THE OFFICIAL ASK ALBERT THIEL THREAD

[Chew_Magna]

Excessive Photoshopping ... What you see is NOT what you get

 

http://www.reef2reef.com/blog/photo-chop-what-you-see-is-not-what-you-get/

 

 

Albert

 

 

This is one of my biggest pet peeves in the hobby.

Agreed. Luckily I've spent enough years messing with Photoshop I can usually spot an edit pretty quick, it's not like the people doing it are professionals and know how to cover their tracks.

[albertthiel]

Agreed. Luckily I've spent enough years messing with Photoshop I can usually spot an edit pretty quick, it's not like the people doing it are professionals and know how to cover their tracks.

 

Very true indeed, often it is quite obvious that the pictures were manipulated but there seem to be some who are pretty good at it making it harder to decide whether what one sees is real of "fixed" somehow ... color wise for the most part of course

 

Albert

[Chew_Magna]

Yep. The good thing is that usually color edits are the easiest edits to spot and that's what we see the most of. Due to the work it takes to pull off a convincing one most people aren't going to bother simply because of the time involved.

[albertthiel]

Yep. The good thing is that usually color edits are the easiest edits to spot and that's what we see the most of. Due to the work it takes to pull off a convincing one most people aren't going to bother simply because of the time involved.

 

True but it is still done and the average viewer may not be able to spot that the pic has been doctored ... that is unless the color is so enhanced that it becomes really obvious.

 

​One of these days I'll have to try and learn PS, not for doctoring pics but for other changes it allows one to make

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Yet another article on Cyanobacteria and ways to combat them ...

 

Note that there are many such articles and this one too is FWIW

 

Link :

 

http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.php/42-Cyanobacteria-what-is-it-and-how-can-I-get-rid-of-it

 

Albert

[atoll]

Just a sideline for a mo if I may.

 

On another forum I posted a pic of my growing colourful acro as I did on here recently. I posted in on there to show that despite some person (on a forum I am, no longer a member of) suggesting my lights would be no good being cheap and coming from China. I was also told by the same person that I would be lucky if they lasted any length of time at all I would not get growth and colour and that my lights might possibly be dangerous.

 

This guy (on the forum I am no longer a member of) asked to see some pic's of the inside of my LED light fixture and at first I resisted as I didn't want to nullify the 2 year guarantee. However after some months and while I was transferring the lights over to my new tank I decided to open it up to give the fans etc a bit of a clean. While doing so I took some pic's of the LEDs and the wiring, starters etc etc. When I posted a pic of the internals a few (inc an electrician) commented that they are well made and had good quality components. The guy who made all the allegations never came back not even to say that he was mistaken no apology nothing. I guess he just sat there sucking his thumb smarting. The LEDs used are well respected Bridgelux which he at first rubbished and said he had not seen Bridgelux LED's like them before even though I told him they were new ones out and that is why he had not seen those before.

 

Unfortunately there are keyboard warriors who can't admit when they are wrong or apologize for their clear mistakes. This is the measure of some people and of course thats not the only forum with such people. I have seen and read such here on Nano reefs as well.

 

Anyway back to my opening line when I posted a pic of my acro with growth and colour on another forum I am a member of. A guy who is unknown to me said a full tank shot would be more proof convincing. Why? I told him I was not here to prove anything other than the statement and pic I had posted and that if he wanted to see more evidence he click on my tank threads and check out my YouTube channel. Like the other guy on the forum I am no longer a member of he never came back to ask questions etc. Did he check my tank threads out? Did he watch any of my Youtube videos? I don't know. Why?

 

I will let you form your own conclusions to that. However there is no shame in admitting you were wrong, too hasty or to even add a bit of praise. When people say nothing and sulk or whatever they do I find that a shame.

 

Sorry to go on a bit off topic but hey we all live and learn and a bit of civility costs nothing.

[albertthiel]

Just a sideline for a mo if I may. On another forum I posted a pic of my growing colourful acro as I did on here recently. I posted in on there to show that despite some person (on a forum I am, no longer a member of) suggesting my lights would be no good being cheap and coming from China. I was also told by the same person that I would be lucky if they lasted any length of time at all I would not get growth and colour and that my lights might possibly be dangerous. This guy (on the forum I am no longer a member of) asked to see some pic's of the inside of my LED light fixture and at first I resisted as I didn't want to nullify the 2 year guarantee. However after some months and while I was transferring the lights over to my new tank I decided to open it up to give the fans etc a bit of a clean. While doing so I took some pic's of the LEDs and the wiring, starters etc etc. When I posted a pic of the internals a few (inc an electrician) commented that they are well made and had good quality components. The guy who made all the allegations never came back not even to say that he was mistaken no apology nothing. I guess he just sat there sucking his thumb smarting. The LEDs used are well respected Bridgelux which he at first rubbished and said he had not seen Bridgelux LED's like them before even though I told him they were new ones out and that is why he had not seen those before. Unfortunately there are keyboard warriors who can't admit when they are wrong or apologize for their clear mistakes. This is the measure of some people and of course thats not the only forum with such people. I have seen and read such here on Nano reefs as well. Anyway back to my opening line when I posted a pic of my acro with growth and colour on another forum I am a member of. A guy who is unknown to me said a full tank shot would be more proof convincing. Why? I told him I was not here to prove anything other than the statement and pic I had posted and that if he wanted to see more evidence he click on my tank threads and check out my YouTube channel. Like the other guy on the forum I am no longer a member of he never came back to ask questions etc. Did he check my tank threads out? Did he watch any of my Youtube videos? I don't know. Why? I will let you form your own conclusions to that. However there is no shame in admitting you were wrong, too hasty or to even add a bit of praise. When people say nothing and sulk or whatever they do I find that a shame. Sorry to go on a bit off topic but hey we all live and learn and a bit of civility costs nothing.

 

Les ,,, as you and I both know that is not unusual at all ... when those who post negative comments get caught with their pants down as we say (sorry for my French), they will just ignore the posts that prove that they were wrong. That is unfortunately the nature of the Net and of forums, one can post anything one wants to post and then ignore anything that refutes those posts and proves that they were inaccurate, erroneous, false etc ...

 

I am sure that it is not the first time you have seen it and it is not the first time I have seen it and I am sure it is the same for many others who read the posts on this thread and on this forum in general.

 

I was having dinner with a Hobbyist from California last night ( a friend of Michael at Aqua Craft . net ) and we discussed that topic amongst many others and we both agreed that many times those who posts messages that seemingly appear to ask for advice, are not really asking for it, but are looking for an endorsement of what they state in their messages : meaning that they were right and everybody else was wrong.

 

Case in point .. how many times do you actually see beginners especially admit that a fish or coral died because of a mistake they made? More than likely they will try to blame it on the LFS they got the fish or coral from, or on an additive they used, or on anything else they can, as long as it is not their fault.

 

Pity but that is the way it so often goes, and there is really nothing we can do about it. We can try and try but in the majority of cases those who post about issues they have are not looking for advice but for validation of what they say the reason for the demise of the fish or corals was ... they want to be right, even if it is blatantly apparent that they are not.

 

Of course this is not so in ALL cases but IME in a great number of them and on many forums ...

 

Oh well ... all we can do is keep trying I guess.

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

People tell me all the time that most of the things I do or have can't possibly work in a reef. The only reason I have SPS corals is because so many people argued with me that SPS won't grow in such a dirty tank. Now I am stuck with them and SPS are all over my tank. Good thing I didn't argue about manta rays.

[albertthiel]

People tell me all the time that most of the things I do or have can't possibly work in a reef. The only reason I have SPS corals is because so many people argued with me that SPS won't grow in such a dirty tank. Now I am stuck with them and SPS are all over my tank. Good thing I didn't argue about manta rays.

 

Indeed Paul some are quick to tell us that what we try will NOT work ... not a surprise. But then when it does work and better than expected they are quick unfortunately to ignore those posts ... It sometimes appears to me that if they cannot do it then others cannot either ...

 

But your tank proves the contrary ... everything grows, and all fish pairs spawn ... so you know you are doing the right thing even if others do not agree ... I would not worry about their comments and I am sure you do not either ..

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

Albert, I don't worry about much although I do have these two hairs that keep growing on my nose.

[Snowgrrl83]

Dear Albert,

 

I recently started a nano tank (18 gallon CADlight). This is my second time at this hobby (had a tank for 5 years, got rid of it for a few years and now I'm starting over). My tank has been setup for a month and a half. I would like to try sps in this tank and previously I only kept lps, mushrooms and leathers. I filled my tank up with instant ocean salt. 4 weeks ago, I decided to measure calcium and alk (I had not purchased a magnesium tester yet). Then, I purchased a Seachem mg test last week. I tested my fresh IO mixture and my tank. Disapointment.

 

My fresh IO salt at 1.025 is as follows:

Calcium: 340ppm

Alk: 10 dKH

Mg: 975

 

REALLY low Mg, low calcium and high Alk.

 

So, for the past month, Ive been trying to raise the calcium in my tank with Tropic Marin bio-calcium while adding 1/2 a spoonful of bio-cal every 2nd day because I was unaware of the low magnesium level.

 

I managed to raise calcium to 390 and Alk is at 11.

 

In the past week, I've also been trying to raise my magnesium, so I purchased Tropic Marin bio-magnesium. Except, I feel like I need to dump some serious amount of bio-magnesium (or epsom salts) in my tank in order to reach the desired level of 1300 mg/l.

In the past 4 days, I've nearly dumped a quarter of the bio-mag bottle in my tank (12 spoonfuls) and its only raising the Mag from 975 mg/l to 1125 mg/l.

I'm afraid I'm shocking my tank, but I don't want to take 2 months to raise my magnesium to an appropriate level.

I'm also concerned that every time I do a water change, that I will have to dump some serious magnesium supplements into my water change.

 

What should I do? Buy a new salt bucket? I still have 2/3 to 1/2 of IO salt bucket left.

[albertthiel]

Albert, I don't worry about much although I do have these two hairs that keep growing on my nose.

 

If we had to worry about it all we would soon start feeling like we had it all wrong ... so it is best not to worry although thinking about suggestions is of course what we do but that does not mean we have to agree or let what some say let it affect us ...

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

This is a hobby and not something to worry about. A hobby by definition is supposed to be fun. Otherwise, why would we put so much time and money into it? We are not curing cancer, building space shuttles or affixing the wings on the Victoria Secret Supermodels (although I did work with them) The first time I worry about it, I throw the entire thing in the garbage and collect stamps or some other exciting hobby like that.

[albertthiel]

Dear Albert,

 

I recently started a nano tank (18 gallon CADlight). This is my second time at this hobby (had a tank for 5 years, got rid of it for a few years and now I'm starting over). My tank has been setup for a month and a half. I would like to try sps in this tank and previously I only kept lps, mushrooms and leathers. I filled my tank up with instant ocean salt. 4 weeks ago, I decided to measure calcium and alk (I had not purchased a magnesium tester yet). Then, I purchased a Seachem mg test last week. I tested my fresh IO mixture and my tank. Disapointment.

 

My fresh IO salt at 1.025 is as follows:

Calcium: 340ppm

Alk: 10 dKH

Mg: 975

 

REALLY low Mg, low calcium and high Alk.

 

So, for the past month, Ive been trying to raise the calcium in my tank with Tropic Marin bio-calcium while adding 1/2 a spoonful of bio-cal every 2nd day because I was unaware of the low magnesium level.

 

I managed to raise calcium to 390 and Alk is at 11.

 

In the past week, I've also been trying to raise my magnesium, so I purchased Tropic Marin bio-magnesium. Except, I feel like I need to dump some serious amount of bio-magnesium (or epsom salts) in my tank in order to reach the desired level of 1300 mg/l.

In the past 4 days, I've nearly dumped a quarter of the bio-mag bottle in my tank (12 spoonfuls) and its only raising the Mag from 975 mg/l to 1125 mg/l.

I'm afraid I'm shocking my tank, but I don't want to take 2 months to raise my magnesium to an appropriate level.

I'm also concerned that every time I do a water change, that I will have to dump some serious magnesium supplements into my water change.

 

What should I do? Buy a new salt bucket? I still have 2/3 to 1/2 of IO salt bucket left.

 

It would appear to me that with all the tweaking you have to do to get the parameters under control, and when you fix one, another one seems to not be at the suggested levels, so my suggestion would be to take a different approach, and instead of trying to tweak the water quality that you may be better off changing the salt you are using.

 

Since you seem to have access to a number of Tropic Marin products, perhaps you also can get their salt and I would recommend you do if you can. It is an excellent salt, not the least expensive one but one of the top ones on the market.

 

And indeed rather than trying to "fix" the parameters I would simply change to Tropic Marin salt or another high quality one and do some water changes for a few days in a row and it is my belief that in doing so your parameters will automatically fall into place and where they should be.

 

I feel that too many of the levels are out of their levels that trying to fix them is indeed going to stress the animals and life forms in your tank.

 

Not sure where you are located but if you do have access to the Tropic Marin Salt, I would switch from IO to Tropic Marin if you can. If that salt is not available, another one would be Bio Sea Marine Mix ... or if you cannot find that one let me know which ones are available to you ...

 

Continuing to fix and tweak is indeed IMO far too stressful especially since it seems that your efforts in doing so are not successful.

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

This is a hobby and not something to worry about. A hobby by definition is supposed to be fun. Otherwise, why would we put so much time and money into it? We are not curing cancer, building space shuttles or affixing the wings on the Victoria Secret Supermodels (although I did work with them) The first time I worry about it, I throw the entire thing in the garbage and collect stamps or some other exciting hobby like that.

 

That is for sure Paul .. I would hate to have nightmares about my tanks ...

 

A you say they should be fun to deal with and not reasons for constant concern and worry

 

Albert

[wavemaster]

Hi,

 

I was thinking about adding an open brain coral to my biocube 29. I was wondering if you think that coral would work with my Falco Hawkfish? Would the Hawkfish bother the coral if it perches on it and could the coral actually harm the Hawkfish? I did see a video online of one eating a damselfish so I just wanted to check before purchasing one as I don't want to loose my fish.

 

Thanks for any input

[albertthiel]

Hi,

 

I was thinking about adding an open brain coral to my biocube 29. I was wondering if you think that coral would work with my Falco Hawkfish? Would the Hawkfish bother the coral if it perches on it and could the coral actually harm the Hawkfish? I did see a video online of one eating a damselfish so I just wanted to check before purchasing one as I don't want to loose my fish.

 

Thanks for any input

 

You probably saw the video of D. Tumanov's Damsel being eaten by that Open Brain coral I think, and whereas his video has certainly made the rounds of the Hobby on the Net, including Reef Builders posting it on their site, it is IME a rare occurrence and would only happen if the coral is underfed, and if the fish is not in good health, and when stung may be captured, it is unlikely IMO that your Falco would be at risk.

 

​And if you have SPS corals in your tank the Falco is more likely to host those than go for a Brain coral ... if you have no SPS but enough live rock in the tank it will probably sit on those, or hover around the bottom of the aquarium at times and perch him/herself on other places than on that O Brain.

 

There are no documented cases of Open Brains catching fish in that manner "all the time" and on a regular basis, and so I would say that you are safe adding the Falco, a gorgeous Hawk indeed.

 

Are there any guarantees ? Well as you know in this Hobby there never are but I think you are pretty safe adding that Hawkfish. Just make sure you acclimate it for long enough and that it is not overly stressed when you add it to your tank.

 

Also keep the OB fed and happy.

 

FWIW

 

Albert

[albertthiel]

Now why would a Yellow Tang Swim UPSIDE Down ?

 

 

 

 

Albert

[Chew_Magna]

Now why would a Yellow Tang Swim UPSIDE Down ?

 

 

 

 

Albert

Drama Queen.

[albertthiel]

Drama Queen.

 

Too much carbon dosing with Vodka I guess

 

Albert

[Chew_Magna]

Haha

[albertthiel]

Haha

 

That Tang swimming upside down for quite some time, then swimming normally, then turning back upside down is one of the strange things that happens indeed. I have not seen it in person in a tank but I have heard about other fish sometimes doing so but in most cases that was due to a swim bladder problem which affected their ability to swim normally in strong currents

 

Albert

[hypostatic]

Thought you'd enjoy this

[albertthiel]

Thought you'd enjoy this

 

 

Indeed ... thanks for posting it ... and those two are not the only ones where identification is not all that easy.

 

Albert

[Paul.b]

December 25th is my favorite day of the year. People buy presents, put up a tree, get in a good mood have parties, visit friends and family and in general have a good time, and we all know why?
It's my Birthday.

OK, it's also Christmas.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, Happy New Year