hmmm...after having read through all of this now I think that the only point I would make, which is now after the fact, is that when you first turned it all on you mentioned that the rocks were not lit up very much. You claim that it's all ok now, and I agree, it looks great. But I was only wanting to comment that when I read the build up of the original pictures web blog, I believe that he added the extra T5 WHITE bulb at the very back of the glass shining through the water and towards the back for that very reason. Because it needed a little more light to not create the wrong shadows, and to help light the more foreground stuff from the front...making it more natural. This is an important thing to remember about the perspective for when others do this (myself included); in the ocean the light would not be coming from just the tank light area...it would be lit by the sun in ALL AREAS at once...but the light is diffused by the water causing the blue hazy effect that we see...But all in all it's really all lit at once. So it's a real trick to try and not paint background stuff (or light it as such) to make it appear that the main light (sun) source is JUST the aquarium lights.
I'm not saying any of this because I don't like what you've done. I love it...looks very Caribbean. I'm merely like you and like to think out loud at times. and being a painter I am trying to do samples to make this look right for when I attempt it.
My biggest concern is getting my glass polished again...I bought a used tank and it's not the absolute cleanest thing. But I will manage something. (then I gotta keep it clean, and it's a tall tank)
Again I love this and can't wait to see more of them.
