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Dr. Felicia's Predator Paradise - Retired


Felicia

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Found you. :) I saw the like and then went searching for a new thread. Good luck with the 40, I'm sure it will be fantastic! Oh, and of course, thanks for more diving pics.

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Mr. Microscope

Wow-WEEE! Brilliant dive photos! Really very exciting. I'm really looking forward to seeing your upgrade progress as well. Good luck!

 

Any thoughts on doing something different livestock wise?

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When they were born I posted on a local forum that aquarists could have some for free. I gave 12 away and I meant to keep 12, but they were so tiny I actually kept 22 not knowing at first. I lost about 3-4 in one week to bacteria in the gut from enriching the baby brine shrimp with selcon. When I switched to all Dan's feed they began to improve and thrive. I have 15 still. It has been very rewarding and it'll be kind of sad to sell them or re-home them. I do plan to keep 1. Here's a pic: 101_0461_zpskduulbgf.jpg

That's so impressive! There are experienced breeder who don't have that kind of success rate. Great work! Such cute little things. Makes me miss mine, but I just cannot do two tanks and the constant feeding right now. Such cool creatures though.

 

Excellent Job drilling the tank Felicia can't wait to see what you do with this tank! Are you planning on doing a mixed tank or dominate it with something?? And fish, what fish come on now I need details :) lol

Thanks! I am so relieved I didn't break this tank. I love the DIY stuff! So satisfying to do it myself :) I think I'm going to go back to more of the mixed reef deal I think. I know what you want to hear, and yes there will be SPS this time around. I've had enough time to cool down and lift my ban on SPS corals :lol: Funny enough, Eddie is about to take his tank down for a move and I happen to need new corals after the crash, so the timing works out that I may just take a bunch of stuff from his tank. I'll be picking and choosing some stuff from him to at least get started restocking and I have a few of my nice pieces (like my duncan colony) that survived the crash. See below for a fish discussion...

 

For that kind of tank volume and turnover (10x is too much IMHO, I like to be around 5-6x), I would recommend stepping up to a larger skimmer. I used the SCA-301 on my 55g and 20g sump (about 60g total volume) and while it worked, it was not great. I'm currently using an SCA-303 on my 80g + Trigger 30 sump, and it's a bauss, but I also have an algae scrubber to handle part of my bioload (which borders on extreme). I'd recommend stepping up to the 303 to give you some leeway with bioload.

Ok, well that's good to hear that I don't even need a full 400 gph for turnover, so that Jebao DC3000 at a max of 800 gph should be plenty even if it has a ton of loss to head pressure. I do think I need to upsize my skimmer at some point, but for now I'm already spending too much money on this upgrade, so that's on the backburner. I'll probably wait a bit and save some money before looking into skimmers. My SCA-301 does a pretty good job, so I think it will be sufficient for a while. Plus, I plan to use the fuge with macroalgae to supplement my filtration, which should make for a huge improvement over my current system. My original 30 gallon (TOTM winner) had only a HOB AC70, but it had a ton of macro algae in the display and it was super stable compared to how my current system has been. I think a significant amount of macro algae growth is the trick!

 

Cool look forward to this tank.

Thank you! I'm psyched. I love the build phase and getting to DIY things :)

 

Found you. :) I saw the like and then went searching for a new thread. Good luck with the 40, I'm sure it will be fantastic! Oh, and of course, thanks for more diving pics.

I was going to comment on your thread, but then I got busy with some stuff for work. I'm teaching a class this semester and we've only had one day of class, so I got sucked into answering a bunch of student emails with questions. I need to get back to making my catch-up round of NR and commenting on everyone's threads! Glad you enjoyed the dive photos! Thanks for stopping by to check out the new build.

 

Wow-WEEE! Brilliant dive photos! Really very exciting. I'm really looking forward to seeing your upgrade progress as well. Good luck!

 

Any thoughts on doing something different livestock wise?

Thanks, Mr. M! I'm so happy with how those dive photos came out. Nothing professional since I don't have the right camera equipment, but I can't complain. Coldwater diving is not known for very good visibility, so its so exciting to have a day with super clear water like that. They can be few and far between out here. I mentioned coral plans above in my answer to Chris, but I still need to discuss fish...

 

Ok, so fish...nothing is decided yet, but I've started thinking about it. I love my current fish. The wrasses especially because I'm hooked on having bright, open water swimming fish. Makes the tank seem so much more active. However, this is a small upgrade, so I'd like to add at least one new exciting fish. I was considering a dwarf angel again, and still sort of am, but its lower on the list. I love them and they're big and colorful, but I worry about ending up with one that nips corals or my clams. The clams survived the crash btw and are doing well. Anyways, maybe a flame angel if I go that route. I'd also love to give another leopard wrasse a try. However, my coris wrasse is starting to get a bit nasty. He's super peaceful with the current fish, but I tried to add a replacement leopard wrasse a while back and he immediately killed it. With the tank transfer, that might disorient him enough in terms of territory to get a new fish into the balance, but I'm not sure. I really like him, but he is getting big and I'm worried he might start getting mean with the current fish. I'm thinking this transfer might be the opportunity to get him out and rehome him. I just get weirdly attached to my fish so that's a sad thought since he's been with me for quite some time now. I was also thinking it might be good to rehome the firefish since she's so shy and seems to be intimidated by the wrasses (even though they NEVER bother or harass her). That's a hard though too though because I've had her for 3 years, but I rarely see her anymore because she's always hiding. So if I rehome the coris and the firefish, that allows me to get a couple new fish. I'm thinking possibly a leopard wrasse and then I'm tempted to take Eddie's pair of disbar anthias when he takes down his tank and needs to rehome them. They're such pretty open water swimmers and its fun that they're a pair and swim around together all the time. So that's sort of my thought atm. Of course I'm open to other fun ideas!

 

 

Btw, as a current fish tally, I have:

 

 

 

  • Coris wrasse (getting big and starting to show some aggression, but nothing major)
  • Candy stripe hogfish (still pretty small and never shown any aggression)
  • Exquisite wrasse (decent sized but peaceful)
  • Yellow watchman goby (can be a bit territorial, but only if another fish gets too close to where he's sitting on the sand)
  • Firefish (super shy and peaceful)
  • Clown pair (ocellaris and Darwin - peaceful and ignore the other fish)
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Thanks! I am so relieved I didn't break this tank. I love the DIY stuff! So satisfying to do it myself :) I think I'm going to go back to more of the mixed reef deal I think. I know what you want to hear, and yes there will be SPS this time around. I've had enough time to cool down and lift my ban on SPS corals :lol:

 

I'm glad you didn't break it down and get out either! Good, glad to hear there will be some killer SPS in the mix this go around :) The whole mixed/ lps look has really grown on me alot tho lol

 

Funny enough, Eddie is about to take his tank down for a move and I happen to need new corals after the crash, so the timing works out that I may just take a bunch of stuff from his tank. I'll be picking and choosing some stuff from him to at least get started restocking and I have a few of my nice pieces (like my duncan colony) that survived the crash.

 

Whoa!! He is just temporarily taking it down tho right?!?!?!?!?!? Tell him I need some of his fire too :lol:

 

I was considering a dwarf angel again, and still sort of am, but its lower on the list. I love them and they're big and colorful, but I worry about ending up with one that nips corals or my clams. The clams survived the crash btw and are doing well. Anyways, maybe a flame angel if I go that route.

 

With angels I know many claim theirs don't nip, its 99% bs. I fed 4 times a day and though oh no theres no way, and I never see them nipping (flame, coral beauty, passer, venustus...), but the day I removed the last one it like night and day how big of a difference the PE was on EVERYTHING..... Its like with wrasses and jumping, its not if it will happen its when it will happen.

 

 

  • Coris wrasse (getting big and starting to show some aggression, but nothing major)

 

This is pretty common really, even in my old 180 my yellow coris was high on the chain of command. The 1st two were my Show sized Passer Angel (known to be aggressive) with my Flame Angel right behind him, then the Coris. Everyone else (like 20 others) just kinda fell in line behind and were much more passive.

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Following along and looking forward to your progress!

 

I have always found that multiple tanks (even back in my FW days) always seemed to feel like they took too much work and took a lot of the fun out the hobby. Thought about keeping my old Spec V running on my basement bar next to the new 40B when I set it up, but ended up taking it down for the exact same reason - they felt like too much work, and one of the tanks was always getting neglected.

 

I am running two tanks now (the 40B at home and the Mr Aqua 6 at work). Because they are in two different locations I can only focus on one tank at a time which sems to help.

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jedimasterben

Ok, well that's good to hear that I don't even need a full 400 gph for turnover, so that Jebao DC3000 at a max of 800 gph should be plenty even if it has a ton of loss to head pressure. I do think I need to upsize my skimmer at some point, but for now I'm already spending too much money on this upgrade, so that's on the backburner. I'll probably wait a bit and save some money before looking into skimmers. My SCA-301 does a pretty good job, so I think it will be sufficient for a while. Plus, I plan to use the fuge with macroalgae to supplement my filtration, which should make for a huge improvement over my current system. My original 30 gallon (TOTM winner) had only a HOB AC70, but it had a ton of macro algae in the display and it was super stable compared to how my current system has been. I think a significant amount of macro algae growth is the trick!

Macroalgae growth will definitely help, but most display-worthy macros don't have the growth speed to truly make an impact, the additional mass just isn't there to really pull out N&P, that's why I love algae scrubbers :D If you've already got the skimmer, then def use it for now, having a small one is better than not having one in most cases :)

 

When we gonna have water up in here?

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Mr. Microscope

hmmm..wish I had suggestions, but I don't have a lot of experience with fish. I've heard a lot about midas blennys being a lot of fun. I recently added a cleaner shrimp to my tank. I've got to say, that thing is a lot more fun than any fish I've ever had. I can really interact with it. It's very gentle. It will crawl on my hand and try to clean me. lol! It also takes food by hand.

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HI Felicia- excited to see ya back. I love the detail in your diving pictures, and I thought I saw a rock flower in there! I love all the colors, the pinks, oranges, purples, yellows- you capture everything beautifully.

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hmmm..wish I had suggestions, but I don't have a lot of experience with fish. I've heard a lot about midas blennys being a lot of fun. I recently added a cleaner shrimp to my tank. I've got to say, that thing is a lot more fun than any fish I've ever had. I can really interact with it. It's very gentle. It will crawl on my hand and try to clean me. lol! It also takes food by hand.

I adore my midas blenny, King Midas. He has the cutest face, he eats anything including nuisance algae, is non aggressive with my other fish, swims like an eel and perches so cute in all sorts of places that he's hard not to love.

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I'm glad you didn't break it down and get out either! Good, glad to hear there will be some killer SPS in the mix this go around :) The whole mixed/ lps look has really grown on me alot tho lol

Yeah I was really enjoying that too. I'm really not the least bit settled on coral choices. I think I need to get the new tank up and running and then see what I think will look good where. I'm planning to keep the same scape, but I need to see how it looks in the 40B. I'll probably add to it a bit, or I may make some changes if it doesn't look right in the 40B. I'm really being indecisive other than the actual equipment upgrade portion. Once that's all figured out, then I'll sort out what to do in terms of coral.

 

 

With angels I know many claim theirs don't nip, its 99% bs. I fed 4 times a day and though oh no theres no way, and I never see them nipping (flame, coral beauty, passer, venustus...), but the day I removed the last one it like night and day how big of a difference the PE was on EVERYTHING..... Its like with wrasses and jumping, its not if it will happen its when it will happen.

Good point. I had my coral beauty for 2 years in my tank that won TOTM and she was a model citizen, but I guess she could have been annoying things a bit and I just didn't notice. Honestly, she was worth it though because she was a great fish. I just don't like the risk involved in trying a new one. I'd really love a flame angel, but they're more of a risk than a coral beauty. I've also considered a tang, but I just think a 40B is too small and they don't thrill me that much. Granted I felt the same way about wrasses until I got some and got hooked, haha!

 

This is pretty common really, even in my old 180 my yellow coris was high on the chain of command. The 1st two were my Show sized Passer Angel (known to be aggressive) with my Flame Angel right behind him, then the Coris. Everyone else (like 20 others) just kinda fell in line behind and were much more passive.

Yeah I know coris wrasses can get aggressive as they get bigger. Mine really isn't bad at all yet, I'd just hate for him to get that way down the road when the tank is all set up and he's impossible to catch.

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Following along and looking forward to your progress!

 

I have always found that multiple tanks (even back in my FW days) always seemed to feel like they took too much work and took a lot of the fun out the hobby. Thought about keeping my old Spec V running on my basement bar next to the new 40B when I set it up, but ended up taking it down for the exact same reason - they felt like too much work, and one of the tanks was always getting neglected.

 

I am running two tanks now (the 40B at home and the Mr Aqua 6 at work). Because they are in two different locations I can only focus on one tank at a time which sems to help.

Yep, something about two tanks makes it go from fun to work. I always find myself being way more into one tank and neglecting the other. I just can't stay super involved with two tanks at once. I think having one at work and one at home would work though. That's probably a good balance. I do technically have a second tank - my betta tank, but its so low maintenance that it doesn't count. Its a 4 gallon low tech planted tank that hasn't had a water change in like 4 months, but is still spotless. Definitely an easy tank :)

 

Macroalgae growth will definitely help, but most display-worthy macros don't have the growth speed to truly make an impact, the additional mass just isn't there to really pull out N&P, that's why I love algae scrubbers :D If you've already got the skimmer, then def use it for now, having a small one is better than not having one in most cases :)

 

When we gonna have water up in here?

The blue ochtodes I had in my old tank sure grew like a weed. That stuff grew WAY faster than chaeto for me. I think I'll just do a big ball of chaeto this time around. An algae scrubber would be cool. Maybe I'll look into making a DIY one down the road.

 

Water? Not sure yet! My plan is to put the baffles in the sump today. Once that's done, I basically need to pick a weekend and spend the whole weekend doing the transfer. I'd like to have some help doing the heavy lifting portion, so I'm trying to wait until the next time Eddie comes to visit so he can help me. Not sure with scheduling when that will be though and I get impatient, so I may jump the gun and do it myself. My plan is to drain the water out of my 30 gallon into a holding tank and transfer all the rock and inhabitants into the holding tank. Then I'll move the empty 30 gallon and the old stand out of the way and set up the 40 breeder on the stand. I plan to spend a couple hours doing the plumbing and then once its dry, I'll get the equipment all up and running and put the new sand into the tank. I'll probably let that run overnight and then transfer in the live rock and inhabitants. I'm hoping I'll get minimal cycle since I'll just be using my current live rock which will stay in the water the whole time. I don't want to have to set the new tank up and cycle it for a couple weeks because I don't really have the space to have two tanks set up at once.

 

hmmm..wish I had suggestions, but I don't have a lot of experience with fish. I've heard a lot about midas blennys being a lot of fun. I recently added a cleaner shrimp to my tank. I've got to say, that thing is a lot more fun than any fish I've ever had. I can really interact with it. It's very gentle. It will crawl on my hand and try to clean me. lol! It also takes food by hand.

I had a midas blenny a while back and I loved it! I have a bunch of yellow fish though (apparently I love yellow fish), so I'm trying to get a different color to mix it up a bit. I might still get some sort of blenny down the road though. I miss having one and I'd love to have a starry blenny :) I actually have a cleaner shrimp that I've had for the last year. I may get it a friend since I used to have two back in my TOTM tank and they were fun to watch together. They always had eggs too, which made for good fish and coral food.

 

HI Felicia- excited to see ya back. I love the detail in your diving pictures, and I thought I saw a rock flower in there! I love all the colors, the pinks, oranges, purples, yellows- you capture everything beautifully.

Thanks! Its nice to be back :) I'm glad you enjoyed the dive photos. There aren't any rock flower anemones in cold water, but some of them look similar. I'm not the best at ID'ing all the cold water anemones. I need to get better at that!

 

I adore my midas blenny, King Midas. He has the cutest face, he eats anything including nuisance algae, is non aggressive with my other fish, swims like an eel and perches so cute in all sorts of places that he's hard not to love.

They really are great fish! I loved mine when I had one. I just need to stop buying so many yellow fish, haha! I have 3 bright yellow fish right now and I need different colors :)

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Yeah I was really enjoying that too. I'm really not the least bit settled on coral choices. I think I need to get the new tank up and running and then see what I think will look good where. I'm planning to keep the same scape, but I need to see how it looks in the 40B. I'll probably add to it a bit, or I may make some changes if it doesn't look right in the 40B. I'm really being indecisive other than the actual equipment upgrade portion. Once that's all figured out, then I'll sort out what to do in terms of coral.

 

I really liked your previous scape, and I think the extra negative space will be sweet. Worst case just add some meat to the sand. As for coral I think you've got a good idea in your mind with going mixed w/ sps this time ;)

 

Good point. I had my coral beauty for 2 years in my tank that won TOTM and she was a model citizen, but I guess she could have been annoying things a bit and I just didn't notice. Honestly, she was worth it though because she was a great fish. I just don't like the risk involved in trying a new one. I'd really love a flame angel, but they're more of a risk than a coral beauty. I've also considered a tang, but I just think a 40B is too small and they don't thrill me that much. Granted I felt the same way about wrasses until I got some and got hooked, haha!

 

I really liked all my angels too, and was in denial about their nipping.... until I removed them and watched the PE just explode compared to where it was. I'm not huge on tangs in a 40B, I had mine in there for a while and it was a pain watching him half heartedly swim around..... but I'd also watched him in a 6' 180 before and knew what he was capable of.

 

Yeah I know coris wrasses can get aggressive as they get bigger. Mine really isn't bad at all yet, I'd just hate for him to get that way down the road when the tank is all set up and he's impossible to catch.

 

Yeah the adult aggression is their only downfall.... If your planning on adding any more wrasses I would try to add them shortly after the initial set up so he isn't fully established as it will greatly improve your odds. If that isn't going to be possible I would try to rehome him and eventually add another as the last addition if you want to keep a yellow coris :)

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Sorry to hear about the crash but glad you are starting again. The beginning of a new build is so exciting.

 

Your diving pictures are stunning. They are what I expect to see when I flip through National Geographic magazines.

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I really liked your previous scape, and I think the extra negative space will be sweet. Worst case just add some meat to the sand. As for coral I think you've got a good idea in your mind with going mixed w/ sps this time ;)

Yeah I love the current scape, but I would like to add a few new coral placement options. I think may add one more low island or something now that I have an extra 5" of depth. I'll have to see what I think will work once I get the current rocks into the new tank though. I definitely want to keep a lot of negative space, especially with wanting open water swimming fish. I also want to try to keep the sandbed uncluttered if possibly, so I'll put a few things on the sand, but not too much.

 

 

I really liked all my angels too, and was in denial about their nipping.... until I removed them and watched the PE just explode compared to where it was. I'm not huge on tangs in a 40B, I had mine in there for a while and it was a pain watching him half heartedly swim around..... but I'd also watched him in a 6' 180 before and knew what he was capable of.

Yeah, both angels and tangs seem like bad long term choices. I think I'll stick with my current wrasse addiction :)

 

 

Yeah the adult aggression is their only downfall.... If your planning on adding any more wrasses I would try to add them shortly after the initial set up so he isn't fully established as it will greatly improve your odds. If that isn't going to be possible I would try to rehome him and eventually add another as the last addition if you want to keep a yellow coris :)

I was definitely going to add any new fish right during/after the transfer while my current fish are all disoriented territorially. The yellow coris is a pretty common fish, so I think I'd like to replace him with something a little more exciting that won't get so aggressive. Also, I have two other yellow fish, so I need to get some different colors in there! I'm really leaning towards rehoming the firefish and coris and then getting a leopard wrasse and maybe a pair of small anthias.

 

Sorry to hear about the crash but glad you are starting again. The beginning of a new build is so exciting.

 

Your diving pictures are stunning. They are what I expect to see when I flip through National Geographic magazines.

Yep, this hobby can be rough some times. Luckily new builds are always the most fun part :)

 

Thank you! You are too kind! :blush: I am not very good at photography and I just use a point and shoot, so the photos aren't very professional, but I enjoy taking them. I'd love to someday get a really nice underwater DSLR camera setup and learn more about underwater photography. Unfortunately, a nice underwater camera set-up is just so expensive. Maybe someday!

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Thank you! You are too kind! :blush: I am not very good at photography and I just use a point and shoot, so the photos aren't very professional, but I enjoy taking them. I'd love to someday get a really nice underwater DSLR camera setup and learn more about underwater photography. Unfortunately, a nice underwater camera set-up is just so expensive. Maybe someday!

 

Those were taken with a point and shoot?!?! what point and shoot are you using? external flash? i am even more impressed...hahah

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Those were taken with a point and shoot?!?! what point and shoot are you using? external flash? i am even more impressed...hahah

I use an old beat-up Canon point and shoot that I got back in 2009. Its a Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS and I have the Canon-made waterproof housing for it. I tried to upgrade a while back to one of Canon's more advanced point-and-shoots, the ones with more features similar to a DSLR, but it just wouldn't take as good of macro shots as I was able to get with my old go-to. I actually don't use any flash at all with my underwater photos. I'd love to get a strobe set-up at some point for that. The little flash on the camera is useless underwater. My photos turn out best when we're not very deep and still getting good sunlight. Clear water helps too. Sometimes I can manage to use my underwater flashlight to light things up for decent photos.

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Yeah I love the current scape, but I would like to add a few new coral placement options. I think may add one more low island or something now that I have an extra 5" of depth. I'll have to see what I think will work once I get the current rocks into the new tank though. I definitely want to keep a lot of negative space, especially with wanting open water swimming fish. I also want to try to keep the sandbed uncluttered if possibly, so I'll put a few things on the sand, but not too much.

 

I think a nice low island would be a good addition. You will definitely have a bit more room to play with, its crazy how 5" will make such a big difference lol I definitely look forward to what you come up with :)

 

getting a leopard wrasse and maybe a pair of small anthias.

 

:wub::wub::wub:

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Here's my poor beat-up point and shoot:

IMG_2682.jpg~original

 

And the underwater housing for it:

IMG_2681.jpg~original

 

 

 

On 1/25/2015 at 5:09 PM, Chris! said:

I think a nice low island would be a good addition. You will definitely have a bit more room to play with, its crazy how 5" will make such a big difference lol I definitely look forward to what you come up with :)

 

 

:wub::wub::wub:

Thought you'd be a fan of that idea :)

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that's amazing that you can get those kind of pictures without flash! i used those water proof cameras like the olympus tough or nikon aw110 and the pictures are horrible. maybe it's cuz i am snorkeling and getting knocked around by waves =P

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that's amazing that you can get those kind of pictures without flash! i used those water proof cameras like the olympus tough or nikon aw110 and the pictures are horrible. maybe it's cuz i am snorkeling and getting knocked around by waves =P

Yeah, you have to be able to get really close to the subjects and hold very still to get good macro shots. I only really get good macro shots with the point and shoot, but that's what I enjoy doing anyway. The point and shoot is not very good for other kinds of photography besides macrophotography from my experience. I also feel like some of those waterproof cameras aren't as good. I've had much better luck with the Canon cameras inside a separate housing.

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On 1/25/2015 at 5:14 PM, Felicia said:

Here's my poor beat-up point and shoot:

IMG_2682.jpg~original

 

Ha I have this camera ages ago! Same color too. I have it somewhere in storage. I'm glad it still serves you well. Great photos. And welcome back!!! :)

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Ha I have this camera ages ago! Same color too. I have it somewhere in storage. I'm glad it still serves you well. Great photos. And welcome back!!! :)

Thanks! Its nice to be back. I just have to try not to get too busy and neglect NR again. Gotta find a balance :) That's funny you have the same camera in the same color. It just seems to work well for underwater macro photos, so I keep using it!

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