A Reef in the Sky...scaper

[Acrotrdco]

Yes, you are so right. In fact, I had a flimsy highly portable tripod before, and I had a super zoom heavy lens on my camera. Using the super zoom I could magnify the subject a bit. However, even I had 10-second timer on using this tripod, the shutter actually shook the camera during exposure.
Christmas I got a really robust tripod and that issue was drastically improved. In addition, now I have a much lighter new Nikon 85 mm macro lens -- this help a lot on vibration. Thanks for pointing this out because people may not aware these minute interactions can affect the quality of the picture.:wavehand:

By the way, just love your built. One of these days, I will be visiting HK and hope to pay you a visit if you don't mind.

Of course I wouldn't mind, gimme a PM prior to your trip

 

[SimonSKL]

Howard, do you shut down your water flow before you took those pictures. Will water movement cause the polyps out of focus? For SPS it probably is not a problem but LPS or anything that moves it will probably be better to keep the water still before the shots. Especially if you use a slower shutter speed.

 

[Acrotrdco]

Howard, do you shut down your water flow before you took those pictures. Will water movement cause the polyps out of focus? For SPS it probably is not a problem but LPS or anything that moves it will probably be better to keep the water still before the shots. Especially if you use a slower shutter speed.

Simon,

Nope I didn't shut down any of my pumps, not the return pump, nor the MP10's.

That's why I'm using 1/125s up to 1/500s shutter speed, to capture the polyps as they were moving, see this shot:

I've been able to capture some shots of my leather when their long tentacles were moving too, as long as my shutter speed remains above 1/100s movement really doesn't affect the quality of the photo.

 

[AlainD]

Hi, i have a 90 gallons tank and i buy 2 maxspect in december.
My tank is 24 inch tall with mostly SPS in the middle. I want to make the same configuration led as your's.

Do you think i need the reflector kit and the lens kit?
Do you still love your configuration leds or you want to make some change?
Do you try to place 1 red led with all the Bleu?
To put some Cree Royal blue and Cree blue make visually a real difference for you vs the semi-led Royal blue ?

 

[Acrotrdco]

Your tank is 24" tall so I'd say you'll have about 20-21" of water (if you've 1-2" sand bed), you'll need reflector kit and optics

I'm happy with my configuration right now, the only change I could think of is to get some 3w 420nm violet bulbs if I could find them.

I've used 4 red bulbs in total.

Mixing Cree blue and royal blue makes a visual difference, the cyan color from the Cree blue is very obvious.

 

[Acrotrdco]

Here's a shot taken just now with only blue/violet bulbs on:

And a few more other micro shots:

 

[AlainD]

Tanks for the respons.
"Here's a shot taken just now with only blue/violet bulbs on". Do you try to put 1 or 2 led red on when only the blue/violet are on ?
For the optics 60 or 90 degree. My SPS are 10 to 14 inch of the leds.

 

[Acrotrdco]

Tanks for the respons.
"Here's a shot taken just now with only blue/violet bulbs on". Do you try to put 1 or 2 led red on when only the blue/violet are on ?
For the optics 60 or 90 degree. My SPS are 10 to 14 inch of the leds.

Nope I want to have pure arctinic (blue/violet) when it's dawn/dust hours.

The reflector kits come with 60 degrees optics and flat lens, so you can try out both and see which configuration you like.

 

[syedjilani]

very beautiful and healthy corals. ...Great work....

Is is possible, can you write down complete Zeovit dosing schedule....?

 

[Acrotrdco]

very beautiful and healthy corals. ...Great work....

Is is possible, can you write down complete Zeovit dosing schedule....?

I'm not running full ZEOvit, I'm running NP BioPellets with some KZ additives such as B-Balance, Xtra, Sponge Power and Stylo-Pocci-Glow.

B-Bal: 2mL a day
Xtra: 1-2mL a day
SP: 2 drops a day
SPG: 2 drops a day

Few more shots, also not using Nikon Vivid mode:

My emerald Crab:

Mandarin fish:

 

[sahin]

Hi there Howard, beautiful photography. What nikon lens are you using?

Your corals have beautiful deep colour. I really like the shot of the green milli.

I am getting good colour under my LED+T5 Ati Sunpower hybrid; but my tank is still new and I'm not dosing any carbon source so it will take a while before the Rowaphos cathes up and gets the phosphates under control. Once that happens I know I am going to get awesome colours under my lighting.

 

[Acrotrdco]

Hi there Howard, beautiful photography. What nikon lens are you using?

Your corals have beautiful deep colour. I really like the shot of the green milli.

I am getting good colour under my LED+T5 Ati Sunpower hybrid; but my tank is still new and I'm not dosing any carbon source so it will take a while before the Rowaphos cathes up and gets the phosphates under control. Once that happens I know I am going to get awesome colours under my lighting.

Thanks Sahin,

I'm using Nikon AF-S 105mm VR2 micro lens.

 

[lilopop11]

Great tank and great photography skill...Love your tank...

 

[canesfan44]

I'm not running full ZEOvit, I'm running NP BioPellets with some KZ additives such as B-Balance, Xtra, Sponge Power and Stylo-Pocci-Glow.

B-Bal: 2mL a day
Xtra: 1-2mL a day
SP: 2 drops a day
SPG: 2 drops a day

Few more shots, also not using Nikon Vivid mode:

My emerald Crab:

Mandarin fish:

Excellent photos. I need to invest in a good camera, my point in shoot isn't cutting it.

 

[syedjilani]

I'm not running full ZEOvit, I'm running NP BioPellets with some KZ additives such as B-Balance, Xtra, Sponge Power and Stylo-Pocci-Glow.

B-Bal: 2mL a day
Xtra: 1-2mL a day
SP: 2 drops a day
SPG: 2 drops a day

Thanks a lot, may I know total water volume of you system.... thanks

 

[Acrotrdco]

Great tank and great photography skill...Love your tank...

Excellent photos. I need to invest in a good camera, my point in shoot isn't cutting it.

Thanks - yeah I was using a point-n-shoot before (Sony) but it just doesn't cut it.

To actually capture the true color of your corals, you really need to get a DSLR or prosumer at least (like Canon G11).

And for micro shots, you really need a good micro lens, the one I've got is the most expensive and probably the best micro lens from Nikon and imho it's worth every penny.

Thanks a lot, may I know total water volume of you system.... thanks

No problem, it's about 65G / 250L

 

[jpun1]

love the lighting!

love the lighting!

Great work on your tank! :beer: I'm in the midst of a tank remodel and am shopping for a LED fixture. I like your set up very much. Was the light configuration custom made or is it pretty standard? Could you also include your photoperiod schedule? Thanks!

Time for another update!

I've received my second fixture today! :celeb1:

It's having exactly the same configuration, using a mix of Semi LED and Cree LED to achieve the color I wanted, including full blue spectrum from 400nm all the way to 500nm, as well as a set of optics.

p.s. there's a typo in this sheet, it's 405nm violet not 503nm, 503 is cyan.

Since I want to keep both edges of my tank dimmer so I can keep ricordea's, acan's and scoly's, I didn't want to install the full set of lens, only the 5 groups in the middle for each fixture will have lens installed, the rest will be using only a flat protector (except the red bulb - color mixing isn't that great if no lens were used).

This is what it looks like after installing the optics kit and lens. Left one is the old one and right one is the new one.

First one goes in! I'm using a slower shutter speed so you can clearly see how the light penetrates through the water.

Second one goes in.

Now adjusting the right shutter speed, aperture and white balance, this is what it looks like (with the 8x 15w bulbs turned off):

And this is what it looks like with only blue. The cyan color from the Cree XP-E Blue is very obvious as you can see from the photo:

 

[Acrotrdco]

Great work on your tank! :beer: I'm in the midst of a tank remodel and am shopping for a LED fixture. I like your set up very much. Was the light configuration custom made or is it pretty standard? Could you also include your photoperiod schedule? Thanks!

Thanks.

The bulb configuration is pretty much standard (Extreme edition) except I swapped a few bulbs with the Cree XP-E and red to get the colors I wanted.

My photoperiod:

Blue/violet only: 13 hrs, Noon 12:00pm - 1:00am
Blue + white (blue:white ratio = 3:2): 9 hrs, 2:00pm - 11:00pm
All on (blue:white ratio = 2:3): 5 hrs, 4:00pm - 9:00pm

 

[jpun1]

just curious, why did you opt for the red spectrum? also does this mean you are running now moonlights?

 

[Genetics]

It sounds like you're very happy with the coloration that you are receiving from this light combination. I am looking into getting a coloration scheme very similar.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your LED lighting scheme?

Are the pictures taken of the tank reflective of the actual coloration seen or are there modifications in the pictures?