Made in Africa - A Shallow Reef V2

[RollaJase]

Hey Shaun, great pics as always. Got any tips for shooting a tank? I find I need to jack my white balance way up on my camera (10k) and then fiddle with exposure and colour levels in light room to get things looking how I see the tank.

[4x5]

On 7/10/2017 at 4:19 PM, madtrax said:

Looking good ! I started my own thread btw, check it out here

 

Thanks, I'll pop over and have a look.

On 7/13/2017 at 8:06 PM, fishfreak0114 said:

How did I just find this?!  The aquascape is fabulous!  Now I need to go back and read the first "Made in Africa".

Hah! Thanks and thanks for all the surprise likes.

[4x5]

16 hours ago, RollaJase said:

Hey Shaun, great pics as always. Got any tips for shooting a tank? I find I need to jack my white balance way up on my camera (10k) and then fiddle with exposure and colour levels in light room to get things looking how I see the tank.

Hey hey, thanks. Honestly, I just set my white balance to 10K (in RAW of course) and roll and then try get it as close as possible in Lightroom (I usually boost the WB to around 20K in LR) and PS. With LEDS you could turn them a tad whiter to allow the sensor to deal a bit better. But other than that, post processing is half the battle.  Sorry, that wasn't very helpful.

[Berlibee]

23 minutes ago, 4x5 said:

Hey hey, thanks. Honestly, I just set my white balance to 10K (in RAW of course) and roll and then try get it as close as possible in Lightroom (I usually boost the WB to around 20K in LR) and PS. With LEDS you could turn them a tad whiter to allow the sensor to deal a bit better. But other than that, post processing is half the battle.  Sorry, that wasn't very helpful.

 

Sounds super right.  it's a great advise.

[RollaJase]

5 hours ago, 4x5 said:

Hey hey, thanks. Honestly, I just set my white balance to 10K (in RAW of course) and roll and then try get it as close as possible in Lightroom (I usually boost the WB to around 20K in LR) and PS. With LEDS you could turn them a tad whiter to allow the sensor to deal a bit better. But other than that, post processing is half the battle.  Sorry, that wasn't very helpful.

Thanks Shaun, that's more or less what i'm doing at the moment except i'm not jacking the WB up when i'm doing the post processing. I think I need to play around with the photo mode on my fixture to make it a little easier to shoot. It definitely gets easier the more you practice. I'm no fantastic photographer but every bit of advice adds up .

[4x5]

 

Gang Signs;

Added some more Chromis to my tank which brings the gang up to 8 members, they mostly enjoy each others' company but from time to time a shank comes out. I'll grab one more to have an uneven number, even numbers are weird.

 

The Atlantic Blue Tang is a great little fish.  I'd never considered one but this was a gift from my LFS for the tank delay which was super generous. And I must say, I really like it. Super mellow and beautiful IMO.

 

In other news, I added a couple of tester Acros, they seem to be doing really well. I'll get some pics of those added shortly. 

[Berlibee]

Nice, my clown was crazy about Chromis and the yellow tang as well. Both were trying to school swim with them all the time.

[4x5]

9 hours ago, Berlibee said:

Nice, my clown was crazy about Chromis and the yellow tang as well. Both were trying to school swim with them all the time.

Thanks, my Tang tends to hang out with the Starry Blenny most while grazing.

[4x5]

 

Bali Slimer;

An early morning backlit image of the newest addition to the tank. It's settling in nicely. Looking forward to getting more Acros. 

[hinnenkm]

Beautiful setup, fish, and corals! I saw a bunch of blue tangs while snorkeling in Puerto Rico and it's really cool to see that you've got one in your tank. Looking forward to seeing the progress on all of this

[jstj0sh]

Absolutely amazing photos and such a beautiful tank. I'm  following a few other shallow builds and I'm starting to catch the bug 

[4x5]

16 hours ago, hinnenkm said:

Beautiful setup, fish, and corals! I saw a bunch of blue tangs while snorkeling in Puerto Rico and it's really cool to see that you've got one in your tank. Looking forward to seeing the progress on all of this

Thanks. That sounds amazing! They aren't the most popular of the tangs but I really love it. 

15 hours ago, jstj0sh said:

Absolutely amazing photos and such a beautiful tank. I'm  following a few other shallow builds and I'm starting to catch the bug 

Thanks. Shallow tanks rule.  

[4x5]

 

 

Ornate Leopard Wrasse (Macropharyngodon ornatus) - New Addition;

I went to the store to buy a KH test kit and came home with a test kit and an Ornate Leopard Wrasse this weekend. I snapped some images this morning before the lights came on, it's markings are truly beautiful. In other news, using a manual focus lens with wrasses is not ideal.

 

 

Blue/Green Chromis (Chromis Viridis);

They may not be the fanciest fish but I love them.

[ninjamyst]

Beautiful wrasse!  

[4x5]

2 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

Beautiful wrasse!  

Yah super cool, I've never kept a Leopard before and honestly they have never really been on my radar but I'm a fan now. I might add a Potters in as well but that will wait (or not) depending on what the suppliers have available in the coming weeks, haha.

[jstj0sh]

8 hours ago, 4x5 said:

 

 

Blue/Green Chromis (Chromis Viridis);

They may not be the fanciest fish but I love them.

I agree! They bring a lot of character to the tank. My chromis and clowns all school together from time to time and it's just the funniest thing 

Do those zoas in your second wrasse picture have a name? 

[debbeach13]

Love that wrasse. 

[fishfreak0114]

Wow, that wrasse is fantastic!

[brad908]

Good luck with the Chromis, I went from a group of 10 or 11 down to 1 over a few months.

 

Having much better luck with a group of 10 pajama cardinals. Not as good looking as chromis, but don't kill each other off. 

[4x5]

3 hours ago, jstj0sh said:

I agree! They bring a lot of character to the tank. My chromis and clowns all school together from time to time and it's just the funniest thing 

Do those zoas in your second wrasse picture have a name? 

I honestly have no idea what their name is. We don't really have many names for Zoas here in South Africa. They looks similar to the Armor of God Palys in the US. Sorry, that's not very helpful.  

3 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Love that wrasse. 

Thanks, me too.

1 hour ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Wow, that wrasse is fantastic!

Thanks, indeed.

41 minutes ago, brad908 said:

Good luck with the Chromis, I went from a group of 10 or 11 down to 1 over a few months.

 

Having much better luck with a group of 10 pajama cardinals. Not as good looking as chromis, but don't kill each other off. 

Thanks Brad, I've had the older group for over a year now with no real issues, one is a bit of an outsider but they're pretty chilled for the most part. I generally lose a max of 1 from each group I have added in the past. 

[TJ_Burton]

Tank is progressing wonderfully, man!!! Can't wait for some more FTS and sexy equipment shots

[ninjamyst]

11 hours ago, 4x5 said:

Yah super cool, I've never kept a Leopard before and honestly they have never really been on my radar but I'm a fan now. I might add a Potters in as well but that will wait (or not) depending on what the suppliers have available in the coming weeks, haha.

I love my potters.  The color is even more intense.  As long as you dont mind them burying frags in sand.  Wrasse are active swimmers and colorful.  I am in love with them right now.  

[4x5]

12 hours ago, TJ_Burton said:

Tank is progressing wonderfully, man!!! Can't wait for some more FTS and sexy equipment shots

Thanks TJ, you're right I should probably get onto those this weekend.

9 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

I love my potters.  The color is even more intense.  As long as you dont mind them burying frags in sand.  Wrasse are active swimmers and colorful.  I am in love with them right now.  

My Halichoeres wrasse was much worse than this one with dumping sand everywhere but it certainly has reminded me of the fact that they do that. I wake up to crystal clean water and after a while it's not so clear. Haha. Oh well.  

[Berlibee]

You should get a Dimond Gobby, my gobby do such a great work cleaning the sand it's crazy. I would never expect these fishes are so good cleaners. 

[RollaJase]

Tank is looking great Sean, The Tang and Leopard wrasse make nice additions.