davidr2340 Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Thanks for the kind words! I am taking the big red cap out for a fragging session very soon, and will have plenty of frags for free if anyone is willing to pay for the shipping! Hmmm... That's a helluva offer I just might take you up on!!! Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 7, 2008 Author Share Posted July 7, 2008 Please do, I am waiting to frag it! It rains every afternoon, no matter what part of florida you live in! Chiller comes tomorrow, cant wait! Link to comment
MiddReef Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Please let us know when those frags make their way out! Link to comment
bucknellreefer Posted July 7, 2008 Share Posted July 7, 2008 Please let us know when those frags make their way out! Top Gear is the ######! I just finished downloading this weeks episode, can't wait to watch it! Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 7, 2008 Author Share Posted July 7, 2008 I just need and excuse to do it.....I have no room for frags, so I am gonna snap them and bag them. I need atleast two people ready first because I will have a lot of it that I need to ship. Just pay shipping and $75 worth of red monti cap is yours for free! Link to comment
JourneyReef Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 My dad kept reef tanks the entire time I was growing up. He was doing it when it was still really hard because none of the stuff we have to make our tanks run nice and smoothly was available. I have always loved tanks, lizards, turtles, snakes, ect ect when I was younger. I guess I am kinda a Tom boy in my hobbys, minus the boy clothes lol. As soon as my husband told me he kept reef tanks, I was in love! Funny, my dad had reef tanks (a 125 before it was easy!) while I was growing up too. We used to go to the ocean together and he taught me to get anemones off of rocks to put in his tank, etc. It was awesome bonding (and wasn't illegal at the time) for us. Now that I have my own reef, I keep having "flashbacks" of lessons he taught me about SW aquariums....it's really cool! Great to have another girl reefer, btw. Wow... SDT every time i visit NR I have to visit your thread - it is a given. Your tank is an absolute masterpiece. I picked up my first monti yesterday and it's a really nice piece. When you start fragging you can guarantee I'll take a couple pieces from you . By the way what's the weather like up that side? I'm down in Fort Laudy and it rains EVERYDAY. I used to live in Melbourne (went to FIT) and it was pretty much the same - rained everday in the afternoon. HEY! I grew up in Ft. Pierce!! Also, about that red monti...if you are fragging next month, count me in. If it's before then, I can't do it...I promised myself no more spending for at least 30 days. Sigh. It's so hard. Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 15, 2008 Author Share Posted July 15, 2008 New pics! Top downs of night time polyp extension! Rose Mille White mystery ORA acro? Anyone know what this is? Blue Mille Link to comment
smarsh Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 All I can say is....WOW. that polyp extension seems so good, its unnatural, You have supercorals that look like they are the healthiest in the hobby. I think I can speak for the majority of us on here, we dream of polyp extension like this. Good Work SDT. Link to comment
SPS20 Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Very happy corals. You are an asset to the hobby, SDT. Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 15, 2008 Author Share Posted July 15, 2008 Thanks! I have been trying to get a pic of my slimers PE, it is ridiculous, the polyps are bigger than aiptasia! I am hooking up my chiller in the next few days, maybe tonight!...Should be fun! Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 Those are some hella happy sps! Very nice work! Link to comment
hcsceo Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 WOOOOO TAILS!!! I love this tank You are definately my new hero. Keep the pics coming. Steve Link to comment
jflysmooth Posted July 16, 2008 Share Posted July 16, 2008 If you're having trouble taking pictures of your tank with your XTI there's a few easy things to try. I noticed (like everyone pointed out) that a lot of the first pictures were a little dark. I also noticed that your macro lens shots were a bit bright. Don't hesitate to use your exposure compensation (EV) to lighten or darken a picture a little bit. An easy way to test it is to just set your camera up on a tripod and then take a pic, adjust one stop, take another, etc, so you can see how adjusting it effects the outcome. Another important thing is to play with your white balance. The built in should do a pretty decent job, but sometimes you need to adjust it if you change angles or have too much of one color (i have a blue background on my 20h, for example, and have to compensate if there's a lot of the background in a shot). The biggest improvement I noticed was simply switching to a faster lens. I can handheld shoot most anything in the tank with the sigma 17-70 macro that I for my nikon cuase it starts at f/2.8. It also allows you to use a narrower apeture to get more depth of field when you're taking certain shots. For example, if you're zoomed in on a larger coral, like a frogspawn or something that has a bit of depth, but your apeture is too large (like f/2.8) then you'll only have a very small portion of the coral in focus. If you can extend that focal range a bit by stopping down then you can have a lot more of the coral (front to back) in focus without doing any weird photoshop merging stuff. Overall, I would suggest using a tripod, a remote shutter release (or if lacking one, then set your shutter release on a delay so you dont have button pushing wiggle in the shot), and turn off all the lights in the room (close the shutters, whatever). Of course, if you were uber rich you could just go get one of those nice L lenses which would let you be a lot sloppier and still get awesome shots. Sorry for the long post, I got started and couldn't stop. Oh, and I forgot to mention, your tank is looking awesome. I really like those last shots of the polyp extension! *jealous* Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 16, 2008 Author Share Posted July 16, 2008 Thanks, I like tank photography, whats the point of having a tank if you cant show it off sometimes! Macros to come later of green w/blue polyps cap I got from varanus......wait till you see this thing! Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 18, 2008 Author Share Posted July 18, 2008 Here are the shots of the green with blue polyps monti cap I got from Varanus37! What an awesome coral! Thanks again! I also hooked up my current 1/15th hp chiller last night. Works perfect for my tank, good by 3 annoying fans! Now I only need 1! I have the chiller over 10ft away from the tank running with a MJ 900. HankB is right, if the input and output are the same hight, you loose no head pressure from the pump! I am gonna do the red cap fraggin in the next few days, then I will have a new FTS. My zoas are healthy but looking less than up to par right now, simply because the really dont like the 150W halide over them. I am gonna have the try to screen acclimate them. Link to comment
Phixion Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 You pics never cease to amaze! Link to comment
SPS20 Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 SDT, random question: I imagine this information is somewhere in this thread, but if it wouldn't be much trouble, I am curious as to your photoperiod and temperature setpoint on this tank. That new monti is beautiful, BTW. Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 18, 2008 Author Share Posted July 18, 2008 Thanks Phix! Sorry for all the pics of one coral, can you tell I like it?! Hey Josh, I just got my chiller, so my new temp is now right on 80, although most of the growth you have seen happend in 81-82* water. I think the corals will like a little cooler temps. I had been having some fluctuation over the past month with the addition of the light, unless I blasted my ac at 70* all day. I run my lights for 12 hours, from 10 am to 10 pm, but I think I am going to shorten it a little for my zoas sake, from 11am to 10 pm. Link to comment
SPS20 Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Thanks Phix! Sorry for all the pics of one coral, can you tell I like it?! Hey Josh, I just got my chiller, so my new temp is now right on 80, although most of the growth you have seen happend in 81-82* water. I think the corals will like a little cooler temps. I had been having some fluctuation over the past month with the addition of the light, unless I blasted my ac at 70* all day. I run my lights for 12 hours, from 10 am to 10 pm, but I think I am going to shorten it a little for my zoas sake, from 11am to 10 pm. Thanks SDT! I asked because I am now using an Aquacontroller III to control my light cycle, using the internal seasonal table for the light cycle. A couple of my acros have been recently showing signs of being photoinhibited, and bleaching a tad in some of the more brightly-lit areas, and I beginning to think the 13-hour peak light cycle in the summer is the culprit. I set the controller to a manually set 11.5 hour light cycle yesterday, and am hoping that will help fix the issue. It will probably take a week or two to see if the change helped at all. I figured, your SPS are happy, and you use a very similar lighting setup as I, so it couldn't hurt to ask. (And yes, I checked my Alk/Ca/Mg/I/Salinity/Phoshate/Nitrate levels, and they are all right where they should be, so I figured it has something to do with temp, lighting, or water current.) Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 18, 2008 Author Share Posted July 18, 2008 Yeah, my milles polyps are half the size they used to be, but the colors are twice as bright, no bleaching though. I love fuzzy looking daytime milles, but I cant get over the colors they are putting out! I would bet light too, I am going to shorten my cycle today. You can go wrong with current and sps, and if you have stable temps, then it has to be lighting! Link to comment
Phixion Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Nah, even of just one piece is fine. The pics are still good no matter what. Hmm, dispelling the lighting period myth I see. See, so shorter isn't always better for our tanks. Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 18, 2008 Author Share Posted July 18, 2008 I have always run a long day. I am gonna bump it down to let my corals adjust a little more, then bump it back to 12 after they adjust better. I am going to buy a iodine test, AFAIK thats important for corals acclimating to stronger light. Like the only think I dont test for now! Link to comment
Kigs Posted July 18, 2008 Share Posted July 18, 2008 Wow, great growth shots! You're getting some amazing growth, are you running a Ca reactor or just dosing? Link to comment
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