markalot Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Love the latest pictures. What camera is that and what adjustments are made, if you don't mind. The lack of any grain in this image is amazing, my camera can't even come close to this quality. 1 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 Shot with a Canon 5D markII, 100mm macro, F2.8, and I think 800 ISO. There is noise in the original but since the file size shrinks so much for web you don't see it at all. If you can control the ISO setting on your camera, get the number as low as it will go and open the aperture. 100 ISO is ideal for low noise but not always possible under aquarium lighting. Love the latest pictures. What camera is that and what adjustments are made, if you don't mind. The lack of any grain in this image is amazing, my camera can't even come close to this quality. I like the red and black one - is that a maul? Deal. I'll trade you some Mandarins or something. I'm sure I have something you want/need. haha Thanks! Blimey.... love this tank. Picked it up from Barrier Reef Aquariums. They got it wild and I think they've still got a few heads left. What kind of duncan is that? the color on it is gorgeous. Thanks! I'm a color junky Love the new FTS! Lot's o great color in there! Also, love the scape! Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Shot with a Canon 5D markII, 100mm macro, F2.8, and I think 800 ISO. Ah, CMOS sensor, that would do it. That camera is in another league from most others. Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 Ah, CMOS sensor, that would do it. That camera is in another league from most others. It is one of the first CMOS to have the super-tightly packed lenses to capture more light. Reduces noise like crazy. I'll shoot stars for 30 seconds at ISO 1600 and have almost no noise visible on printout, full size. The Mark III is even better, but you pay for it. I bought an aquarium instead. :-) Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 I can;t decide what I would take if I ever broke into your place. The kitten, the tank or the camera. Edit. Forgot to add the microscope to my list. Quote Link to comment
Rain24 Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Ooooh! Lots of pretty new things! I love the progress you've made on this little tank, PC! Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 Looking good! I love all your macro shots and of course the kitties! Quote Link to comment
Veng Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Wow, I missed the picture update. This tank is looking friggen amazing! And your photography skills are a million times better than mine. Oh, and be careful with GSP. It can/will take over everything. Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 The best suprise from this forum is finding a bunch of people who love nature and surrounding themselves with creatures and bits of science and bits of photography. Love it! I can;t decide what I would take if I ever broke into your place. The kitten, the tank or the camera. Edit. Forgot to add the microscope to my list. Thanks Rain! There better be progress with all the questions I'm asking and all the obsessing over the aquarium! :-) Post more pics of yours - I keep dropping by to see if anything has changed. Ooooh! Lots of pretty new things! I love the progress you've made on this little tank, PC! Thanks Diver! I'm inspired by MedRed and Kat's tanks. Maybe some day it will be as nice as theirs. We picked up a few of the shaggy mouse nudibranch eggs and attached them to a rock in the temperate aquarium to watch them grow. I'll see if I can get pics of Tim's tank soon. He's doing a great job with it - it looks amazing. Looking good! I love all your macro shots and of course the kitties! Thanks Veng! Just practice with the camera. Before I found aquariums, I spent all my time hiking and photographing the mountains and ocean. It takes time to break through the learning curve, but you'll do it too. On it sir! :-) Everyone seems to think GSP a weed, but I love, love the color and the way it flows in the water. Gotta have it. It's on a tiny little rock island separate from the main bonsai rocks so I can beat it back easily when it makes it's tank domination attempt. I also let that little hydroid live as long as it's on my side and whips the GSP just a little bit. I'm thinking of naming it 'Kat's beating stick'. :-) Wow, I missed the picture update. This tank is looking friggen amazing! And your photography skills are a million times better than mine. Oh, and be careful with GSP. It can/will take over everything. 1 Quote Link to comment
gena Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Wow!!! Looking fabulous!!!! I see your green leather has really grown. Mine is closed up right now. Been that way for a few days. It's shedding...which is a good thing. More growth I'm really loving your little tank Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 OK. After Kat and Veng educated me about feeding coral and after drooling over NanoTopia's tank and a few other gorgeous SPS setups, I took the plunge and bought more test kits. Time to find out if my salt and/or algae starvation mode has depleted I, K and Fe. Wasn't sure which test kits were good. My head started hurting just trying to keep straight all the back and forth about test kit accuracy. Is NOTHING simple in this hobby? sheesh! :-) Amazon had this so I bought out of convenience and outof headache. Hopefully the results are meaningful... 1 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Wow!!! Looking fabulous!!!! I see your green leather has really grown. Mine is closed up right now. Been that way for a few days. It's shedding...which is a good thing. More growth I'm really loving your little tank Hi Gena! Thanks for dropping by! I think something is irritating your leather. Mine has never closed up, even when I moved it from that spot to another area of the tank, so it makes me think something is off. Any chance you could be having a bit of chemical warfare, or maybe flow needs to be higher? Just a thought -- hope you don't mind. Your mushrooms and cloves are looking amazing! I especially love the textures in your tank and that you're focusing on the soft corals. Bringing the sexy back to the softies. :-) I tried to grow a neon yellow ricordea and it just melted away on me. Wish I had your skills with them. 1 Quote Link to comment
Veng Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 On it sir! :-) Everyone seems to think GSP a weed, but I love, love the color and the way it flows in the water. Gotta have it. It's on a tiny little rock island separate from the main bonsai rocks so I can beat it back easily when it makes it's tank domination attempt. I also let that little hydroid live as long as it's on my side and whips the GSP just a little bit. I'm thinking of naming it 'Kat's beating stick'. :-)I glued a piece about that size on this rock about a year ago. That's roughly 8" tall rock. I like GSP, I really do. However, it will take over everything if you let it. Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 Thanks Diver! I'm inspired by MedRed and Kat's tanks. Maybe some day it will be as nice as theirs. We picked up a few of the shaggy mouse nudibranch eggs and attached them to a rock in the temperate aquarium to watch them grow. I'll see if I can get pics of Tim's tank soon. He's doing a great job with it - it looks amazing. I'm glad you got some of the nudibranch eggs! Keep me posted on what happens. I hope they hatch for you. And I would LOVE to see a photo of the temperate tank. Temperate tanks are super cool. Quote Link to comment
gena Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Hi Gena! Thanks for dropping by! I think something is irritating your leather. Mine has never closed up, even when I moved it from that spot to another area of the tank, so it makes me think something is off. Any chance you could be having a bit of chemical warfare, or maybe flow needs to be higher? Just a thought -- hope you don't mind. Your mushrooms and cloves are looking amazing! I especially love the textures in your tank and that you're focusing on the soft corals. Bringing the sexy back to the softies. :-) I tried to grow a neon yellow ricordea and it just melted away on me. Wish I had your skills with them. Hi I don't think anything is irritating it????? The only chemical warfare that could possibly be going on is between the SPS and the cloves. Maybe they're setting off something. I've had this one and other leathers do the same thing though. I can see the layer of glossy skin that should be shedding off in a few days. I wonder (as you suggested) if maybe it has something to do with the amount of flow that it gets. Where my leather is situated, it doesn't get a lot of flow so I've been taking my turkey baster to it everday to help it along with the shedding. And I definitely don't mind your thoughts on it This is how we learn!!!!! Thanks for the compliments!!!! I do love my soft corals!!!!! Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 Hey. Any pics of the locline set up?? Finally got the locline to snap together! Soaked the female end in boiling water and put the male end in the freezer. I managed one connection and Tim got the other two. Now all it needs is the threads filed down and it should slip easily into the bulkhead. 1 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 The only chemical warfare that could possibly be going on is between the SPS and the cloves. Maybe they're setting off something. I've had this one and other leathers do the same thing though. I can see the layer of glossy skin that should be shedding off in a few days. I wonder (as you suggested) if maybe it has something to do with the amount of flow that it gets. Where my leather is situated, it doesn't get a lot of flow so I've been taking my turkey baster to it everday to help it along with the shedding. And I definitely don't mind your thoughts on it This is how we learn!!!!! Thanks for the compliments!!!! I do love my soft corals!!!!! SPS and cloves? Chemical warfare? Say it isn't so! Don't want to give up my cloves. They're separated so hopefully that's enough to keep them sorta friendly???? I sold the gorgeous ORA green polyp leather. Stuck it in the back corner of the tank while I waited for the new owner to show up. There's low flow back there and the leather pulled in it's polyps and stayed mad for two days. It sure was a surprise since it never closed up before or got mad. As soon as it was out of the water the montiporas near it opened up their polyps. Yay! I bet leathers need quite a bit of water moving nutrients and chemicals away from their flesh so they don't have to shed it now and then. Anyways - thought you might like to know! Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Iron, iodine and potassium test kit arrived yesterday! As suspected, iron tested at zero (should be .015). That explains the fading greens and yellows. The pretty green chalice in my sig is all peach mouths right now with the faintest hint of green. And the UWW starburst monti lost its green skin. Now to find out how to add iron... suggestions?? Wanna bet it's not high enough in my Reef Crystals salt. Potassium test instructions look intimidating. Tackling that tonight. Bet it ends up being low as well. 1 Quote Link to comment
gena Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 SPS and cloves? Chemical warfare? Say it isn't so! Don't want to give up my cloves. They're separated so hopefully that's enough to keep them sorta friendly???? I sold the gorgeous ORA green polyp leather. Stuck it in the back corner of the tank while I waited for the new owner to show up. There's low flow back there and the leather pulled in it's polyps and stayed mad for two days. It sure was a surprise since it never closed up before or got mad. As soon as it was out of the water the montiporas near it opened up their polyps. Yay! I bet leathers need quite a bit of water moving nutrients and chemicals away from their flesh so they don't have to shed it now and then. Anyways - thought you might like to know! I removed my SPS so my cloves have completely unobstructed room to roam Not sure what the outcome would have been had I left the SPS in place. You sold your green leather? Interesting about the monti reaction. My leather is open and happy again. I knew it was just a growth thing. It opened before I removed the SPS too. Quote Link to comment
Cool Me Off Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Cloudy water is starting to clear! Yay!!!! I learned a lot this week about hidden nutrients locked up in algae and also that the Nuvo 8 stock pump just doesn't have enough flow, even on high, to properly circulate water. Here's this week's upgrades: Replaced Innovative Marine sponges/filter media with filter floss and Chemipure elite. Replaced stock pump (90 gph) with Cobalt mj-900 (280 gph). The flow difference is dramatic! First thing it did was stir up a bunch of gunk off the sand bed. Whoa, the amount was a surprise. Now it's all getting trapped in the filter floss. Changing that out each day for now. Corals perked up and immediately extended their polyps in the flow. Very happy so far with this upgrade. It was a little noisy vibrating and humming against the walls, so I put filter floss as a cushion. Noise is gone. I bought the marineland maxi-jet 900. It's the same thing im sure. looks the same as this picture but doesnt have the blue writing on it. My question is, I found the pump to be very noisy since it just vibrates against the tank in the back. The suction cups kind of suck, I am wondering how you used filter floss to get the pump to quiet down? thank you Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 I bought the marineland maxi-jet 900. It's the same thing im sure. looks the same as this picture but doesnt have the blue writing on it. My question is, I found the pump to be very noisy since it just vibrates against the tank in the back. The suction cups kind of suck, I am wondering how you used filter floss to get the pump to quiet down? thank you Oh man, that vibration against the tank drove me nuts. At first I put a tiny piece of filter floss on both sides, but it works out better to cut a long piece that can wrap around the pump like a taco so that the bottom is dampened too. I just cut a slit in the floss to slip the suction cup through. It's still not as silent as the stock pump, but pretty close. I hear that the maxijet is now made in China and that Cobalt is the original maxijet company manufacturing in Italy. Same design, but people tend to think the Cobalt version is made better. Something to consider if the filter floss trick doesn't work for you. Quote Link to comment
Zia Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Lovin this nano. Amazing what you have done in such a small space. All that color really pops. Very inspiring! 1 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 Lovin this nano. Amazing what you have done in such a small space. All that color really pops. Very inspiring! Aww, thanks! I think it's just called coral hording. But probably wont fly as a TV show... Quote Link to comment
Zia Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Aww, thanks! I think it's just called coral hording. But probably wont fly as a TV show... Haha, i dunno. Thell put anything on the boob tube these days. I can appreciate coral hoarding those cherries. There hard to pass up when you see something that colorful. I just got a 8G rimless JBJ. Its been sitting around because i thought it was to small for my liking to do anything with. But after seeing your thread, i know what im doing tomorrow Dang you and your thread, there goes more of my daughters collage fund. 1 Quote Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 Haha, i dunno. Thell put anything on the boob tube these days. I can appreciate coral hoarding those cherries. There hard to pass up when you see something that colorful. I just got a 8G rimless JBJ. Its been sitting around because i thought it was to small for my liking to do anything with. But after seeing your thread, i know what im doing tomorrow Dang you and your thread, there goes more of my daughters collage fund. Ha! Isn't that the truth. Just think bonsaaaaiiiiiii! and you'll know what to do with your 8 gallon. 1 Quote Link to comment
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