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

[BlindSwordsman]

Lunch break ... Not sure what I'm feeling ... Bored? Or maybe stressed out? So I took out the camera and took some shots of some regular stuff that seemed to be happy enough .

 

[Varig]

I’m absolutely enamored with the orange octospawn or whatever you call that. They are just beautiful!

 

[BlindSwordsman]

I’m absolutely enamored with the orange octospawn or whatever you call that. They are just beautiful!

Orange frogspawn? ... Well, too bad, too sad, I know you want to go for the sticks!

 

[Varig]

Both/and my friend. As you well know since I bought a hammer from you . But as always, beautiful photos of a beautiful reef Ken.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

OK, I'm sitting here and feeling like it's just one of those boring Friday afternoons. So, I went to the fridge, got some old table shrimp, some very old scallop, blended those together into a liquidy soup, and fed my corals. Is there any scientific fact that supports this kind of feeding? Probably not, but I'm not a vegan and I just imagine my corals are not either. So there!

 

[BlindSwordsman]

It's about 2 months since my last update. So, here it is below, another full tank shot. While some people would describe their tanks as 'doing AWESOME!'. For me, it goes like it goes as usual. There is nothing I can say 'awesome' about it . I said somewhere along the line that I would stop adding new stuff. But then, I got a new torch, a few red goni frags, and 3 Derasa clams from Petco. (Long story: I went to Petco for some dog food. Saw a healthy clam, so I bought it. Came back a few weeks later, and saw they had an even bigger clam for the same price that I'd paid for my smaller one. Hated myself for 'overpaying' for my smaller one, so I bought the big darn clam. Next day, I thought it was having issue. So, came back to the store again, bought another one for 'back up' in case if it would die. Well, noone died. And now I have 3 clams! )

... I also wanted to add some mollies into the tank, but then my tuskfish wanted to have them for meal. So, I had to scratch that plan, for now.

.. Another thing, one of the big Forest Fire digi monti cololy that I've grown from small frag, starts to have issue (the one on the right). It's not RTN, and not specifically STN from the bottom either. It kind of dies in random spots among the branches and mostly below. I thought it could be due to lack of light, lack of flow, or some sort of chemical warfare in the tank. I thought about fragging it to save some but by looking at it, that probably is not a good idea so I just leave it as it is and hope for the best. Who knows if the condition irks me enough and I just take the whole thing out and replace it with something else! ... I have added a second wavemaker to add more flow. Then of course, I lost a hammer head. The same old vicious cycle of 'try to fix this and then break that'.

Other than those, the tank is doing .. 'OK' . No progressing algae growth. The sand is not pristine white by itself like my old tank used to be. I still have to clean it once a week but I notice more critters in it so hopefully, this situation will be resolved soon.

 

[fanyeezy]

Ken the tank looks great man! Hope you’re doing well.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Ken the tank looks great man! Hope you’re doing well.

Thank you! ... I hope things are going well for you, too. Happy Lunar New Year to you by the way!

 

[Mathew0]

Wow! If nothing about that tank is 'awesome', then my tank it just plain pitiful

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Wow! If nothing about that tank is 'awesome', then my tank it just plain pitiful

I know I have issue(s). I usually rate my stuff low, so that if its actual rating is lower than my rating, I won't fall off my high horse too badly . I don't rate your tank or other people's tanks. Are you trying to get me into trouble or something?

 

[Mathew0]

Brown jelly killed off a bunch of stuff. Zoa barely open, and only for a couple hours. Even the Paly isn't thriving like people say. My GSP hasn't spread a mm since I glued it in. The leathers seem to be doing well, though. Also, the briopsis absolutely thriving

 

[reef junkie]

I find it pretty common in this hobby that most folks look and compare their tank to others and 9 times out of 10 think their tank does not look as good as it could or as good as others. And then others are amazed by it. I’m defiantly guilty of this!!!

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Brown jelly killed off a bunch of stuff. Zoa barely open, and only for a couple hours. Even the Paly isn't thriving like people say. My GSP hasn't spread a mm since I glued it in. The leathers seem to be doing well, though. Also, the briopsis absolutely thriving

If I recall it correctly, your tank is fairly new. It will take a bit of time. Amy Grant sings 'it takes a bit of time to turn the Titanic around', you know? You will get where you want it to be. It just takes a bit of time. That's all!

I find it pretty common in this hobby that most folks look and compare their tank to others and 9 times out of 10 think their tank does not look as good as it could or as good as others. And then others are amazed by it. I’m defiantly guilty of this!!!

Yes, definitely! It's about 'the grass is greener on the other side' thing, and I'm also old enough to know if there's one GOOD thing, then there will be BETTER things. I'm not sure this is anything related but it just pops into my head. One time, as usual, I started out saying: 'I know I'm dumb, but I believe if I could get my college degree, other people can do it too if they determine enough' ... But right after 'I know I'm dumb' and before I could finish my sentence, the other guy jumped in and said 'We know you are!' ... Ouch!!! There I was, just trying to give a prep talk .

 

[BlindSwordsman]

It's about 1 month. And while it's snowing out there and I'm in no hurry joining my neighbors out there plowing the snow yet. Here's a new full tank shot of the tank. Nothing new .. Well, no new corals, I did change a few things around and I added a few fish. I especially went crazy with the mollies. I now want to create a chaotic scene with the fish, want them to make more babies, and make it looks wild like in some pictures of the real reef. I would say the previous photos I'd posted were pretty much the censored versions. I used to edit out a few things from the photos (the fish specifically ). And this is a kind of uncensored version. I actually photoshopped it from multiple shots so it includes all of the fish this time. So this is a fair warning: This might contain unsuitable content for average viewers .

 

[Jonty]

What settings and equipment do you use for photography?

 

[BlindSwordsman]

What settings and equipment do you use for photography?

I have an old Nikon D3100 DSLR camera. I run everything under blue light and I don't change it when I take the photos. My light is LED so it casts a very strong shadow so some parts (like the caves, etc.) look pretty dark. I use a yellow or light green filter on the camera, and manually adjust the white balance setting to more red and set the aperture and shutter speed pretty low.

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Working remotely can be stressful too!!! I guess it depends on what/who you have to deal with ... So, I'm dropping that and going to think about 'fish' for a bit here .... Looking at my stuff, I see I have extra LPS, SPS, softies lying around, kinda clutter up my 10 gallon frag tank. Thinking maybe I should do something?? Some people probably know that I have a magnet rock that I made and I put it in, take it out now and then. So, I'm thinking maybe I will use it again, place it in the middle of the tank on the back, and create an island of Mess-y (piling on whatever stuff: Hammers, pectinia, SPS, zoas, mushrooms, ...) ?? .. The thing is it probably casts some shadow down below, and makes the cleaning a bit of a pain. So, I dunno ...

Here's how the tank basically looks (with 2 main groups, left and right):



And the magnet rock that I created:



And in the past, it was like this:



And with it in the background, it could become a bit of a mess, like in the photo below with 'stuff':



... Maybe??

 

[BlindSwordsman]

OK, so I went ahead and put stuff onto the magnet rock, unwanted stuff, stuff that was sitting around, etc.: Some not too hot looking monti, extra pectinia, pavona, psamocorra, stylo, mushrooms, zoas, hammers, ... So we will see how that will progress later. It makes the tank looking a bit busier, .. Maybe more 3 dimentional? ... Here is how the ugly thing looks right now .

 

[asifiqbal2]

Looking great!

 

[BlindSwordsman]

A 2 month update: .. Mmmm .. Nothing much going on really! ... Spring is here or almost here and summer is coming so I will start to focus on other things like the yard and stuff instead.

Slight change to the magnet rock but no significant growth:



No real big change to the tank. The mollies were in, and the mollies were out again. They kept on losing pieces of tails and fins here and there. But after being by themselves in the frag tank, they are still dropping in number. I also swapped out some digi monti for some setosa, and added some other small pieces like hammer heads from @Pico bam, and also added some torch, some green digi monti I got from the store with the store credits from trading in stuff.



Other than those, I haven't made any major purchases like I used to a few years ago. I got some 'coral money' from selling my frags but I used it for doing charity instead. That's a better use of the money to me. I haven't taken a full tank shot because that'd take more time to prep. But, I took some quick top down shots while I had some time yesterday. I'll take full tank shot when it's close to my meeting in July.