2 year full tank growth pics! Enjoy! (EXTREMELY IMAGE INTENSIVE)

[concept3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7186298#post7186298 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ewan

How do your clams handle the flow from the Tunze's? They look great.
-E.

The clams don't mind. They are placed in spots where they get indirect flow from the Tunze. The mantles sway every now and then, but don't get buffeted as much with the random flow. thanks for the compliment They look spectacular looking from the top down.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7186642#post7186642 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by slojmn
Very nice photography. What camera are you using? I have a great macro lens on a great camera but I cannot get the white balance to work out very well most often. I have gotten some nice shots but I have to take a ton before I get a good one.

I have a Nikon D70S with a 60mm lens. I take most of my shots at ISO 200-300, f2.8-3.5, no flash and at Manual mode. I adjust the aperture and shutter speed depending on the subject. Fish at a higher shutter speed w/ larger aperture, corals with a slower shutter and smaller aperture. If you're having trouble playing with the white balance of the camera, look in your manual to see if there is an option for setting the white balance with a white subject in your tank. Another thing I noticed is when you use anything higher than 14K lights, the colors get a little skewed because of the wavelength. This can be fixed with photoshop, there's really not much a camera can do at that point since most cameras are set at daylight (5500K)

Same here with the shots, I get an average of 1-2 shots out of every 8 that are good, 1 out of 20 is great. It helps to get your lens completely flat against the glass, or using a tripod helps extermely. Pumps are also shut off for the photo opportunity to prevent less "fuzz" in the water column.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7186427#post7186427 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TA

Growth is absoulutely spectacular. :thumbsup:
I agree...you need to consider another upgrade soon!

:fish1:

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7186196#post7186196 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishypets
AWESOME!!!!!

You should seriously consider upgrading tanks.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7185596#post7185596 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TCU Reefer
May 2006 Tank upgrade

Have you considered another upgrade? Seems like your running out of real estate.

Looks great!

Unfortunately guys, as much as I would LOVE to get another upgrade, I am unable to since I live upstairs in a condo, and am afraid that the floor will give. I also have a 30 gallon frag tank next to it, probably making the gallonage at around 100-110 gallons.

I need a condo to a house upgrade first, but that's in a different forum :lmao:







EVERYONE, THANKS FOR THE COMPLIMENTS. GLAD TO SHARE!

 

[damienkee]

sweet!

 

[Brewen]

Awesome tank and pics thanks for sharing

 

[SunnyX]

Great growth and coloration.

 

[trueblackpercula]

very nice tank, what doe sht equipment look like? are you running ozone?

 

[woodywoo]

yea some really great pics.

 

[elephen]

Looks nice man, I love the shots!

 

[Leopardshark]

Wow those are photo skills!
Nice looking tank!

 

[Milleme]

Rad

 

[concept3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7187404#post7187404 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by trueblackpercula
very nice tank, what doe sht equipment look like? are you running ozone?

no Ozone, one more extra thing to buy and keep track of. I'm lazy, LOL.

Sump pic:

Sump equipment:

Deltec AP600 (recently purchased, used to have an AquaC EV120)
K2R reactor and 5 lb tank (no pH controller)
Iwaki MDRLXT20
250 watt Ceramic heater

no fuge, no filter sock, no LR rubble, only a bag of carbon
oh yeah, and a $10 fan


Top side equipment:
Tunze 6000's and 7095 Multicontroller
Dual modified mega-MEGA flow
4 return lines with loclines


Hood equipment:
4 Computer fans, 2 in and 2 out
2*250 watt XM 10K's with Icecap EB (will switch to 6500K soon)
2*110 watt VHO actinics with $35 ARO ballast


Water changes: 10% every 3-4 weeks, or whenever I remember


Salt: TropicMarin Pro


I no longer dose Kalkwasser to raise dKH, but every time I dump a tablespoon of Baking Soda solution in the tank, I get coralline algae in the front glass 3 days later.






Thanks for the compliments guys, glad you're all enjoying the show

 

[Lunchbucket]

looks great!! very clean looking! nice coloration and growth

i dont' know how all you guys have an algae free tank. wonder if it is because i never got introduced into the tank. even w/ little to no po4 i still have bryopsis. i suppose it got introduced and will be heck to get rid of

Lunchbucket

 

[fishdoc11]

Nice :thumbsup:

 

[elephen]

concept- you have a pm.

 

[Lunchbucket]

niice skimmer BTW...where did you get it :lol:

Lunchbucket

 

[gurumasta]

very impressive.

 

[BRISK495]

looks great!!! Any reason you are switching to the 6,500 K's? How are the 10K XM's working out?

 

[concept3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7194851#post7194851 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lunchbucket
niice skimmer BTW...where did you get it :lol:

Lunchbucket

I wonder where I got it from?!?!?

Awesome skimmer Eric! Worth every penny, even used for 13 days! 13 is my lucky number ya know!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7195489#post7195489 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BRISK495
looks great!!! Any reason you are switching to the 6,500 K's? How are the 10K XM's working out?

I've seen how fast they grow with 10K's, I want to compare how much faster they grow on 6500K.

PLUS, I want to see what kind of coloration I get with 6500K's and the VHO actinics. I used to have a problem with the corals being very pastel, but ever since I've started feeding heavier, the corals have gotten deeper in color.

Now that I've proven that to myself, I want to see the effect of the 6500K spectrum with the same feeding regimen. It's still a learning process for me and always will be.


-Merv

 

[Leopardshark]

Why donÃ"šÃ‚´t you try 20k instead of 6.5k?
IMO you will have better results (regarding coloration) with 20k than with 65k
Marco

 

[smcooler]

looking great Merv.


stan

 

[concept3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7195628#post7195628 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Leopardshark
Why donÃ"šÃ‚´t you try 20k instead of 6.5k?
IMO you will have better results (regarding coloration) with 20k than with 65k
Marco

I used to have a 20K CoralVue in the original 55 gallon tank, and I only used it on one side of the tank since I splashed water on a running 10K bulb (which I broke the glass casing). It kinda evened out the blue and produced some awesome colors to some SPS that was under it, but the growth almost slowed down completely.

I've also had 14K's before, yanked them out after a month, just couldn't handle the blue and how very "away from the natural" they look. Also, the clams didn't really open up as much, and growth was OK (it could've been the bulbs I was using too). The bulb has been replaced with the current 10K XM, and the 14K was banished to the frag tank where it beats down on some browned out frags in the hopes of coloring them up.

My plan for the 6500K's is mainly for growth and to see what kind of coloration they might be able to reproduce for me (comparison with 10K). I think that's as close as I can get to "natural" coloration in the wild. I've also seen 6500K tanks and they don't look half as bad.... I think there was an Italian tank on here a few months ago that was using 6500K's and it looked phenomenal.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7195852#post7195852 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by stan mucha
looking great Merv.


stan

Hey Stan, your green table is still green, that baby sure is a slow grower, except for the base which has spread over 3X it body size. I guess it's growing a large base to produce a large colony (I hope anyways).









As again, thanks for all the compliments.


I'm really enjoying this 30 seconds of fame which took me 2 years to attain, LOL.




-Merv