Reef Casa Studio 12 Acropora Rescape

[TorontoReefer]

Welcome to my build thread for my new Reef Casa Studio 12 tank. I started out in the reefing hobby with a nano tank, worked my way up to larger tanks and now want to apply everything I have learned to create a dream nano tank and the Reef Casa Studio 12 is the perfect canvas.

After much consideration I decided to go with Staxx rocks and a sand bottom. I initially was planning on using Hawaiian black sand but changed my mind once I realized it was magnetic and may scratch my glass while cleaning. I paired the tank with the Reef Casa Halo light and a 50 watt heater. Since I don’t have room for an auto top off reservoir I am using a quarantine box hung on the back of the tank as a makeshift ATO reservoir. I’m not sure if this is a long term solution but it works for now.

Setting the tank up was a breeze. The glass is very clear and the silicone on the seams is high quality. The included return pump is quiet and moves the water well, although I think I may upgrade to the available Random Flow Generator once I add corals because I want to try and avoid adding a wavemaker.

The tank is now fully cycled and over the next week or so I will start to add corals. My plan is to work on one section at a time, unlike in the past when I just randomly placed corals. I’ve also never kept rock flower anemones so I hope to create a garden of them as well, although they are a little bit difficult to find.


I will post again once I add corals and get this great little tank officially underway!

 

[V A R I A N T]

You’re off to a good start. I like your aquascape and could immediately see how the tank would look filled in with coral. Good luck going forward!

 

[TorontoReefer]

You’re off to a good start. I like your aquascape and could immediately see how the tank would look filled in with coral. Good luck going forward!

Thanks for the encouragement! I wanted to do something different with the aquascape.. it definitely took a while to get it right and there were a couple of mistakes along the way! Now the fun part of planning the corals and fish!

attempt #1 ended up as a mess!

 

[The Deaf Reefer]

Heeey I'm a gta local specifically oakville

Casa reef 12g was one of my options but decided to get the IM 15g cube.

Looking forward to see u set this up

 

[TorontoReefer]

I think I’m going to start with some rock flower anemones and blastos and then go from there. Hopefully things come together well !

 

[TorontoReefer]

So of course I am having trouble being patient about adding corals to my Reef Casa Studio 12. I decided to add a zoa rock from my established tank that I am not too attached to in order to make sure that the tank is ready for corals. I also picked up a nice red and pink rock flower anemone. I definitely need to get a coral lens to cancel out some of the blue light!

Now that there are corals in the tank I am going to start by running each of the blue channels at 40% and the white channel at 5% and make adjustments as necessary. The plan is also to do 20% water changes every other week when I change the water in my larger system. I decided against plumbing the two tanks together so the Reef Casa could act as a "lifeboat" tank in case something happens to my larger tank.

I am going to try and avoid dosing initially and maintain major and minor elements through water changes only, although that might not work as the tank gets more mature.

As long as everything goes well this week the plan is to add my blasto garden on the weekend. Fingers crossed!

 

[TorontoReefer]

The zoa rock is doing well and so now I think it’s time to add corals. I have decided to keep it simple (hopefully) to start and started with a couple of rock flower anemones. I had been told that they are more likely than other anemones to stay put once placed…. And while this may be the experience of some hobbyists it certainly wasn’t mine! One beautiful red one has decided to hide under a rock ledge and the other has wedged itself so far into a crevice that it is basically invisible. I don’t want to damage them trying to remove them so I’m going to adjust lighting and flow to see if I can coax them out. If anyone has any suggestions I’d love to hear them!

The Blaso garden is going much more smoothly. I have added 4 dfifferent types of blastos to a single rock ledge and also couldn’t resist picking up a great looking DMT mushroom. I am really going to try and avoid spur of the moment coral purchases and focus on planning but I couldn’t pass up the mushroom! I will post a few more pictures once they have had a couple of days to acclimitize and open up.

I also picked up a Reef Casa random flow generator and immediately noticed a fair amount of detritus being kicked up off the rocks and sucked into the filtration box. I think it will be helpful in keeping the tank clean. I am also starting to think that my single snail is going to need some reinforcements to keep the tank clean.

All in all I would say so far good!

 

[4d-Rock]

Cool man. Good luck! Rockscape looks similar to Tia's which is by no means a bad thing!

 

[TorontoReefer]

Thanks ! I have always done the classic two islands with an arch so I was trying to do something different. It’s the first time I planned the scape with specific coral locations in mind but the rock flower anemones aren’t staying where I want them to so I will have to adjust my plans !

 

[TorontoReefer]

The corals seem to be adjusting nicely to the tank, although the Rock Flower Anemones are still not co-operating. I also picked up a coral lens for my camera and the pictures are much clearer now. I’m going to keep the lighting as it is at this point and maybe slowly ramp it up in a few weeks.

I am going to work ledge by ledge… trying to avoid encrusting corals because there is so little space. I also have lots of euphyllia in my other tank so I think I will try to restrict myself to one very nice hammer coral on the right side ledge. I’ve never had luck with torch corals in any of my tanks so I will avoid them as well. If anyone has any suggestions for other gardens I can create I’d love to hear them. I think I want to have a show stopper plate coral on the sandbed as well. The key will be waiting for the perfect pieces. I also added a Raptors Peace Favia and moved the zoa rock back to my other tank. They were too dull for this build.

 

[4d-Rock]

Looking good! I’m a big fan of blasto’s. I only have a bright orange one but I’ll add more one day.
Those shelf rocks look pretty handy for coral placement. I went with the rounded Marco rock and while I like the natural look it has been more challenging to place corals.

 

[TorontoReefer]

I know what you mean. I usually use arches etc. For this tank I decided to just create as much space as possible for corals and not worry about it looking natural. I have the Reef Casa Halo light and I’m going to run it very blue and just go for crazy colours rather than natural.

 

[mwar15]

Thanks for the encouragement! I wanted to do something different with the aquascape.. it definitely took a while to get it right and there were a couple of mistakes along the way! Now the fun part of planning the corals and fish!

attempt #1 ended up as a mess!

is that cement or expoxy? why do you think it failed?

 

[TorontoReefer]

is that cement or expoxy? why do you think it failed?

I used cement. It didn’t fail… I used the box the tank came in as my template but forgot to account for the depth of the rear chamber so my scape was too big back to front. I’d say it was a rookie mistake but it’s my 4th tank. Always learning!

 

[Brian Berry]

Thanks for the encouragement! I wanted to do something different with the aquascape.. it definitely took a while to get it right and there were a couple of mistakes along the way! Now the fun part of planning the corals and fish!

attempt #1 ended up as a mess!

I wish success with your your tank. I think I spent many hours on my aqua scape which includes 3 redo’s. I have a 26gal. Peninsula. I used Marco base and shelf.

 

[TorontoReefer]

I wish success with your your tank. I think I spent many hours on my aqua scape which includes 3 redo’s. I have a 26gal. Peninsula. I used Marco base and shelf.

Very nice tank !

 

[TorontoReefer]

Not a whole lot has changed this week. I did move a Florida Ricordea mushroom from my large tank into the Reef Casa nano. I thought it would get more love in a smaller tank and it looks great under the Halo light, which I have been very impressed with.

The blastos have settled in nicely and are starting to puff up.. I think they may be too close together and I may have to space them out a bit more at some point. The Rock Flowers have moved again and are in a slightly more convenient spot.

I did my first water change on the tank this week and noticed that the alkalinity was down to about 7dKh so I am going to start dosing a small amount of All For Reef a couple of times a week until I figure out the consumption rate. I really found the precut floss to be handy and it is nice and dense so it caught the detritus really well and kept it out of the back chamber.

The upcoming plan is to move the Green Chromis into my larger tank to join the school that is there and get a Royal Gramma as the centerpiece fish for the tank.. just a matter of finding time! I will hopefully pick up a coral or two this weekend.

 

[TorontoReefer]

Things are starting to come together... but not without some changes of plan. I went to Fragbox this weekend and picked up 2 nice hammer coral frags. I wanted to place them on the right side but the flow was way too high so they are on the left now. I'll put some easy SPS on the right side once the tank has matured a bit more.

Unfortunately I glued the plugs down on the right side and when I moved them I wasn't as gentle as I should have been and I lost a few polyps on the orange one... although it seems to have bounced back nicely and I think it will be ok. It was totally my fault!

I also realized the blastos are too close together so I moved them as far apart as I can to give them room to grow.

Now that I have some higher light corals in the tank I have raised the light to about 70% on the blue channels.. my white channel is still 5%. I will let the corals adjust for a few weeks and then raise it a bit more if I have to.

I added a Royal Gramma but he's still pretty shy and only comes out when the pumps are off for feeding.

I'm really impressed with this little tank and looking forward to see how the light does growing the hammer corals. I am predicting it will be a bit of a balancing act between the low light blastos and the higher light hammers.

 

[TorontoReefer]

My anemones are playing hide and seek. The red one is now front and centre and the other one is hiding somewhere !

Everything I read said that they stay put but that is definitely not the case !

 

[reaper93]

Tank is looking great! Glad to see another Studio 12 thread on here.