BlindSwordsman's K.I.S.S. 90 Gallon Mixed Reef (1 Viewer)

[BlindSwordsman]

I took yesterday off, planned on getting the yard spring cleaning done before it would rain on the weekend. Then, of course, it rained anyway, just enough that I couldn't start the work. So, I packed some frags and headed to the store to do more trade-ins. Then I stood there for half an hour, going 'To get or not to get'. I probably annoyed the heck out of @Pico bam with my indecisiveness, so I took a green torch with blue tips (with some with slightly pink or purple-ish color??) so I could get out of his hair . I also took his suggestion and got a piece of a plate coral that he said it was worth it. Now I'm thinking about to something else and wonder if I should come back after I get a few things done today ? But so far, I think I'm doing pretty well with my 'coral diet' this year and I haven't spent my 'own money' on this stuff .

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Ahhhh ... Friday!!! ... I have not much of something to update, but I have some time to take a new full tank shot. And it's kind of an ugly shot but here it is . I thought I edited out all of the fish, but I just realize I've missed the melanurus wrasse. Oh well!

 

[BlindSwordsman]

I guess it's pretty much like the saying 'like master, like servant', this tank is just like me, sort of just 'surviving' . There seems to be 'something' usually, and I can never describe it as 'doing awesome' like some people describe their tanks . In any case, here's a more current full tank shot.



.. Edit: Adding new photo of the magnet rock.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

I don't think people go ga ga over my tank or updates as it is usually just 'same old same old'. People appear to get excited only when they hear 'I'm doing a 100+ gallon upgrade' or talk 'chemistry' or 'tech' and such. But here is a brief update as I'm doing the update on my 10 gallon frag tank .

I wasn't happy with the tuskfish disturbing and blowing sand onto my corals so it was out and sold! The large melanurus wrasse was going out the next day but I'm still undecided if I should let it go. Then I got smaller fish to replace the bigger fish:

1 Solar/Clown fairy wrasse
1 Carpenter flasher wrasse
1 red Scooter blenny
1 green dragonet

Petco was also having some sale going on, so I bought from the store:

1 Orchid dottyback
5 Banggai Cardinal fish

There might be some casualty with the new fish as there is no guarantee that they are healthy. Only time can tell. Initially, I bought 4 cardinalfish from Petco and ironically, the biggest one that I determined to get at the store died a day later, so I came back to get 2 more . I was also considering adding 2 firefish but I didn't see them at the store.

 

[SuperJay]

"I don't think people go ga ga over my tank or updates as it is usually just 'same old same old'."

This is just crazy talk Ken! I have always been ga ga about your tank. I would not say I've ever seen better.

I hope to see it in person again someday. I'm inspired by your simplistic approach, since I'm forced to be thrifty with my tanks.

I like to see that that a person can have great success without breaking the bank.

Keep up the great work! Your rockin it!

 

[BlindSwordsman]

"I don't think people go ga ga over my tank or updates as it is usually just 'same old same old'."

This is just crazy talk Ken! I have always been ga ga about your tank. I would not say I've ever seen better.

I hope to see it in person again someday. I'm inspired by your simplistic approach, since I'm forced to be thrifty with my tanks.

I like to see that that a person can have great success without breaking the bank.

Keep up the great work! Your rockin it!

Thank you! I guess I have some sort of low self esteem issue . But it's good to know that some people don't think it looks too bad .

Yeah, I'm a thrifty guy myself. I'm poor. I like to achieve my goals with 'less', e.g. Less (smaller) budget, and seemingly less effort (no need to try it too hard). I like to show my friends that I'm not working for Microsoft but I am still kicking. Same for the fish tank, it is probably a 'poor man's tank', but it might also be a 'poor man's pretty tank' and that is still better than a 'rich man's ugly tank' though, right?

I'm going to have a pizza party/meeting before Christmas in Dec. Hope to see you then!

 

[BlindSwordsman]

I might as well add another note to this while I'm on here. The tuskfish was sold. The melanurus wrasse is out and its fate is still undecided. The new Carpenter flasher wrasse was out eating but it showed some bulging eyes a week later then died the next day. The rest seems to be doing okay. I was swirling around on my chair for a while, undecided, as I don't feel very positive about spending more money on 'fish' stuff lately, then I just went ahead and ordered the following fish to get it over with so I could stop thinking about 'To buy or not to buy' :

1 Carpenter flasher wrasse
2 firefish
3 Dispar anthias

They are on the way and will arrive shortly this afternoon.

 

[Mathew0]

Do you do QT when you order fish online?

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Do you do QT when you order fish online?

No, I don't quarantine things. For corals, I dip and I scrub. For the fish, I usually just throw them in, have my fingers crossed and hope that I don't introduce any new bad things to my tank. So, usually when I'm at a point where I feel enough, I usually stop adding new things in. Unfortunately, I recently decided to let go of my tuskfish and took out the melanurus, so it got me into another 'cycle' of adding new stuff in. Hopefully, these new fish will stay alive and make up the fish population that I want and I can stop .

The fish were here since 11:30 AM. But I've been busy with meetings and dealing with stuff so I'm still acclimating them. None of them appears to be stressed out so at least that is a good start.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

I got the new fish added in and then I remember why sometimes I just hate the fish and want to do a fish free reef tank. I thought I accounted for everything when I chose the new sorts of fish but something just has to go south. The cleaner wrasse that is normally peaceful has gone nuts and started to torpedo the Dispar anthias and especially the firefish. I got the lights off and I will stop looking at the tank for a while or I will go nuts myself and drain the whole tank trying to get the cleaner wrasse out which probably won't work ... OK! Cleaner wrasse is off from my list from now on. If this gets on my nerves, I wonder if a lionfish will take care of the issue. I seriously hate bullies!

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Happy Sunday!

The fish went a bit berserk and so did I, so I might as well give a follow up here :

The cleaner wrasse went a bit nutty and threw a tantrum on the first day, which was unexpected. Somehow it had problem with the dispar anthias and the firefish, maybe because these are small and have long shape like the cleaner wrasse? But it had no problem with the orchid dottyback before and that one has similar shape! Fortunately, the cleaner wrasse calmed down the next day. I was more concerned about adding the dispar anthias with the existing lyretail anthias, but there is no issue there. The new flasher wrasse is bolder (or maybe healthier) than the other one, and it is already out and about. The solar fairy wrasse was a bit timid. It was also harassed a bit by the melanurus so it hid mostly for 2 days. After the melanurus was caught out, the solar is now hanging out in the open. So far so good. I'm still undecided about letting the melanurus go so I will wait for another 2-3 weeks for the new fish to settle in, and maybe the melanurus forgets its old environment, then I'll try to add it back in. If it irks me, then you'll see it posted up for sale!

 

[BlindSwordsman]

I'm taking a break from something so here's another updade for this thread.

The new fish are fine. The firefish are timid and they are out looking around, then darting back to the cave and hide. But they are still alive and the cleaner wrasse doesn't attack them like before.

On another note, this tank was redone 1 year ago, and I have no intention of doing an upgrade because I like the traditional look of the stand and the tank size fits well for the space, and it's good, maintenance wise. But as I stated on the other thread, I've been sitting home for too long and I want to do some traveling. Looking at this tank, I see that I did not take the issue of having a siphon hang back overflow into considerations when I redid this. It can become a problem if the water flow is cut off while I'm away. To fix this once and for all, I placed an order for a pre-drilled 90 gallon tank (that should have the same footprint like this 75 gallon tank). The new tank should arrive in about 2-3 weeks, and if everything goes well (i.e. the tank arrives unbroken, if it fits the stand, etc.), there will be another tank swap/redo then. And no, I'm not feeling excited about this. It is a just a lot of work and potential issues .

Due to the new tank's overflow structure, the left hand side island will probably need to be reduced. I'm also considering removing the middle island and replacing it with something a bit 'less' to give tank a bit more open space (well, until I fill it up with stuff again ). The corner section on the right does not seem to be very efficient either. So, I dunno .. We'll see!

 

[BlindSwordsman]

And just like someone pulled the tank from the back of the store somewhere in FL, threw it on top of his car and drove it over to my place, they carried it in and put it on the carpet in the middle of my living room and left. I guess that's it. It's a tank!!!

 

[Varig]

Let me know if you need a hand lifting it into position. I’m not too far away as you know.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Let me know if you need a hand lifting it into position. I’m not too far away as you know.

Thanks, David. I will give you a holler if I need help. But you know me, you even said I had a 'solo attitude', I probably will lift it myself. Part of the reasons why I don't want to get anything bigger .

 

[Varig]

Such a dummy! Part of what makes us a civilization is building community. Let the reef nerds around you help!

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Such a dummy! Part of what makes us a civilization is building community. Let the reef nerds around you help!

This reminds me of the song 'Sweet Dreams' ... 'Some of them want to use you, some of them want to be used by you' ?? And is that what they call 'bias'?? Okie dokie, smart guy! Maybe I don't belong to that 'civilization' or 'community' of yours. Or maybe I just want to 'quarantine' (your favorite technique) myself against you. Geez!

I removed the plastic wrap that they put around for transport. The tank looks okay. The craftmanship looks ok. It looks better than some Aqueon tanks (with the silicone smeared around and not straight), and better than some Marineland (last Marineland tank I got, they installed the glass panels kind of crooked). When I read the description online, it said the glass was 3/8" thick. I didn't like that too much because I think that's the usual thickness for the 75 gallon tank's glass. I expected the glass for the 90 gallon tank somewhat thicker. But I just found out that the glass they use for all sides for this tank is tempered glass. So, maybe it's not that bad.

I have some work meetings today and things to do for next week, so I won't do the tank swap until tomorrow. I presume that it will take a while. The tank looks okay but I probably dump some water in and do a leak test today.

 

[Varig]

Haha, you always crack me up Ken. It is very possible you want to QT against me . I'm glad to hear the tank looks to be in one piece. Can't wait to see the upgrade.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

I eventually found the 90 gallon tank was really too big and too heavy for me to lift up onto the stand by myself . But, I still managed to do it by myself regardless. I spent 20 hours on Sat and 10 hours on Sun and I still couldn't get the new tank completely done. I spent a few more hours on Mon to rearrange some stuff, and some time on Tues to put the lights back on. It took quite some time but it went pretty well. It was not really 'fun' to me.

Due to the structure of the new tank, I needed to move a things around a bit. Things looked too cramped, so I decided to remove a few pieces. At the end, it looks less hectic and crazy like before. Each piece looks a bit more distinctive on its own instead of everything appeared to be smashed up to one another like before. I have gained back some open space by doing so. Even with less rock, I did manage to put all of the corals back, except 1 big GSP colony on a rock that I will miss . Other than that, everything is all right. The fish are okay . I did not put the cleaner wrasse back so some others have a chance of being more relaxed. I wouldn't say they all look exactly happy yet. Some of the pieces still need to be grown out. The glass looks a bit dirty as I haven't wiped it. But, here is the current full tank shot .

 

[Varig]

Yowza. That’s some long days boss. Glad you got it done safely, even if I disagreed with your method