Farrah's Nano Cube - 11 months (03/03/05)

My cube! :love:

I finally got some decent pics with a new macro lens and ring flash I got for my birthday

Setup

This is a 12gallon stock nano-cube with original 24 watt lighting. The only modification is the addition of some led moonlights and removal of the ceramic rings and bioballs from the back chamber. I have the sponges in the first chamber, nothing in the second, a 50 watt heater in the 3rd, and the stock powerhead in the fourth. It has about 10lbs of pourous tonga live rock and about 10lbs of course live sand.

Maintenance

I try to do weekly waterchanges of about 2 gallons and in the process clean the spongest, glass, and suck up any detritus in the backchamber, on the rock, or on the sandbed.

Inhabitants

Fish:

1 yellow bellied damsel.. he's too territorial to share his home

Inverts:

2 margarita snails

2 trochus snails

2 scarlet hermits

1 blue-legged hermit

1 skunk cleaner shrimp

2 giant hawaiian feather dusters

Corals:

mushrooms (Discosoma, Rhodactis, Ricordea)

zooanthids (Zooanthus, Palythoa, Protopalythoa)

leather (Sarcophyton)

blasto (Blastomussa merletti)

purplish star polyps

some random SPS growing on one of my zoo rocks

Those are some clear shots. Good job on the tank and pics!

That is awesome! I've got a 24g on order with nanocustoms, but it is so great to see that stock out of the box you can have that beautiful of a display. Do you stare at it all day?

WHOA!!! Those pictures are stunning!

What camera, aperture size and shutter speed are you using? It seems like you got everything in focus, but still got the damselfish clear as a bell! Those are seriously magazine quality!

Wow... Your tank is my new idol! Except the Blasto, I am sticking to softies to show off how great a softy tank can be. Any secrets to share? Check out my tanks thread if you get a chance, too. Maybe it will be as good as yours some day!

What do you use to suck up the detritus off the sand bed? Thanks!

wow, very very nice. pics are awesome and tank is even better. nice work.

very nice... keep up the good work

I'll be sending your tank picture as a postcard from my next vacation.

Very Nice!

Thanks, everyone

Dzergoski- Yes, yes... aaaalll day! And I have one of those gravel vacuums that I use on the sandbed (I know, seems stupid with as little sand that's exposed in there)... for everything else, I just use airline tubing.

DarkXerox- The camera is Canon EOS 20D with a 100mm f/2.8 macro USM lens. The shutter speed and aperture varied on the pics. Unfortunately you can use real slow shutter speeds with everything waving around in the water, and my lighting isn't bright enough for small apetures, so none of ml pics have very good depth of field... the ring flash does help.

ImAnanoReefer- Secrets? I just let my tank do its thing and try not to interfere with it too much. I don't dose or anything... just try to keep up with my waterchanges, and it seems ti keep everything happy. I agree with you on the softy tanks... I think they are beautiful Once I get a second tank, I might move the blasto out, but he sure does seem happy in there.

Very beautiful, I think it's good for people on here to see what you can do with 24 watts of lighting. People often focus too much on getting 1 billion watts over there tank, which is important, but other husbandry issues are equally important. Pictures are amazing, especially of the sarcophyton.

Man, I could never bring myself to pay the 300-400 dollars for the macro ring flash, but looking at your pics, I may just have to!

Beautiful pics!

Well, it was a birthday gift from my fiance I told him he shouldn't have spent so much, either, but he said he really want to combine two of the things I loved (photography and my tank!). I think that the lens is the bigger of the two factors, though. I had tried taking pictures with my generic 50mm lens, and it it just didn't capture the real colors like this one did. I've learned that when it comes to optics, you get what you pay for. I think I'll stick to high-quality lenses from now on.

Beautiful tank and amazing pictures! It looks very natural and grown in. I think the shallow depth of field is good for the full tank shot. Most full tank shots show everything in the tank including all the equipment but you pic really focuses in on the inhabitants which is very nice.

(there's only one "o" in zoanthus. just sayin.)

Oooooh you have the 20D? My dad has the 10D with the ring flash and the same macro lens and its great. I kinda figured you had something that good

Yeah it is really hard to get photos that nice on like a 20k MH lit tank. I end up having them come out too dark or blurred, even with a tripod. But yeah my photos suck here since I dont have his camera All the money I get goes right in the tank, but maybe I might go after a used 10D or digital rebel this summer when I work. Great photos though! I can't stop saying that haha!

very nice tank

Farrah-What program are you using to 'black border/display' your pic's?

DarkXerox: Oh, yes.. the 20D. It rocks! I'd recommend borrowing your dad's sometime. I love my camera

Reefer Addict: I used Adobe Photoshop.

Hey Farrah,

Props on your beautiful tank, I'm a huge fan. I was wondering how you got so many corals so close to each-other? It seems to me that everywhere you look there is a coral, or a feather duster.

you have some crazy macro photo skills. very nice.

Well, there are plenty of spots on the rock that don't have corals, but the way I did it was mostly buying stuff by the polyp, getting it to adhere to the rock, and then letting it grow out and multiply filling in the dead spaces.

awesome pics

did you get your stock from Austin Aquarium's? Me and the bf are going there tommorow since you mentioned it lol

I think Aquatek is too pricey for my taste and Aquadome has better prices but we'll see how Austin Aquarium goes.

Some of my stock is from Austin Aquariums, but most of it is mail order. Aquadome definately has the best prices, but they don't seem to take care of there stuff. Their tanks are always super dirty, filled with aptasia, and tons of their fish are dead or dying. I hate seeing that. I am intrigued with their little tidal pool setup, though.