The close-up of close-ups...aquariums under the microscope!

[Amphiprionocellaris]

Hey everyone!

I've recently taken a job in a lab which is equipped with a number of imaging scopes, and it was only a matter of time before I decided to have some fun with my tanks. I still need some practice taking pictures of the more mobile animals, but here is the first batch.

Enjoy!

A copepod at 100x

A spicule at 400x

Hair algae at 100x

Some diatoms at 200x

A lone diatom at 400x

Another diatom at 200x

Finally, a mat of cyanobacteria at 400x...you can see that's it not as solid as it looks!

There's plenty of down time in the lab, so look for more super-close-ups in the future.

P.S. For the curious, I just used an eyedropper to grab samples from my 10 gallon tank and place them on slides.

 

[kar93]

Interesting pics, Thanks for sharing.

 

[TitusvileSurfer]

Great Job! I can only imagine what these things must look like alive and swimming around.

 

[Amphiprionocellaris]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12859992#post12859992 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitusvileSurfer
Great Job! I can only imagine what these things must look like alive and swimming around.

Thanks! It's actually pretty amazing to see...and the pictures only represent the slower animals. There's so much stuff zooming around that it was a little overwhelming at first. Hopefully I'll be able to refine my technique enough to get shots of those, too.

 

[Letmegrow]

If you can get some of the medusa sage of Hydroids they are amazing to look at and easy to catch when they settle on the glass.

 

[kactusficus]

Very interesting!

The cyano looks very delicate and beautiful, lol, not the pest I thought it was!

 

[Amphiprionocellaris]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12862788#post12862788 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Letmegrow
If you can get some of the medusa sage of Hydroids they are amazing to look at and easy to catch when they settle on the glass.

We actually get live hydra as part of our zoology course, and they're definitely on the list of things to get images of!

 

[fatrip]

very cool. thanks for sharing....looking foward to seeing more.

 

[Amphiprionocellaris]

Next batch

Next batch

I took some new samples today, this time from one of my 140 gallon reefs. It's a more mature tank than the nano, and the microscopic community is very different! Tomorrow I'm going to try getting samples from my predator tank and my ten year old reef.

To start things off, some bubble algae [not so delicately smashed] at 100x

A top-down view of a copepod at 100x...and you can see how they got the common name "cyclops".

And I thought my water was clean...this 100x view of a drop collected from my refugium begs to differ...

Some more diatoms at 200x

A red flatworm at 40x...the green dots are chloroplasts and a clue to why the population exploded under metal halides.

I'm not entirely sure what's going on here...those projections are either part of the hair algae or diatoms living on its surface...100x.

A very wild-looking segmented worm, or possibly an arthropod...40x.

Some beautiful red algae at 200x.

 

[red13miller]

very cool

 

[sassafrass]

Love those pics more! more!
Lee

 

[ClarionAngel]

Very nice and interesting pictures.

 

[brad2048]

very cool!

 

[Jeff cousteau]

wicked job man kinda scares me a bit tho.... really gonna start washing my hands a ltille better after I'm done working on/in my tank

 

[footbagger311]

That is pretty tight. I wonder what some coralline would look like.

 

[stdreb27]

That is awesome, keep em coming!

 

[crvz]

great pictures, thanks for sharing!

 

[spline9]

Kinda makes you think twice about starting a siphon with your mouth again, huh?

 

[melev]

Cool beans! PM sent.

 

[kactusficus]

Wow, that's definitely makes me want to get a microscope for next christmas!! Beautiful images, and it must be very thrilling to see all this life moving under your eye!!
thanks a lot for sharing!