Updated tank pics (after 4 months)

[mcliffy2]

Haven't posted pics here for quite a while. Updated my build thread over in the large tank forum, but figured I'd throw them up here for the local crew.

(disclaimer that I think I overadjusted the color on the next one...I try to make it as close to what I see as possible...but my colors are not as vivid as the following pic would make them appear...I still like the pic tho, so I'm posting with the disclaimer )

 

[mcliffy2]

And some individual coral shots:

 

[NemusMaximus]

Beautiful! It looks incredibly healthy. What is your fixture, and what bulbs are you running?

 

[Memeber007]

Beautiful!

 

[Laverna]

Nice colors! Looks like you colored everything with crayons.

 

[Pufferpunk]

Fantastic colors. Everything glows under your actinics!

 

[Dansin]

mcliffy2 vary nice. What are you using for lighting, how are the sps growing under the lights you have?

 

[boxer385]

yeah what kind of lighting ATL?

 

[mcliffy2]

I'm running a Sfiligoi Stealth 12x54w T5. I'm very happy with the growth I'm getting from it. In the pictures, 8 of the 12 bulbs are on. Its actually not just actinics (only 2 of the 8 are actinic) - IMO the colors just pop more under the T5s because of the ATI Blue plus bulbs which are almost as blue as actinics, but give you PAR comparable to a daylight bulb. The bulbs that are on in the pictures are:

1 ATI Aquablue special
1 Fiji Purple
4 ATI Blue plus
2 Sfiligoi Actinic

 

[Jeff]

Wow! looking great! How is the coral growth under all of that actinic lighting?

 

[mcliffy2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13362839#post13362839 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jeff
Wow! looking great! How is the coral growth under all of that actinic lighting?

There is actually a very small percentage of the lighting that is actinic (2 of 8 in the pics, 2 of 12 total). The ATI Blue Plus, which have PAR like a daylight bulb, but are almost as blue as actinics, are the T5 secret weapon

To give you an idea of growth and of how much you can manipulate lighting with T5s, heres a pic from 4 months ago when it was first set up. I first used way too many daylight bulbs and it was way too yellow for my taste and bleached many of the corals. I think switched over to using predominantly Blue Plus bulbs, accenting with AB Special, Aquascience Special, Fiji Purple, ATI Procolor, and 2 Actinics. I made this switch after about 1 month, so they've been under that lighting for 3 months.

Before

After

 

[mcliffy2]

And one pic that didnt show up in the original - my 2nd fav coral, the tyree undata:

 

[NewSchool04]

looks great Mike!

 

[mcliffy2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13363138#post13363138 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NewSchool04
looks great Mike!

Thanks Pat - I tried to get a good pic of the sunset for you, but couldn't. If you look on the left side of the pic of the tyree undata, you can see a silhouette, that at least shows the coloration.

 

[md fishes]

Incredible!

 

[HankB]

That's a really nice looking tank and it looks like you have some great corals.

On my monitor some of the pictures - particularly the FTSs - look a bit under exposed. Have you done that on purpose to avoid blowing the highlights which are mostly on the corals?

I've never gotten satisfactory pictures of my frogspawn which is right under the lights in our RSM. They're near the top of the tank close to the light and they're bright to begin with. Maybe I need to try that and just give up on shadow detail.

thanks,
hank

 

[mcliffy2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13363493#post13363493 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by HankB
That's a really nice looking tank and it looks like you have some great corals.

On my monitor some of the pictures - particularly the FTSs - look a bit under exposed. Have you done that on purpose to avoid blowing the highlights which are mostly on the corals?

I've never gotten satisfactory pictures of my frogspawn which is right under the lights in our RSM. They're near the top of the tank close to the light and they're bright to begin with. Maybe I need to try that and just give up on shadow detail.

thanks,
hank

On some, i reduced the exposure a bit...however its funny how different it can look on different monitors. I edited on my macbook pro, and it looked just right. Now, looking at the pics on my work monitor (22" Dell LCD), they look a bit underexposed.

 

[JRaquatics]

Looking good Mike. Still love your Rock layout. Ready to add some more fish yet?

 

[mcliffy2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13364483#post13364483 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JRaquatics
Looking good Mike. Still love your Rock layout. Ready to add some more fish yet?

I started restocking 4 weeks ago (after letting it sit with only the 2 surviving fish for 6 weeks). So far, so good. I've now added a female swallowtail angel, blue flasher wrasse, bicolor anthias, mandarin, and 2 green chromis, to go along with the barletts anthias and christmas wrasse that survived.

 

[saleenpwr88]

delete