My 264 gallon A.G.E. rebuild

[CAreefer]

Sorry for the extended absence and much overdue replies. I've been in and out of town and swamped at work. Anywho...

Thanks Edward, that T. deresa just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I'm glad it's holding color otherwise it would'nt be worth the real estate it takes up.

jnarowe- I can't seem to get that ORA to come back around just yet. I'm tempted to move it around a bit but I'm unsure which way to go. Right now it's mid level, directly under a 20k Helios that's 12" above the water. IIRC it did better lower previously. I may move it down a bit and see how it comes along. Where do you have yours lighting wise?

rishma- I take it you know Rob? Nice guy. Pretty laid back too. He's built some nice systems, very high end stuff. Talked me out of Starphire the first time around.

reefmutt- Thanks for the props. It has a loong ways to go, but coming along nicely. As for the adhesives, I really don't know what they are using other than it is some sort of heat set that they use UV lights to cure. Certainly not the typical Silicone.

jnarowe- I think you maybe right about the re-min carts, but he doesn't really know what they are. I spoke to him the other day and Ca was well over 500 in one of his tanks and alk was 14 dKH. So definitely can't use it for top off. I'll stick with what's working personally. It intrigued me at first, but I've lost too much in the last year to fart around with those.

new_world_disor- Thanks, I hope it meets your expectations in the near future Personally, the "young" reef look is driving me nuts. I can't wait for things to fill in.

I have a new set of pics "in the can" and hopefully will have time to post em up pretty soon.

Marshal

 

[jnarowe]

Why did he talk you out of Starfire?

 

[CAreefer]

Jonathan, I had never seen Starphire for myself. He went on to explain it wasn't worth the added expense, blah, blah, blah. I bought into it and didn't do the research myself. Shame on me. For some reason he's not a fan of the Starphire glass.

 

[CAreefer]

A couple updated pics

Atlantis "Cherry Bomb" prostrata

M. spongodes

Tyree Purple monster gettin some color back

Garf bonsai

vermiculata

Atlantis "Raspberry Lemonade"

A. nasuta comin back from browndom

 

[CAreefer]

My signature A. plana

Its illegitimate twin brother A. desalwii

Another shot of the Rainbow granulosa. Quickly becoming my favorite.

And finally A. microclades. Another one of my favs.

Marshal

 

[CAreefer]

My chromis school of 9 is down to 5. One at a time they developed lesions at the base of their dorsal fins and died off. The remaining 5 are fat and happy and appear to be doing well. I added 5 more Glass cardinals for a total of 7 and all are hanging together and getting along well. The Chromis will school with them on occasion which makes for a large grouping and a pretty neat look.The Majestic is eating everything from flake to Spectrum pellets, not an overly aggressive eater at this point, still pretty timid, but will come out to eat.

Nothing else really new to add at this point. Just trying to maintain status quo and let things settle in. Calcium and Alkalinity demand has risen substantially recently and I've been having to continually turn up the CaRx to keep up.

In processing the above pics I did spot a RB or two on a couple corals. Far from an infestation at this point. I dipped the affected corals, so maybe I caught things in time.

Marshal

 

[jnarowe]

corals look sweet. I would love to see a pic of the cardinalfish. I really want some red spots, but I see more and more reefers in the US have the long spines.

 

[CAreefer]

I'll see what I can get for a pic. I work all day tomorrow, so I'll shoot for monday. They hang pretty tight to the rockwork during the day. I'll see what I can do.

 

[mpoletti]

Marshall- What f-stop are you shooting in?

 

[CAreefer]

It varies Marko9. I'm still very much a noob with the camera. I do shoot aperture priority most of the time. Usually between 6 and 9 IIRC, but sometimes as much as 4 to try and get more of the coral in focus. That is assuming I understand the way aperture works? Those pics are all less than 100% crops as well. The Nikon with 105 macro lens takes pretty large images, even in the medium setting.

Marshal

 

[jnarowe]

detail is very good. you are getting decent depth of field and that's one of the hardest parts about shooting corals...that and the white balance!

 

[Elliott]

smaller the aperture (hole size) the larger depth of focus, but the more light you need

the aperture number varies inversely with the hole size, ie the larger the aperture number the smaller the hole size

 

[mpoletti]

So you are shooting with a Nikon. I got a D40x a few months back and there is so much to learn. Your pictures look great.

 

[CAreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11696662#post11696662 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
detail is very good. you are getting decent depth of field and that's one of the hardest parts about shooting corals...that and the white balance!

Yeah, that WB is a biotch to get right. Finally got it close using the custom setting, new eggcrate submerged into the tank. I need to pick up a gray card and see how that works out.

The DOF doesn't seem to change a bunch regardless of f-stop used. The biggest difference I notice is in the amount of time the shutter is open and as a result, the clarity of the picture. I try to use the eurobracing on the tank to stabilize the top down box as much as possible. All the pics that I can't do this are pretty poor, the ole paws aren't as steady as they used to be.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11696662#post11696662 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Elliot
smaller the aperture (hole size) the larger depth of focus, but the more light you need

the aperture number varies inversely with the hole size, ie the larger the aperture number the smaller the hole size

That seems backwards from what I thought. You're saying an f-stop of 11 would have a greater DOF than a stop of say, 5?

If I understand the rest correctly, the shutter would be open longer to allow more light in?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11696662#post11696662 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Marko9
So you are shooting with a Nikon. I got a D40x a few months back and there is so much to learn. Your pictures look great.

Yes, I picked up the D70 about 3 months before the 70s came out. Just my luck, but honestly I don't know that I would know the difference in the two anyway. I've had the camera over 2 years now and still haven't gotten the hang of all of it yet. I have taken literally thousands, if not tens of thousands of pics with it and am just now starting to feel relatively proficient with it.

Thanks for the compliment, I've done lots of reading and experimenting trying to learn how to get quality pics. The nice thing is that aquarium pics are the hardest by far that I've tried to take. Once outside of this realm, the picture taking is easy and the success rate skyrockets. This pic of my 12 year old Lab was taken on a whim with the kit lens in the full auto mode. Not too shabby IMO.

Marshal

 

[CAreefer]

Couple quick updated shots.

Shades of Fall

Continued recovery of the A. exquisita
Jan 13th

Today. Notice how the base has grown to the edge of the frag disc.

FragFarmer echinata getting better all the time

A. hokesemai

Raspberry lemonade

And lastly, 6 of the glass cardinals and a yellow tang

CAReefer

 

[Brewen]

Great looking pics Marshal, keep them coming as your tank is growing out.

 

[ycnibrc]

nice colors and awesome colllection....

 

[jnarowe]

Marshall, can you discuss the cardinalfish more? Like how long you have had them, how many, and generally what are their behaviors? How do they react to the larger fish?

I would like to put a large school of small fish in my system and have been primarily interested in the red spot cardinalfish, but it seems they are never available in the US. I am looking in the 40 - 50 fish range, but I don't want them to just become anemone food or hide all day.

 

[beaglelax]

Is the majestic angel fish reed safe ???

 

[tbone28]

Marshal, any updates & pics to share?