Disaster's 80gal + 15gal SPS Reef Tank

[iglowce]

love your tank.. what camera did you use to take the photos?

[disaster999]

Great looking tank! You've really had some nice growth and I love the blue tang. My 90g is on order and should be here in the next 2 weeks. I can hardly wait...

 

thanks =) ill be keeping an eye out for your build

 

love the markings on the tang. there just great.

 

any info on the torch, i dont think ive seen one like it befor.

 

from the shop where i got it from, they said the torch coral is from indonesia. cant really tell you anymore than that haha...

 

a member here, jjjo, loves to college torches and he has a few different kind/coloration in this tank

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=181949

 

love your tank.. what camera did you use to take the photos?

 

thanks =) for these pictures, im using nikon D200 with my friends nikkor 105mm macro lens. i usually use nikkor 17-55mm for FTS and the nikkor 60mm macro.

[disaster999]

did a water change today so i thought, why not take some top down shots first.

 

Edited April 26, 2010 by disaster999

[Asureef]

thanks =) i love the clowns and their nems. my whole family enjoy watching them "wash their face" in it

 

 

 

thanks bitts, hopefully i can get some decent pictures tonight. borrowed the 105mm macro lens from a friend and im having problems with focusing.

 

 

 

thanks =) i upload all my pictures to picasa so maybe they striped all the info. i can still see some in picasa.

 

but basically what i do when i take pictures are set the camera to take raw. set the white balance to 10000k and the light meter to point meter (generally it works, but if you think the shot is over or under exposed, mess with the EV, or set the camera to manual mode to get the exposure you are looking for).

 

to take pictures of coral, its best to keep your camera perpendicular to the glass to minimize distortion. i use a 60mm macro with a very short focus distance so i am able to have the lens right up to the glass and i know for sure i will not get any distortions. most people advice you turn off pumps in the tank so the corals will not move. i tend to be lazy and just leave it on. if your shutter speed is high enough you are still able to freeze the movement. iso you should set it as low as possible. usually around 100-200. you want the picture to be as sharp as possible with as little grain as possible.

 

after im done with taking pictures, i further edit my photos in photoshop, mess with the white balance sliders, contrast, saturation, sharpness etc to get the effect or look im after. what i learned from kinetic (another great reefer and photographer) is jack up the "black" level in photoshop so that the background is almost pitch black, and increase the exposure slider so the coral is back to its original "brightness" this way it brings out the coral more. you have to mess with it to get the colors or the look just right.

 

thats what i do for most of my pictures. just take more pics and practice more. hope this helps, drop me a line if you have any other questions

 

 

... Thanks for the write up, although I've been into photography a lot longer than saltwater.

With a degree in Photography, I still can't work my way around this JBJ cube. I get a lot of distortion through the glass, no matter the distance I shoot from. Though, I haven't spent enough time practicing shooting my aquarium.

[disaster999]

with the curved front, you are bound to have distortion no matter what. try and take pictures from the sides, i believe its flatter than the sides

[Arkayology]

Great pics. Your sps growth is awesome.

[disaster999]

thanks, im not sure if there is any growth, i honestly cant tell =P

[clownfish617]

very nice tank!

this inspired me to start my tank back up, thank you!

[disaster999]

thank you for the kind words, hope to see your tank setup soon

[disaster999]

i was doing a review on prodibio reefbooster and just finished my 2 month long test with it. took some pictures to show some before and after pics so i thought ill post them here as well

 

some before and after pics

 

march 28

today

 

april 26

today

 

march 17

april 15

today

 

march 28

today

 

i bought 2 70W MH lights a while ago and they were old and falling apart. i didnt bother upgrading it until today. bought a halogen floodlight housing for less than 10 bucks and started the retro process

 

DIY acylic rack for my previous light but it wasnt bright enough. temporary using that rack to hold the MH light. seems to be holding up pretty good

frags im growing with it. i just frag those monti on the rocks.

[fewskillz]

That's a significant difference for 2 months time!

 

Nice Metal Halide. I've been considering doing a halogen retro myself...

[disaster999]

was not hard at all. my bulb just fit right in! no modification needed. connect the wires and i was good to go

[murjan]

hi disaster! this is my first time to post in your thread but i have been following since about the start. love your work dude.

i wanted to ask about prodibio reefbooster, i can see the difference between before and after, and its clear that there is a significant difference in 2 months, i was wondering were you using anything else with prodibio reefbooster, perhaps their other additives, or anything?. and how much did you dose, how often etc..

thanks

[disaster999]

hi disaster! this is my first time to post in your thread but i have been following since about the start. love your work dude.

i wanted to ask about prodibio reefbooster, i can see the difference between before and after, and its clear that there is a significant difference in 2 months, i was wondering were you using anything else with prodibio reefbooster, perhaps their other additives, or anything?. and how much did you dose, how often etc..

thanks

 

im dosing additives for my tank to keep calc, alk, and mg in check. feed the entire tank every 3-4 days with my own blend of food consisting of shrimp meat, frozen mysis, frozen krill, pellets, dried cyclopeeze, oyster eggs, minced garlic and kent zooplankton. feed the fish almost everyday with a few pinches of pellets. dose reefbooster once a week. instructions say 1 amp is good for 100gals of water.

[disaster999]

well this is sad...my birdnest went from this

to this

to this

 

no im not fragging it out to make some money, i had no choice to frag it. it was stung by my BTA and one of the branches died, the dead flesh is spreading to the rest of the branches so i cut off as much as the uninfected branches and hopefully some of them will survive. so sad to do this, but i have no choice. at least it didnt take long for it to grow, so ill just grow them out, if they survive, and sell them off at bargain price.

[Zo0k365]

Sorry about the birdnest. I'm glad your tank is evolving so nicely.

[disaster999]

thanks, i think the birdsnest frags will pull through...checked them out last night and none of them turned white. not as much as when it was healthy, but definitely have some good poly extension.

[disaster999]

 

these better grow!

[fewskillz]

Sorry to hear about your birdsnest, at least you were able to save a lot of frags. Hopefully they'll do well!

[sammy113]

that's sad. At least you frag it on time to save some. From more than 10 frags at least a couple should grow nicely. In a few months you'll be fragging again cause its too big

[disaster999]

theres at least 20 frags in there haha...2 already died. and the rest have signs of dying flesh. hope they start growing like mad in the next few weeks!

 

so been talking to a few friends and they are urging me to get a new powerhead for flow. the seio 1100 1100gph isnt really cutting it and is still creating some dead spots. i dont have funds for mp40 right now and my friend said his market have some second hand tunze and controller for sale

 

for my 80ish gal water volume, should i go with a tunze 6055 or the one above it 6105? if i have a wave action in my tank, i will have significant flow through my rocks right and minimize or even eliminate dead spots?

[skimlessinseattle]

Hi disaster, just read over your entire thread. The sps coral you can't seem to identify is a green hydnophora. I have one in my 55g tank. They can get a little tempermental, so don't let them touch other sps colonies.

 

On another note, hope your birdsnest frags make a big comback to rival the original colony.

[disaster999]

thanks for the ID on the sps frag. i have it pretty far away from everything else so shouldnt be a problem there. one thing i noticed is it grows extremely slow. i dont think i seen it grow one bit. the rock i placed it on is nice and covered tho

[naswa312]

i like ur 20G tank, n this tank is sick..i like it very much

[disaster999]

thanks =) im looking at reviving my 20 gal, but not a reef tank, but turn it into a quarantine tank in the future, just gotta find the space to put it