Mark, I could look at photos of that uop and that pf week after week!
Amazing.
Now, can we have a reality check and see those two under all your lighting?
How high up do you keep the Pink Floyd? Or how much light does it get?
I'd really be interested in a run down of all your equipment and fish and total gallons ect.. What type of flow, basically what you use and how you use it.
I really like the difference between the led picture and the mh picture. Both look amazing.
Thanks for the mh shot, Mark. Still a stunning coral. And as usual, exceptionally clear, crisp and well lit shots.. these aren't done on a phone app like mine.. these are better. The editing is nutso.. You must use Lightroom or some such serious photo editing. I would love to know how to use desktop editing instead of snapseed, it is easier to use but does not produce as sophisticated results..
Are you shooting through the front glass for these?
That's quite amazing about RAP SoCal.
Leds are certainly the way of the future, but they are also changing the way we interact with and evaluate corals..
And being old school, I'm not sure how I feel about it..Yet, at the same time I am so tempted to go all led..
When I go into my favourite sps shop, I have to ask him to tune his radion g4s to less blue and more "realistic" led colour palette so that I can evaluate the corals I'm thinking of buying and better discern what they will look like under my lights.
Before leds, you could look at a coral and with some experience, be able to anticipate what it may turn into in your tank, after some time.
Looking at corals glowing all crazy coloured under leds, it is not very easy to know what it can or will look like at home.
In terms of 'reality' - the colour rendering ability of a light source- leds suck big time. Coming from mh and fluorescent lighting, I have spent 20 years looking at what corals actually look like under 'normal' lighting..
Leds used to try to replicate this but now they are so good that they can make a basic coral look like a magical gem from an alternate universe. I think this is good and bad... maybe more good.. the whole point of this hobby has changed from keeping corals happy and healthy to making them look as good as they can..
I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing.. once leds take over for real, everybody will be looking at coral through the led lens and i guess at that point we will evaluate our coral purchases based on the crazy colours of led light.. and what we will be able to do with them under our crazy led lights..
.. I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here.. I guess its a bit of a philosophical thought..
I guess it's that when you go down the led rabbit hole, everything changes and a new reality sets in.. and not necessarily a bad one..
Well put, 100% correct..nice post
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This is my new samsung s8 active in the water, I'm amazed with it..
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Mark, that Z's disguise is a stunner!! How long have you had it?
This lovely piece looks a lot like the Robin Hood I have- only your is nicer!! I have come to accept, when looking at your thread that I will always see the nicer version of EVERYTHING! that’s why I alway come back.
I think I have had that likely a couple years. All my sps come into my tank as frags, usually 1/2 to 1 inch or so. I have not had any interest in buying colonies for a long, long time. I don't find them interesting. I like watching a frag grow and thrive. Plus I am so concerned about pests and I think there is much less risk with a frag tip than with a colony. Its a lot easier to carefully observe a frag for any pest evidence than it is a colony. So many more hiding spots in a colony. And for me, the challenge of getting that frag to grow into a colorful colony is so darn satisfying. Well except for the frags that won't grow or color up, those are no fun at all.
A couple more pictures:
metal halides lighting:
Reef Raft Canada Shazam
Blue leds of:
JF Flame
The JF Flame is so pretty under any lighting. With metal halides it is much paler but just as dramatic. My colony is getting pretty big, I think at least 4 or 5 inches across, probably even bigger than that. It really is at a stage that I should consider trimming it but it is so enjoyable to look at as is.
I’m also on a ladder to take top downs and reaching under my lights. Bit of a pain..
Now, I get out a fan and aim it at me when shooting to keep me cooler under the halides. It helps.
My favorite local vendor recently put g4 pros over his main sps selling tank and I agree- every time I go in there I just want to leave with all the coral AND the lights.
My AI Primes that I use for led supplement are pretty good but I don’t think they produce the same pop as the reefbrites or the pros..
I am nudging ever closer to going full led.
I keep talking mh with led supplementation with him and he keeps saying ‘but what’s the point in using the mh anymore???’
The more he says it, the more I wonder...
This lovely piece looks a lot like the Robin Hood I have- only your is nicer!! I have come to accept, when looking at your thread that I will always see the nicer version of EVERYTHING! that’s why I alway come back.
That Shazam might have to go on my must have list. It is amazing I just love the texture and that color. And the polyps... I have to go on a quest for this one. It speaks to me.
Your jf flame is way more dense than mine. If they were side by side, it would be hard to say they were the same coral, aside from coloration.
Is it in very turbulent water?