pics of my 25 gal

[corey0613]

the xenias are loving the added light!

[corey0613]

i dont believe i have shared this corner of the tank yet. the red shrooms are starting to run rampid! look horrible in this shot

[corey0613]

these yellows never get any attention because the oranges and blues look so good.

[Fishtails]

One of the nicest tanks I've seen Corey. It's a living piece of art and looks great.

 

As for the yellows, if they're getting less attention, send them here and they'll be treated great.

[corey0613]

hey stingray (or anyone else)

 

go check out the www.thelogicalreef.com click under zoanthids and check out their newest listing. that is what i am talking about as far as "top shelf" goes. you have to be really picky and quick. the top shelf corals on their site usually sell within a matter of minutes from being posted.

 

those pinks are awesome arent they!

[Von digity]

Damn, you definetly burn alot of money on this tank. Real eye candy.

[corey0613]

yeah,

 

ive put my fair share into it, but it is has done its part in keeping me sane. i love working on it and with the corals after a ######ty day @ work. my wife on the other hand may feel different.

 

i plan on moving most of it into a new tank that is planned to start work on around the first of the year. should be getting a nice bonus that will fund the project along with some saving i have been doing.

 

i think i am going to go with something in the 90-120 gal range. im trying to get the tank in that size range with the most depth, as that has proven to me to be the best attribute for builing an awesome aquascaping. this tank is going to have the works-- MH, calcium reactor, closed loop, electronic monitors for all parameters, etc. should be my pride and joy. the plan is to stay mixed (mainly SPS, with some LPS, and softies).

 

i cant wait to get the ball rolling. been planning it for almost a year now.

[ruuskystar]

well i can't wait to see that when it's done if it's anything like this 25g you got going. i still say TOTM for next month.

 

once you go big i'll have to follow you over to reefcentral so I can see your tank there. You do drop alot of $$ on the tank, but the results look like they have been well worth it.

 

whatever you do, keep the 25g going as it was where you started and would/still be a great looking nano

 

congrats

[corey0613]

the 25 is not where i started, but i have no choice but to keep it as long as i am at my current residence. unless i want to patch a 2'x2' hole in the wall!!LOL

 

here are a few pics of the old 46. RIP. these pics are after the move and i was having hair algae problems.

[corey0613]

oops here it is--- look at that nasty hair!!!!

[corey0613]

closer up, man it gives me the creeps to think about battling that hair algae. these pics are after the move. believe it or not this tank used to look sweeeeeeet. but when we moved i lost half the livestock due to a faulty heater and the sand got really stirred up and i think it let nitrates and PO4 all over the place because i had hair algae for like 3 mos afterwards.

[corey0613]

this little feller destroyed all those nasty anemones!! he is missed. i sold him with all the livestock.

[corey0613]

the early beginnings with the canopy off. last one. thanks for reminding that i used to have this ol boy.

[imsuperjp]

corey, have you ever had any lost ordering from thelogicalreef?? And also, do you fresh water dip your zoos when you get them?

[corey0613]

i have ordered from the logical reef probably about 10 times ( 50 corals or so) and from various others several times. to be honest in all of my orders i have had 1 DOA. it was a blue tort acropora frag. and it was replaced and shipped for free. if your getting zoos they are really hardy shippers and i think it is pretty tough to kill them in transit. as far as freshwater dipping goes, i dont do it and wouldnt advise it on zoos that have been in transit for 12 plus hours and are already plenty stressed. now if its coming from your LFS its a different story. but the shipped zoos have been in a dark box for a while and are already experiencing changes in the water in the bags (Ph, temp)and i would think that if you freshwater dipped them you may be more likely to lose a few. most of the frags from the logical reef are not very big and are only attached to a small portion of rock that isnt very big for hitchhikers to ride along on. if you acclimate according to the procedure that bryan sends with the package you can shine a light on your container and watch for any suspicious "creatures". but have never had any problems

 

if you are looking for SPS frags i would strongly recommend that you look up david playfair over on reefcentral.com i just bought and 8 pack from him and it was the best packaging i have seen to date,not to mention the corals are awesome. he is just a hobbyist who frags his corals to pay for his tanks upkeep. real cool guy with some quality stuff @ affordable prices. i got 8 frags shipped for $115. works out to about $14.40 a frag. oh yeah and i got to extras for free. check out his site. even if its only for eye candy. frag availability is way down @ the bottom of the page.

http://mistressreef.homestead.com/

 

let me know if you have any more questions about online vendors or anything else.

 

oh yeah. i would strongly recommend that you have your package held @ a fedex hold station near your home and go pick it up yourself in the morning. you usually can get your package right @ 8:00 am and it saves the corals from being bumped around on the delivery truck. my corals have come in much nicer since i started picking them up myself. call fedex and they will let you know where the closest one is in your area.

[imsuperjp]

Just a couple more questions. DO the coral you order almost exactly like the pictures you see online? What are most of the online vendors that you recomend and do not recommend? And also, do you glue your coral to your live rock?

[imsuperjp]

The reason i asked you abt the fresh water dip for your zoos was bc i read this

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...25&pagenumber=1

[corey0613]

ill start by saying that i never buy a coral online that i cant see the exact pic of it first. the corals from the logical reef are exactly what you see in the pics. now keep in mind that they are shot under 175 MH and if you are running pc's they may look a bit different. the pieces are usually pretty small too. they used to shoot their pics with the grids so you could get an accurate estimate on the size, but dont anymore. i really have had the best luck with them. www.cquarium.com has great pieces, but when i bought from them the corals were not the exact same ones in the pics. needless to say the corals were still nice, but i was ####ed and let the guy on the phone really have it. he keeps the corals on his site even when they are already sold (but doesnt mark them as sold) and then when he gets your CC # he calls and says "oh....that piece is sold but i have one just like it. do you want that coral or store credit." that is really BS IMO.

 

for SPS frags see the above post.

 

www.palmettoreefs.com is pretty cool, but is overpriced for what you get and i ended up trading my rics off from them as they really werent that great looking compared to others that i had.

 

as far as the dip goes, i would advise you to really make your own call. i will say that i have freshwater dipped alot of my corals, but never directly after shipping. i have never had any problems with the corals after the dip either. i have never used iodine with the dips though and would be really careful with that route. make sure that you get directions from someone who has ACTUALLY done the procedure before, as there are so many frauds out there.

 

hope this helps

[aldive]

Your tankis beautiful.

 

I too have the same camera, but am not able to get results like yours, would you please describe how you took the pics?

 

Thanks.....

[ReefAddict]

Does anyone use macro lens or other attachments for this camera to get close-ups?

[corey0613]

aldive---- i guess i can give you the settings, although it is kind of like cheating for you, as it took me a long time and alot of reading and experimenting to get the shots to look good. LOL.

 

all of this depends on your lighting setup so you wil have to tinker with it a little, here is what i generally use::

 

 

always turn off all the flow in the tank, and as much external lighting in the room as you can.

 

1. i almost always have the camera in the P setting on the dial on top of the camera.

 

2. within the P setting hit menu on the camera. that brings up your options and then go to white balance. you can auto set it my scrolling all the way up, but i use the long fluorescent bulb setting. its the fourth option down. hit menu to set it.

 

3. then depending on what i am shooting i will either put the camera in macro mode (for close ups ) or not. to put the camera in macro mode simply push the little flower icon on the right hand side of the LCD screen and when you see the flower in your shot it is on.

 

4. once you have your subject in view then you need to adjust the exposure to your liking. for best results you will want to underexpose the photo. to manually do this you must still be in P setting and push the button on the far left, above the LCD screen. it has a square with a +/- inside of it. you then adjust the exposure up and down by using the little black jog dial on the right hand side of the camera and watch the screen until it looks like you want it to.

 

5. then holding EXTREMELY still (or better yet with a tripod in place) shoot your photo.

 

if you are having trouble with objects not coming through clear due to shooting through glass. within the P setting, toy around with the FOCUS button that is the middle button above the LCD screen. for close ups set it to 0.1m by using the black jog dial and you will be amazed how clean your shot are.

 

hope this helps and is clear enough. let me know if you have questions on a particular photo.

 

i have also found that getting on the level of your subject and then angling the camera shot up ever so slightly makes the photos look alot better than the typical shot "looking down".

 

 

Reef addict-- i have never used a macro lens or attachment for this camera. i know they make an extermal flash, but have never seen a lens attachment.

[corey0613]

shot this today under the 20K's. just thought that it looks kind of crazy! still havent figured out how to get around the blueness of the 20k.

[corey0613]

just shot these!!!!!!!!! these are some of the best coloration that i have got yet. this is with the 250W 20K MH on and the 2x65 W pc with 10k and 03 on,sitting on top of the tank. it blocks just enough of the MH that its not so blue but @ the same time the MH gives the added light spectrum. i will add more soon.

[corey0613]

these zoos are really starting to take off. same lighting as previous pic

[corey0613]

here is a pics of what has become the xenia farm. check out the front portion that is being hit by the PC's and the rear that is under the 20K MH, hell of a difference huh!!!