my 210 gal tank transition

[northbay-reefer]

It has taken a long time but it is worth the wait, I am very happy with the end result, a year from now the tank will fill up and coraline algea will cover the lave rocks ... I took some full tank photos but am still not happy with it, but for now here is what it looks like:

I went from this:

 

[northbay-reefer]

To this:

 

[northbay-reefer]

I am still not happy with the phots but once I get the settings down and load my Raw format edditor, I'll report the photos. If you want to down load my phots and fix them, please go right ahead

 

[pipebash]

saweeet rockwork absolutely awesome. gonna be breathtaking when it fills in, well done.

 

[northbay-reefer]

Thanks man, what I need to do next is clean the sand of all the debris, and then add a little more sand and a sand sifter star fish. The tank parameter is dialed in so now I can add SPS. I am ready for corals "donation" .... LOL ... Bob and Chris from our club and Ryan from BAR have already stepped up to hooked me up so am very thankful to them.

 

[gdm42001]

Very Nice Tom

 

[247FSHN]

Looks really nice Tom. I'm glad everything turned out alright for you. Was it tough moving all the existing rock you had on the right side? How ever you did it, it sure looks so nice.

 

[northbay-reefer]

Thanks, yes it took a lot of work moving everything out of the tank and moving it to the refugium. I did keep some nice flat rocks for making shelves and such. The picture doesn't show what it really looks like though. When I host the December meeting people can check it out, hopefully by that time I'll have the tank stocked with more corals

 

[thysrof]

I agree, the pictures don't do it justice. I've scene it in person and it's awesome. I really like the open Aquascaping with a lot of shelves to put corals on.

Top notch Tom!

 

[Reef Bass]

Beautiful Tom. Lots of ledges at various heights for custom placement of frags. Lots of room for frags to grow into large colonies. Lots of open space for good water circulation and few dead spots. Nice.

 

[northbay-reefer]

That was the idea so I am glad to be able to create something close to what I imagined, with rocks being different sizes and shape the only thing I could do was start putting them together to see what it looks like and then after seeing the shape, I make changes in angle and such. None of these shapes were imagined ahead of time as you know but am glad it has turned out the way that I want. Now I have to clean the back wall of the tank so I can see the sunset inside my tank at night.

 

[northbay-reefer]

some new corals

Miami hurricane

Buble gum monster

 

[shaneh]

looking good man...you are a bit ahead of me but i will be there soon.

 

[northbay-reefer]

Shane your set up is going to rock so please don't rush, test test and test for leaks first before loading it up with salt water

 

[Reef Bass]

Love the new corals Tom!

Your camera and lens should be able to capture more clear images of those beauties. Are you focusing manually and are you shooting straight through / perpendicular to the glass? Shooting through the glass at an angle introduces distortion. Oh, and use either a remote shutter release or self timer if you're not already. That way you won't be introducing unwanted motion and hence blur when you're pressing the shutter release.

 

[northbay-reefer]

I am using manual focus and shooting at a slight angle because the coral is on a flat. I'll think I have to turn of the pumps and let the tank settled before shooting pictures. I'll also will try the timmer. Thanks Ken

Ps. Their is so much to learn about camera, I just need to spent the time to learn and experiment

 

[Reef Bass]

Yeah, there can be a lot to learn. But once you get it down it becomes second nature. And with digital at least one isn't paying to develop and process bad pics.

Definitely turn off your pumps and use the timer. Shooting straight through the glass is critical to sharp pics. It's an annoying limitation for sure but it's a reality. When not shooting my tank I have a new found enjoyment of being able to angle the camera any way I want. If you can't shoot straight through the glass because of where the coral is, move it temporarily. You'll probably need to give the relocated coral some time to "un-pucker" its polyps. You can also try shooting straight down on it from overhead (not through the glass), or use a plexi "lens box" where the lens is in the box and the box is in the water, so the lens stays dry, you're always shooting straight through the plexi, and you can angle the plexi box however you'd like to shoot those hard to shoot straight on corals.

 

[Steve Ruddy]

Very nice Tom