Studio 12

Recently, a  new hobbyist asked me to provide recommendations for a simple, hardy system with low energy consumption.  Many are interested in these types of systems due to increased costs in today’s economy, but they still desire the joys this hobby provides.  Below is my take on this request. I have two examples of  systems that have been up and running for a few years now, so I have enough pros and cons I can elaborate on. Note: many of the items do not need to be the exact brand/item but I can only comment on what I own and use.

System 1: Reef Casa Studio 12

The first system I would like to showcase is my Reef Casa Studio 12 Aquarium Kit which I received as a product review item. This was set up in in March 2023 and documented in a previous article.  The reason I love this setup is that it pretty much comes with all the necessary items to start a basic system like salt, rocks, sand, carbon, filter pads, etc. I purchased additional items to fit my personal requirements for minimal maintenance. (Disclaimer: links are Amazon affiliate links.)

Additional items:

• Landen Aquarium Stand
• Mag Tool Nano Skimmer
• CoralVue HYDROS X2 Controller Starter Pack + ATO Kit + WIFI Feeder (though never used yet)
• Drop In UV Sterilizer
• Surface mount digital thermometer
• Motion Sensor Under Cabinet LED Lights
• DIY Screen Top
• K Cleven’s Turbulent Flow nozzle

Livestock:

• 1 Captive Bred Standard Oscellaris clownfish
• 1 Captive Bred Black & White clownfish
• 1 ORA Elongate Dottyback
• 1 Blue Neon Goby
• Bubble Tip Anemones (Entacmaea quadricolor) Purple, Rainbow, and Red color variants
• 1 St. Martins mushroom (Discosoma sanctithomae)
• Ricordea yuma and florida mushrooms
• Discosoma Mushrooms various colors
• Rhodactis Mushrooms
• 3 Maxi-Mini Carpet anemones
• 3 Sexy Shrimp
• 4 Female Emerald Crabs
• Astrea snails

Observations

For almost a year this has been my most trouble-free system out of the 10 tanks I run.  The basic routine I do is feeding, cleaning the glass, changing out the floss & carbon as needed, emptying the skimmer cup, and refill the ATO bottle.  The Corallimorph-dedicated system is hardy, colorful, and self sustaining. The feeding of the fish is the primary caretaking necessary. I think I have only changed the water 3 times thus far.  I designed this to require no additional supplementation or extra flow equipment. All the anemones thrived better in this small aquarium compared to the mixed 50 gallon “Lowboy” product testing tank they were originally in.

System 2 – Fluval EVO 13.5

The second system I would like to showcase is my Fluval EVO 13.5 kit which I purchased from my local fish store as a present to myself. Initially this was set up in December 2021. It has been re-vamped due to lessons learned. The Fluval EVO 13.5 is a basic tank kit to start. It still required additional purchases and is not as complete as the Studio 12 Kit. I upgraded items that that the community forums also recommended. The challenge for me was to find an economical stand for this tank. The key difference between version 1 and 2 are primarily the livestock focus. (Disclaimer: some links are Amazon affiliate links.)

Additional / Upgraded items:

• Fluval Marine 3.0 LED
• Fluval Sea Mini Skimmer
• Jebao SLW-5 Wavemaker
• In-Tank Chamber 1 Media Basket
• MarinePure Gems (Review article here)
• CoralVue HYDROS X2 Controller Starter Pack + ATO Kit
• Reef Eco Coral Wall (Review article here)
• External Digital Thermometer

Livestock:

• • 1 Yellow-Tail Blue Damsel
  • 1 ORA Aiptasia Eating Filefish
  • 1 ORA Splendid Dottyback
  • Green Nepthea
  • Zoanthids

• Discosoma mushrooms
• Ricordea florida
• Green Carpet Anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni)
• 1 Skunk striped Cleaner Shrimp
• 1 Tiger Tail Sea Cucumber
• 1 Tuxedo urchin
• 1 Queen conch
• 4 Female Emerald Crabs

Observations

This Fluval EVO 13.5 system has been a popular kit for many years due to the entry price. But compared to the Reef Casa kit it did not include everything to start up right away due to the lower price. I originally started this system as a Large Polyp Stoney Coral (LPS) system. Over time I have realized that some of the choices I made caused some unnecessary headaches. For example, I originally wanted to minimize evaporation and maintain the stock look by retaining the original hood and OEM light but that made the system run warmer than I would like (around 80F). The salt creep at the hood/tank seam created more cleanup. As the torches, hammers, and frogspawn grew, the flow was not enough to keep them healthy. The OEM PS1 skimmer worked but cleaning and adjusting is not optimum. Also the hourly auto water changing I implemented needs tweaking based on the changing evaporation rates throughout the year since it impacted the salinity more in the small system. Over time, the growth exceeded the supplementation that the water from the main system provided. To avoid additional manual supplementation a changed was needed.

I revamped the system when I reviewed Reef Eco’s Coral Wall. I decided to follow the same low maintenance success I saw with the Studio 12. The system was redesigned with hardier soft corals that the OEM light and flow can support. I also disabled the hourly water changing with the main system and just kept the ATO function. So far, this change minimized complexities and issues that came with it. I wanted this system to focus on nano critters and fish that would normally get lost in larger tanks.

Future Plans

In the future for the Fluval EVO 13.5  I may remove the stock hood, install my DIY Screen Top, and swap the OEM light to a Kessil A80 that I already own for better color and shimmer. If someday I downsize my systems, I will know that higher-level corals can be maintained but will require more effort or automation just like my larger systems for best water chemistry stability. Ultimately, proper bioload selection is key to meet your goals. Small biotopes suit nano tanks of this size pretty well.

Let me know what types of Nano systems you enjoy!

Happy Reefing!