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Reef Casa Studio 12 Dream Build


416Reefer

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3 hours ago, 416Reefer said:

Wow. That’s a beautiful setup.  I have an Apex that is running double duty on my reefer 200xl and this tank.  Can’t auto feed because my bangaii cardinal fish will only eat frozen mysis! 

Thank you!  We’re both biophiles, so there’s a gardening aspect and a Maine Coon in 1500 sqft. Everything needs to be visually uncluttered or the space feels as tiny as it is.

 

Ugh, I’m stumped for auto feeding mysis without a complicated drilled fridge 2 pump RODI push feeder.  And even then, I’ve only seen those for liquid food.

 

Maybe try soaked ground pellets, then soaked whole pellets.  Just 2 or 3 with the mysis for a week or two.  Watch it eat and keep an eye on the pellet portion.  I feed with the return off, but the tank flow unchanged.  It keeps food moving in the water, which my fish definitely prefer.

 

I hope you figure it out ✊🏻

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No real changes to the tank this week, just moving a few things around here and there so I thought I would do a reflection post instead.  I think a good title for it would be "The Beauty of Simplicity"

 

First off, a disclaimer, everyone's choices for how they set up their tank is a very personal and individual choice, and there is no right or wrong way to do it.  My thoughts are just that, my thoughts, not a criticism of anyone who chooses a different route to reefing success.

 

I have run a number of tanks in the time I have been in the hobby and have had success and setbacks with all of them.  RIght now, in addition to the Studio 12, I am running a Red Sea Reefer 200xl with an Apex, Radions, AI Nero wavemakers, dosers, basically the whole nine yards.  Messing around with the gear is something that I enjoy and it's part of the fun but in that tank I have also had both success and failure.  While it's looking pretty good right now in the last year I have lost: a) more acros than I care to count b) a torch coral  c) zoas and d) a Hollywood Stunner Chalice.  My conclusion here is that high end gear can be lots of fun and help make the hobby easier but is no guarantee of success.  I lose corals in this tank not because my equipment is sub par, but because I'm still learning.

 

Similarly, I have had both success and failure in the Reef Casa tank.  I have a beatiful torch garden, thriving Rockflower anemones and easy SPS corals that are doing very well.  However, I have lost blastos and zoas in this tank too.  I check alkalinity manually once a week and add a bit of All For Reef when it's low.  I've never once checked any other parameters other than salinity.  I am running the Halo light, which is a great light but not in the same league as a Radion.  I don't have any wavemakers and am using the stock return pump.   Basically I am keeping it simple! 

 

I think my conclusion here is that gear is part of the fun of the reefing hobby but there is a law of diminishing returns at play.  I lose corals not because of my gear, but because of my skills and I have success when I pick the right corals for the right tank, not because of my equipment.  The Reef Casa Studio 12 is the perfect example of "simple is beautiful." 

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24 minutes ago, 416Reefer said:

First off, a disclaimer, everyone's choices for how they set up their tank is a very personal and individual choice, and there is no right or wrong way to do it.  My thoughts are just that, my thoughts, not a criticism of anyone who chooses a different route to reefing success.

Perfect.

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I added  an Ink Bird temperature controller this week. I have one on my larger tank and I figured it would be a good backup in case my heater thermostat ever malfunctions (which from what I understand is a “when” not an “if”). The wiring in my cabinet is also starting to look a bit messy but the thought of taking it all apart and redoing it is a bit overwhelming!

I added a honeycomb lepastrea to the top ledge. I am going to see how it responds (there may be too much light) and if it does well I may get a couple more colour morphs and have them cover the entire ledge and take out the two small sps corals that are up there. In hindsight I think that ledge is too big because it creates a pretty big unusable space under it because of shadows.  Does anyone know of any corals that will do well in almost total shadow ?

I have figured out the manual dosing requirements for the tank and a considering getting a dosing pump or perhaps replacing my single head pump with a dual head pump and doing both tanks with one.  

Apart from that no real changes. Everything is still doing really well and the diatoms on the rock-work are finally burning off.   Still thinking about adding one more fish but don’t want to mess with the nice little balance that seems to have established.  Loving this little Reef Casa tank !  They have a stand available now that I’m thinking about but I’m concerned about moving the tank even if I take out the water, move it and quickly replace the water.  

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Looks great! Looks very well stocked with a beautiful variety of corals already, but you could do a dendro or a sponge in the shade. In my experience, dendros are much easier than sun corals because they tend to stay open so they can readily be fed. 

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I was also thinking that if your bengai won't do pellets, try some smaller marine flakes soaked in tank water for 10m.  The texture is more pallatable, then a few flakes and pellets, then soak them less and less.  That'd be my strategy to show it, "that's food, dummy". it's all about slow transition, so start with the flakes added to the live it will eat etc.

 

Weening fish off live food is a pain, so I keep my pod pop up, and don't add dragonets/wrasse.  but bengaiis like pelagic pods for the most part (rotifer, tigriopsis), so that gets annoying fast.  I'd see if I can at least get it snacking on pods on the glass (easier live food to maintain and afford).  Lettem go 16h between feedings, they'll start snacking on benthic pods I'll bet. (make sure your pods are exploding into a twitching glass covering every few days to a week before going this route.

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On 2/20/2023 at 10:03 AM, PJPS said:

I was also thinking that if your bengai won't do pellets, try some smaller marine flakes soaked in tank water for 10m.  The texture is more pallatable, then a few flakes and pellets, then soak them less and less.  That'd be my strategy to show it, "that's food, dummy". it's all about slow transition, so start with the flakes added to the live it will eat etc.

 

Weening fish off live food is a pain, so I keep my pod pop up, and don't add dragonets/wrasse.  but bengaiis like pelagic pods for the most part (rotifer, tigriopsis), so that gets annoying fast.  I'd see if I can at least get it snacking on pods on the glass (easier live food to maintain and afford).  Lettem go 16h between feedings, they'll start snacking on benthic pods I'll bet. (make sure your pods are exploding into a twitching glass covering every few days to a week before going this route.

Thanks for the advice !

This week was a week of a bit of re-organization.  When I set this tank up I promised myself I wouldn't make the mistake of putting small corals too close together to make the tank look "full" right away.  I was going to give them space to grow, knowing that over time the tank would fill in.  And, of course, I put some of the corals too close together initially and now have to move them around,  In particular the hammer corals were crowding each other and needed to be spaced out.  I also have a feeling that my 2 torches are going to need moved around in the not too distant future as well to prevent them from shading each other too much.   The corals on the sandbed are getting larger too and a few may need to be rehomed back to my larger tank.  

 

I have been dosing AB+ in both my tanks to try and encourage my hard corals to grow and colour up a bit better and have gotten a bit of an algae problem in both tanks.  I've never dosed or fed before because I've always run into this issue and even though I'm using about 1/4 of the recommended amount it didn't take long for some algae to pop up.  I removed most of it manually and added an emerald crab to both tanks and hopefully that will get it under control.  I plan to increase my water change volume slightly and stop feeding for the time being.

 

I think I am going to go forward with my plan to place a couple more encrusting corals on the top ledge to add a bit more colour and texture.  I still think I need another fish in the tank but I'm not sure what.  It has to be small and peaceful and easy to feed!  any ideas?

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Still lookin great! I don’t see your fish in your pics… do you just have the bangaii cardinal right now? 


For fish, I’d recommend a possum wrasse if you can get one. A tailspot blenny or yellow clown goby are great options too. 

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21 hours ago, banasophia said:

Still lookin great! I don’t see your fish in your pics… do you just have the bangaii cardinal right now? 


For fish, I’d recommend a possum wrasse if you can get one. A tailspot blenny or yellow clown goby are great options too. 

I just have the one cardinal fish.. he is in there somewhere ! I was thinking about a possum wrasse… I don’t have a lid so a blenny is probably a no go unfortunately. 

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1 hour ago, 416Reefer said:

Looks like my torch coral is spawning. There is zero chance the eggs will survive I assume but still kinda cool!

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Whoa that’s pretty amazing! I didn’t know they do that. Did you get some video of it happening? 
 

My sun corals used to spawn all the time. 

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1 hour ago, 416Reefer said:

Looks like my torch coral is spawning. There is zero chance the eggs will survive I assume but still kinda cool!

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Well that’s pretty freaking cool! A friend of mine found some torch babies in his tank, you may get lucky too! 

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23 hours ago, banasophia said:

Whoa that’s pretty amazing! I didn’t know they do that. Did you get some video of it happening? 
 

My sun corals used to spawn all the time. 

Actually it happened again tonight and I was able to get a short video.  I can’t seem to post it here though. 

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22 hours ago, Goodwood said:

That is a sweet looking tank and seems to be progressing well! How many pounds of the Stax rock did you use? 

Thanks ! I used about 8 pounds or so  I always go for a bit less than a pound per gallon and use other media in the back for more bio filtration. 

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40 minutes ago, 416Reefer said:

Actually it happened again tonight and I was able to get a short video.  I can’t seem to post it here though. 

Awesome! You set up a YouTube channel and upload the video to YouTube then copy and paste the link into a post. 

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On 3/1/2023 at 10:20 PM, banasophia said:

Awesome! You set up a YouTube channel and upload the video to YouTube then copy and paste the link into a post. 

Thanks ! 

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Well that was quite the week!  The torch coral spawning event was pretty cool.. something that I never thought I'd see in a home reef tank.  I doubt any will survive but it was still very neat to see.

 

The great redesign continues.  I think I've finally found a home for my blue alveopora.. I hope it's far enough away from the torch that it won't get stung.  My second rockflower anemone is on the move again, I hope it decides to settle somewhere that I can actually see it this time!  I moved some acans up onto the ledge where the RFA used to be.. the favia on the sandbed was starting to send out pretty long sweepers at night so it needs a bit more space.

 

I'm going to start lightly feeding AB+ once a week and see if that helps with growth, especially of my encusting corals and SPS.  I added an emerald crab to try and deal with some of the hair algae.. it's a bit early to pass judgement on whether or not he is doing his job but if I see him anywhere near my torches I'll take him out.  Not everything is wonderful though, my sexy shrimp has been AWOL for over a week so I'm pretty sure it is dead... it's a small tank so I can't imagine he was able to stay hidden that long!

 

Over the next few weeks I want to add some more encrusting corals to the top ledge and move a few things out of the shadows of my torch corals.  I'm debating getting a pump to dose my All for Reef instead of always having to do it by hand but the cabinet under the tank is getting a bit crowded.  A summer project may  be to get a larger/nicer cabinet since it is holding electrics for 2 tanks as well as my 5 gallon auto top off  bucket.   

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Looking great!! Glad to see your alveopora is doing well in the tank… my daughter has been wishing for a pink alveopora or goniopora for our tank… this is just the inspiration I need! 

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Not much has really changed this week with the Studio 12.  My second rockflower anemone is on the move again and I'm moderately happy with where he has decided to settle for now.  I'm starting to get a little bit of hair algae here and there so I added an emerald crab, so hopefully that will help.  

 

I think I have a pretty good idea of what the tank will look like when it fills in and there are only a handful of corals that I have left to add before sitting back and letting everything fill in.  For the first time ever I'm thinking I might actually "finish" a tank.  Up until now I had always upgraded before my tanks filled in but this tank stands a pretty good chance of being finished.  My one concern is what  I will do when my torches outgrow the tank, since I don't have the skill or tools to frag them.  It's not the worst problem to have but I'm starting to think that the torches will outgrow the tank long before the SPS ledge fills in, so maybe "finished" will be more elusive!

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2 hours ago, 416Reefer said:

Not much has really changed this week with the Studio 12.  My second rockflower anemone is on the move again and I'm moderately happy with where he has decided to settle for now.  I'm starting to get a little bit of hair algae here and there so I added an emerald crab, so hopefully that will help.  

 

I think I have a pretty good idea of what the tank will look like when it fills in and there are only a handful of corals that I have left to add before sitting back and letting everything fill in.  For the first time ever I'm thinking I might actually "finish" a tank.  Up until now I had always upgraded before my tanks filled in but this tank stands a pretty good chance of being finished.  My one concern is what  I will do when my torches outgrow the tank, since I don't have the skill or tools to frag them.  It's not the worst problem to have but I'm starting to think that the torches will outgrow the tank long before the SPS ledge fills in, so maybe "finished" will be more elusive!

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I’ve taken torches to my LFS and had them frag them for me, not sure if that might be an option.

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Some good news this week.. My algae issue seems to have self resolved... I think the tank just needed to finish going through its diatom bloom followed by a hair algae cycle.  I did slow down a bit on feeding and I'm sure the emerald crab has helped as well.

 

I added an encrusting electric daisy stylo on the top ledge.. hopefully the light isn't too intense up there and it encrusts nicely.. I'm trying to create a mix of different coloured encrusting corals up there.

 

My second RFA has found a new home.. (again) and hopefully it stays there!  I find that I am spending a fair amount of time regluing other frags when the RFA decides to move and gets too close to them.

 

Still absolutely no complaints about the tank or the  Halo light... the corals are happy and healthy and maintenance has been a breeze.  I am definitely thinking that I may upgrade to the Sicce pump once I get a bit more growth to make sure that there is enough waterflow.  

 

I added a small red digitata frag to the lower level.. I think the light will be too low there.. it's pretty shaded but it was a piece I accidently broke off a colony in my other tank so I figured I would give it a try.  I want to add a Polkaroo leptastrea to the top ledge at some point soon too since the Honeycomb is doing really well.

 

I'm still thinking about adding a second fish of some sort.. just waiting for the right one to come along.. I figure I will know it when I see it!

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

Since the tank isn't changing much week to week I thought I would post about what my weekly maintenance schedule looks like.  My goal for this tank was for it to be as low maintenance as possible and for the most part I think I have been successful

 

1) Every 2 or 3 days I clean the glass with a Tunze nano scraper.  This is my scraper of choice because it's the only one that I've ever used that doesn't scratch the glass.  This takes maybe 1 minute 3 times a day.  Total= 3 mins

 

2) Once a day I use a coral feeder to stir the sandbed.  I seem to be getting some green algae growing on the sand and this helps to keep it nice and clean.  Most of the detritus ends up in the water column.  Total time per week= 5 minutes.

 

3) Twice a week I check the alkalinity level and add some All for Reef if it's below about 8.5 dKH.  I generally add 0.6 ml of All for Reef twice a week and that keeps the alkalinity between 9.2-9.3.  I'd like to automate this and it's probably the most time consuming part of my routine.  Total time per week= 10 minutes

 

4) Once a week I change about 20% of the water.  I use a fluid transfer pump to speed up the process and not have to prime a siphon with my mouth.  I have a large container of salt water that I mix up once a week that I use for both my tanks.  I also wipe down the salt creep etc.  This takes about 20 minutes once a week.

 

Once I add about 10 minutes per week for random unexpected things my weekly maintenance time is about 45 minutes per week, which seems very reasonable.  I'd like to ultimately get this down to about 30 minutes and I think adding a dosing pump would go a long way to help with that.

 

About how much time do others take on weekly maintenance?

 

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