drummereef's 180g in-wall build
- Thread starter drummereef
- Start date
drummereef
Team RC
Indeed! Sorry those pics were so dark, don't know why they looked that way after uploading them. But yes there's some nice coralline starting to take hold and the rocks look a lot whiter now that the algae is subsiding.
drummereef
Team RC
Well....
I have a really good RAW FTS sitting in Lightroom 3 right now. Color is good and image is crystal clear. But, every time I try and Export the file to JPEG it comes out looking like crap. Anyone have any ideas as to why the exported file looks blurry and pixelated compared to the preview in Lightroom??
Export Settings:
JPEG
Quality 100
ProPhoto RGB
Resolution 300 ppi
Sharpen For Screen (High)
I have a really good RAW FTS sitting in Lightroom 3 right now. Color is good and image is crystal clear. But, every time I try and Export the file to JPEG it comes out looking like crap. Anyone have any ideas as to why the exported file looks blurry and pixelated compared to the preview in Lightroom??
Export Settings:
JPEG
Quality 100
ProPhoto RGB
Resolution 300 ppi
Sharpen For Screen (High)
drummereef
Team RC
UPDATE:
Here's the latest FTS. I finally figured out what was happening in Lightroom (sort of) but now I'm having an issue with Photobucket. For some reason the uploaded file looks flat. The color rendering after uploading doesn't look the same as the original JPEG image I exported from Lightroom, darker and has a gray tint to them. My original JPEG looks a lot brighter and the color is more vibrant. I adjusted the upload settings to "best quality under 1mb". The file I'm uploading is only 187kb. What gives??
Seems like this has only happened since Photobucket went through their site design change. I don't remember this happening before. Anyone else having this issue?
Here's the latest FTS. I finally figured out what was happening in Lightroom (sort of) but now I'm having an issue with Photobucket. For some reason the uploaded file looks flat. The color rendering after uploading doesn't look the same as the original JPEG image I exported from Lightroom, darker and has a gray tint to them. My original JPEG looks a lot brighter and the color is more vibrant. I adjusted the upload settings to "best quality under 1mb". The file I'm uploading is only 187kb. What gives??
Seems like this has only happened since Photobucket went through their site design change. I don't remember this happening before. Anyone else having this issue?
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Taqpol
New member
Even if the colors aren't perfect it looks great to me! I would add a small army of snails to mow down the rest of that fuzzy algae and then I think you're ready to start thinking about some corals!
Is that still the temporary background? I like the reflections of your rock islands in it.
Is that still the temporary background? I like the reflections of your rock islands in it.
drummereef
Team RC
Thanks Alex. I think it's getting really close to coral time.
Yeah, it's still the temporary background. I know... I've been lazy. I know you use Photobucket, do you see a noticeable difference in the original JPEGs vs the uploaded Photobucket files? Your pics always look vibrant and saturated with color. I'm not getting why Photobucket would de-saturate my uploads...? Thanks Joe! What's been going on my friend?
drummereef
Team RC
Don't ask my why this worked since I didn't do anything different but here's a more realistic version of the FTS. For some reason Photobucket didn't suck the life out of this one. Go figure... :lol:
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reeftanknewbie
New member
Brett,
Great work on your build and in documenting the process for all of us to learn from. I love the clean openness of your aquascape. I hope you can the pics and progress coming as you begin to stock your tank. I have learned a lot from this thread as well as many others I know who are in my local club. Again my hats off to you and your work.
Great work on your build and in documenting the process for all of us to learn from. I love the clean openness of your aquascape. I hope you can the pics and progress coming as you begin to stock your tank. I have learned a lot from this thread as well as many others I know who are in my local club. Again my hats off to you and your work.
Taqpol
New member
I use photobucket, I save all my pictures as full size Jpegs and then upload them to photobucket and have it resize them to 800x600 "mode" or 1024x768 mode depending on the picture. Of course, it looks like you fixed it in the last picture. I couldn't tell for awhile, but the two fish and the rocks have a lot more color now.
drummereef
Team RC
:lol: You're secret is safe with me.
:rollface:Wow, thanks for the kind words reeftank. I plan on documenting as the tank progresses for sure. Lately the tank has been on auto-pilot just trying to get through the algae cycles. Now that it seems like we are on other side I think things will be picking up again. Stay tuned!
Not yet Pete. I didn't know if I was going to go that route from the reading I've done on bio pellet users. Most of them have difficulty keeping macro algaes since the nutrient levels are kept so low. I might keep a reservoir for live rock and for a nice place for pods to multiply. Thoughts?
The background in the above pics is just temporary. It's actually a piece of laminate I had laying around. Yes, you can see some shadows but I've used other materials for the background where you can't see any shadows. For some reason I think it's the angle I have the laminate laying up against the tank or something that really makes the shadows show. I have a couple options to reduce the shadows if they end up showing on the permanent background, first would be to raise the lights. I have plenty of headroom to raise them up a few inches but right now they are at the lowest recommended height for the Lumenbright Minis. We'll see once I have time to get the permanent background in place.
psteeleb
Team RC
that does make some sense for a macro algae as it consumes excess nutrients that been broken down to some extent. I look at nutrient consumption / filtration happening at several levels starting with and in order of breakdown form upper to lower;
1) the CuC (food chunks)
2) skimming (DOC's)
3) filter feeders and detritus consumers (more DOC's and smaller chunks)
4) macro algae, phyto planktons and bacterias. (micro particles or at a cellular / chemical level)
it's the level 3 stuff I would target in a fuge or live rock supplemental sump chamber - things like sponges, dusters, micro stars, pods, mysis, worms. This is the stuff you get with good live rock but you can also get pests so seeding from a known source or keeping the live rock isolated and light free for several months is a benefit to purge of any pests that may show up.
For example I used the live rock from my 300g in my 100g but it sat in a large tub for 6 months with a skimmer, but no supplemental heat or light and no food source. All the majanos died off, no red bugs, no AEFW's, nudis etc
. I still have all of the above listed beneficial critters including coralmorphs (orange ball nems), clams, and a flurry of other filter & detritus feeders that I couldn't even start to list.
mdhnatow
New member
My compliments on a beautiful build. I just got done browsing through all 80 pages! This thread definitely gave me my DIY fix for today. I had a few questions for you...
How often do you change the media in your reactors?
Do you have a gate or ball valve on your recirculation pipe? (after the reactor manifold) I guess what I really want to know is, do you turn down the amount of water that gets recirculated?
How often do you change the media in your reactors?
Do you have a gate or ball valve on your recirculation pipe? (after the reactor manifold) I guess what I really want to know is, do you turn down the amount of water that gets recirculated?
drummereef
Team RC
that does make some sense for a macro algae as it consumes excess nutrients that been broken down to some extent. I look at nutrient consumption / filtration happening at several levels starting with and in order of breakdown form upper to lower;
1) the CuC (food chunks)
2) skimming (DOC's)
3) filter feeders and detritus consumers (more DOC's and smaller chunks)
4) macro algae, phyto planktons and bacterias. (micro particles or at a cellular / chemical level)
it's the level 3 stuff I would target in a fuge or live rock supplemental sump chamber - things like sponges, dusters, micro stars, pods, mysis, worms. This is the stuff you get with good live rock but you can also get pests so seeding from a known source or keeping the live rock isolated and light free for several months is a benefit to purge of any pests that may show up.
For example I used the live rock from my 300g in my 100g but it sat in a large tub for 6 months with a skimmer, but no supplemental heat or light and no food source. All the majanos died off, no red bugs, no AEFW's, nudis etc
That's definitely more along the lines of what I want to do Pete. I'd like to have a tank/reservoir that only has live rock, no macro algae. This way I won't have to light it but still get the benefits of all the filter feeders. It most likely won't be a true cryptic fuge but we'll see where that takes me. It would be nice to have a sustainable pod population in there to feed the tank and smaller fish.
Thanks mdhnatow.
I try and change the Carbon and GFO monthly. I actually have a BRS shipment coming in tomorrow. Black Friday deals! I will change both the Carbon and GFO either tomorrow or Thursday. I have a ball valve on the recirculation line. It exits into the skimmer section, under water with a 45 elbow on the end. I like it because it 1.) recirculates water back to the skimmer and 2.) it adds flow to the bottom of the skimmer chamber so detritus stays suspended. I still get some detritus that gathers on the bottom of the sump but I presume it would be worse without the extra flow. There's a balance that happens when adjusting the recirc line. If valved down it sends more flow to the display. If opened less flow to the display but more circulation in the sump. This effects the water level in the return section as well when adjustments are made. I also have a ball valve on the output of the pump if I need to adjust overall flow rates. It took a little time to dial in the balance I was looking for but now that it's dialed in it's mostly "set it and forget it".
drummereef
Team RC
UPDATE:
Snapped a couple pics of the rock tonight. Here you can see how much the rock is coloring up with coralline. Mostly blues with a few spots of purple/red coming in.
Snapped a couple pics of the rock tonight. Here you can see how much the rock is coloring up with coralline. Mostly blues with a few spots of purple/red coming in.
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I started reading your thread early on and I remember that you changed your manifold at some point but I can't remember what you changed. Could you remind me or point me to the right page. I have been trying to find it for the last half hour with no luck. I can't believe you have 80 pages of post. I feel bad for anyone who just found your thread"¦lol
drummereef
Team RC
Found it! :lol: Pg 65 is where I updated the manifold valves to GF Ball Valves. They are much higher quality than the standard valves I was using before, but more expensive of course. Even months later they turn effortlessly. Great valves. I bought them from Savco online.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1599945&page=65
