Thats why I turned it down to 65%

Here are some pics.

Cycled with Live Media, Live rock rubble (2 pounds) and fritz turbo start.

 

[CrashTestBennie]

Oh man where to start!

I got into reef tanks back as a senior in highscool, circa 2011. I had a 20 gallon long tank that I basically used to "borrow" clown fish from the local fish store. After a couple months, I moved out of Moms house and gave basically the whole tank back to the local fish store. It wasn't anything special, it was just live rock, a canister filter, and two clown fish for 2-3 months.

In 2013, I got back into the reefing hobby since I just bought my own home. It was a budget build but a great learning experience. Had that for about a year and in 2014 I had a kid. I wasn't keeping up with water changes and eventually I sold it for pennies on the dollar.

Fast forward 2023/2024 - We moved in our final house in 2020 and I've been asking for a fish tank from the wife. She always said no because back in 2018 we had a 7.1 earthquake (Anchorage, Alaska) and we lost a lot of water from my kids 20 gallon glo fish tank.

Christmas 2023 my gift was a 6 gallon tank from Petco. She said you can either use this or get whatever tank you want for the living room. We made the return and I bought a WB 35.2


SOOOOOOO much research went into that tank and its up and thriving right now. I want to eventually start a build thread for that but I have 8 months of work with that tank to sift through. Gotta have a gameplan to post that build.



So to test the waters on creating a build thread, I will start with this tank! Praise the wife for saying yes to this tank even though it took her years to say yes to the living room tank lol

Plus, there are no dang threads in regards to the Reef Casa Isla Peninsula 12 so I am here to help!


I present to you..

The Reef Casa Isla Penisula 12 - The Gameroom build


Tank: Reef Casa Isla Peninsula 12

18L X 14W X 11Tall

https://reefcasa.com/product/isla-peninsula-aquarium/

Stand: Ikea gaming/work desk
Lid: Custom Kraken Lid
Lights: AI 16HD
Wavemaker: N/A
Return Pump: IM Desktop or IM Mid ( I don’t have back chamber dimensions yet)
Skimmer: lol
ATO: Tunze 3 with Reef Casa 2.5 Ato Reservoir
Rock: Macro Shelf Rock Purple
Heating: Inkbird 306A with Aqua el 50 watt or IM Helio 50
Dosing Pump: not planning on one
Salt: Finishing bucket of reef crystals then switching to Tropic Marin Pro
RO/DI: Aquatic Life RO Twist In 4 Stage 100 Gallon a day with Booster
Bio Media: Maxspect Bio Balls and Bio plugs
Reactor: Carbon in little throw away bags

Testers: Red Sea Ammonia and Nitrite. Hanna Nitrate, Phosphate, Alkalinity. Salifert Calcium and Mag. Milwaukee MA887 Digital Salinity.
Extras: In Tank Filter floss, Nano flipper scrapper, dual RFG.

Future Livestock List:
Dr. Reef: Mocha Storm Bonded Pair
2-3 Blue legged hermit crabs (will take from Waterbox 35.2)
3-4 Trochus snails (Will take from Waterbox 35.2, Trochus snails had babies)
Tiger Conch

Future Corals:
Goni Island
Torch Island
Hammer/Frogspawn Island
Small zoa island
Sandbed - Possibly 1 Scoly, Acans/Aussies

Note: A lot of equipment are used in conjunction of my waterbox 35.2



I will try my best to post everything as I go. I can talk about the equipment I already have since I have most of it already being used in another tank.
Here are the pictures of the gameroom, tank spot, and the 35.2, which I will do another build thread on… eventually!
How should I attack the 35.2 build I started in January?

Living Room Waterbox 35.2

Gameroom - Blue tape marks tank location

Bonus

Nice tank! I'm a huge fan of euphyllia...

 

[yambeezy23]

Update -

Had a blast at reefapalooza. Wanted to buy coral but didn't want the extra stress of bringing it home on a flight back to Alaska. It was awesome to have reef a palooza coincide with my vacation.
Things did take a turn though. On our second day of my cruise, my 3 year old fell off the playground at the Catalina islands and fractured a bone in his leg. It was a crazy ordeal since the ambulance and firefighters came and took him to the hospital. Mind you, we are in the city of Avalon, one hour ferry ride from long beach and we are on a cruise! Wife decided to get off the cruise and with him and bring him back to Alaska to get checked on.

In the mean time, I stayed in Cali so the rest of my kids could enjoy. Oh how stressful it was with a 10 year old, 7 year old, and a 2 year old. I brought them all to reef a palooza and they had a blast.

--

Tank news!

Warranty was quick and easy for the Tunze 3 . I do think it is a little overkill for this nano though. The tank overfilled and the lights kept showing it was overfilled even though it was underfilled. Tunze walked me through troubleshooting and they ended up just sending a new controller.

So far so good with this new controller. It does fill it up quick though so sometimes it slightly overfills past the "green" sensor.

 

[Devaji]

nice tank! I was just looking at the reef casa tank yesterday.
I am a big fan of peninsulas and there 6 gal. flat cought my eye not that I need any more work with tanks but for some reason I have been wanting to set up a few nanos...

anyway fallowing along. sorry to hear about the little one.

 

[yambeezy23]

nice tank! I was just looking at the reef casa tank yesterday.
I am a big fan of peninsulas and there 6 gal. flat cought my eye not that I need any more work with tanks but for some reason I have been wanting to set up a few nanos...

anyway fallowing along. sorry to hear about the little one.

Thank you! It was either this or the Fluval Evo but I went with this because of the dimensions. I like it shallower and wider! Appreciate the follow and thanks for the little one.

Tank is basically cycled. Just waiting for livestock from Dr. Reef.
Still haven't got my lights. I was going to wait until my livestock then I realized I also got a conch and I have no algae yet!

Probably going to snag the Ai 16 soon

Excuse the ATO mess. I left it out for easy access since Tunze sent me a replacement controller cuz the last one was faulty.

 

[Devaji]

Thank you! It was either this or the Fluval Evo but I went with this because of the dimensions. I like it shallower and wider! Appreciate the follow and thanks for the little one.

Tank is basically cycled. Just waiting for livestock from Dr. Reef.
Still haven't got my lights. I was going to wait until my livestock then I realized I also got a conch and I have no algae yet!

Probably going to snag the Ai 16 soon

Excuse the ATO mess. I left it out for easy access since Tunze sent me a replacement controller cuz the last one was faulty.

gonna be epic on the Desk!

 

[yambeezy23]

Light is in!
Went with the Pennywise deadlights 41% 10 Hr. My main tank 35.2 has the same at 81%

According to a member on the group. Par is around 124 at the bottom and 182 - 6 inch up.

Decided to turn on the lights now before livestock to get the uglies started early . I have a ton of baby trochus snails I can transfer over. Started with 10 trochus snails in my main tank and now I have over 60 lol. Last picture is the 35.2

 

[yambeezy23]

Kraken lids with the custom lid!
It looks great! Took about a month to come in but well worth it.
I know it’s on the expensive side but it’s something I would stare at every single day.
Buy once not twice !

 

[Petey Pirate]

Awesome setup! I'm still new to the hobby and in the process of setting up my 12G Casa as well.

 

[yambeezy23]

Awesome setup! I'm still new to the hobby and in the process of setting up my 12G Casa as well.

Thats awesome! Patience is key !

Let me know if you have any questions! Post some pictures of your build or make a build thread!

 

[yambeezy23]

Fish in!

Very very healthy and active mocha storm pair from Dr.reef ! Meet Ryan and Blake


also say hello to Gary two