Ya, I try to shoot straight through the glass most of the time, and I do turn the flow off. Shutter speed is anywhere from 1/4 to 1/60 depending on how much light. Obviously I try to have high light so I can turn up the shutter speed. Do you suggest a different ISO?

unless you have a very steady hands here is that is one of the reason why your photos are a little blur, and it's not your focusing. when you shoot freehand I would recommend at the very least shutter speed of 120, or even 200. to compensate with this try sooting at 400 ISO.

I took some pics of my other tank yesterday too (post #63).

Thanks, I will try your suggestions. I keep meaning to buy a tripod, but it's one of those things I never seem to remember to do. :lol:

Any new pictures :wink:

Hehe...no not right now. A couple of my new little buddies weren't impressed with the Coral Rx dip. They will be fine, just need a couple weeks to color up again. I will post pics when I'm back for Christmas.

looking good love the duncan shot A+

New lights today! Only took me a year and a half to get them finished! :o Tank is now sporting 2x250 SE Phoenix in PFO reflectors on Vertex ballasts and a 2x54w Tek retrofit with UVL Super Actinics. Yes, I said single end Phoenix. :D Got those puppies from The Reef Shoppe. I think they are a bit bluer than the DE version, but just as much pop. Very nice bulbs. With the new halides and new actinics though the tank is rather blue...will look better in a week when they all burn in. Sure is nice to have lighting across the entire 48" length! Some of you may remember I just had a 36" fixture on there up until now.

Aside from the new lights, I'm getting some cyano growth on the rock pile on the right. Possibly caused by the Coralife 10K halide that was on that side of the tank for the last couple months. So hopefully that will resolve with the new bulbs. Also getting a bit more Valonia again, so I added another Emerald crab (have two now).

Some of my brain corals are slowly receding for some unknown reason. My old Favia, two Lobophyllia, and a Platygyra. I have no idea what's up with the Favia or one of the Lobos, but the other Lobo had a frag fall onto it and damage it which started the recession. It continued to recede quite a bit after that although I think it is on the mend now. The Platygyra I bought already partially receded (from stray voltage) in mid-November. It looked like it was on the mend a week after I brought it home, but has suddenly started receding again. It's now down to just a toonie size, and I would be surprised if it recovers. I would be sad to lose it as it is quite a nice Australian piece. :(

Last time I was having issues with brain corals it was from my Filefish feasting (he was re-homed), and possibly also because of sudden use of Zeolite rocks (sucks nutrients out aggressively) which i'm not using anymore. This time, neither could be an issue and I have no idea what's happening with them. :eek:

So...here are the new lights. As usual, the GSP on the back wall of the tank is not out. It seems to know when I take the camera out and it disappears!
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...2/Jan12011.jpg

Mindy the tank is looking SWEET GIRLY and those LPS and leathers on the right should be in my tank .:lol:

Thanks meester! I really need to get around to drilling plugs into the rock. I hate epoxy. I always knock colonies off the rock. At least I finally got the lights done...maybe in 6 months I'll have the rock drilled. :o

Looking good! That Bird's Nest in the left center: It looks pinkish on top and yellow on the bottom. I assume it's the lighting, but it looks pretty cool.

Looks good Mindy, funny though that the gsp is camera shy, I bet it looks cool covering the back wall.

It is pink and yellow-ish. It is pink skinned, but the skin all fluoresces lime green/yellowish. It is one of my favourite corals in the tank.

It is always camera shy, but look I caught it out! Actinic shot, but hey at least you can see it!

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...2/Jan22011.jpg

I got this really cool Micro Capture USB Magnifier for Christmas that takes video and photos too (not very high quality though). It's pretty cool looking at a bunch of stuff in the tank. I caught these pictures of my Jawfish:

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ec282010-1.jpg



I think he noticed me... :lol:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Dec2820102.jpg



One of my latest acquisitions (using regular camera, not magnifier). It was damaged in shipping, but I couldn't resist the perty colors! :p
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...2/Dec92010.jpg

Awesome shots.

Thanks Joe. :)


Sorry about the grainy photos (ISO 400), but here's a couple more.

New photosynthetic gorgonian Rumphella aggregata:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Jan3201113.jpg



And ole Goldie:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Jan320116.jpg

I love your Rhump. (:lol: Why should Doug and Brett have all the fun.) It has to be one of my favourite ps gorgs, gets a really nice shape and colour to it.

how are the frags doing ?

The gsp looks cool when its out and I love how the jawfish is looking at the camera as if to say "Excuse me....but enough with the pic.'s already!" :lol:

Myka what kind of camera are you using?

:lol: Tony! I hadn't seen the Rhump before, it is quite attractive. Hehe...

Hey Wes, the frags are doing well. The Bonsai did not take to the Coral Rx dip very well and I lost about half of it, but the rest are doing very well. :)

Laurie, I have a short video of the Jawfish looking at the camera too, but it's choppy off the USB Magnifier.

Steve, the pics of the Jawfish were taken with a USB Magnifier, and the rest were taken with a Canon G7. I don't have the Magnifier in front of me so I don't know the brand name. Most of the pics from the G7 are grainy on this page because I had it on 400 ISO by accident.

Wow, I haven't posted on here in a long time! The tank has been a polluted dump since the tank sitter was primarily looking after it for 8 consecutive months. :eek: I have also been using an under-sized skimmer (SWC 120 Cone) on it since I got fed up with the EuroReef overflowing and needing adjustment which the tank sitter wasn't good at doing. So the under-sized SWC was the better option. Still, the SPS were browning out, and LPS were happy as a clam! There has also been little growth in the last 6 months, and a healthy covering of cyano over most of the sand. :eek:

I finally had enough and started dosing Prodibio Bioptim and Biodigest (aka BioClean) in mid-June. What difference! I'm sold on this stuff! I also ordered a SWC 180 Cone :D from The Reef Shoppe which will be arriving on Tuesday. Woohoo!

I am now home full-time, no more working out of province so I can clean up the tank finally! Yesterday I switched out the GFO which had been in there since April. :o I also removed the carbon which had been in there since April too. I will add some fresh carbon back in next week since it will be enough shock to the system to add fresh GFO.

The SPS aren't very impressive right now, so I took some pics of some of the LPS for you guys.



http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...ne18201113.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...July292011.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...une1820112.jpg


This guy has a third mouth on the other side. Nice piece.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...uly2920112.jpg



FTS from July 3. I should have taken before Prodibio FT photos to compare. This is 3 days after the second dose.
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...uly3201112.jpg

looks amazing!!!! where did you find that multicolored open brain???!! stunning!

WOW Mindy! Just gorgeous LPS!! Your tank is looking great!

The Brain came from Bayside Corals. Believe it or not, it's actually a bit bleached right now, it colors up much nicer.

Thanks! At least the LPS are happy!

lookin good there Girly......love the scoly:wink:

Thanks Doug. :)

Here Bean, I took a better pic for you (I fed it...looks nicer when it's not wrinkled): :D
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...July312011.jpg

That's a polluted dump??? Can't wait to see it "cleaned up" :)

that is a sweet piece Mindy.....I have a similar one......not quite as colorful as yours......a friend of mine called it a rhasta brain:mrgreen:

looking at that FTS one would never know you were away for 8mths. looks great!
the Prodibio -- do you use it in addition to the GFO? or is it on it's own.

I am only taking pics of the pieces that are doing well, and not taking any pics of the cyano either. I will take a pic later today when the lights have got the cyano up and rip snorting. I should do an RIP thread for all the corals I have lost since I have been away. :(

Haha, great name!

Well, the GFO was burned out when I started using the Prodibio. I just put some fresh GFO back in there. So, now I am using them both together. I'm going to start dosing Zeovit Sponge Power too. I was actually away for a year and half, but was home regularly and did half the waterchanges. Just the last 8 months I haven't been home much at all, and most of the waterchanges were done by the maintenance company. They are not as thorough as I am when cleaning, and the under-sized skimmer has not been helping! I'm hoping the tank will take a turn around in the next 6 weeks or so.

Ok, this is a painful post...

...I came back from a trip to BC on Aug 17th to find a frag fell down and was standing upside down like a frickin tripod ON my frickin Scoly! :eek: Never in my life have I ever seen another 3-mouth Scoly. I don't think I'm going to save it, and if I do I doubt it will still have 3 mouths. Here it is today as I am slowly losing the battle:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug3120116.jpg



On the brighter side, through the tears I can see some up and coming pieces:
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug3120112.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4.../Aug312011.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug3120114.jpg

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k4...Aug3120115.jpg

that sucks about the scoly Mindy.....I feel for ya.....similar thing happened to mine......except my mishap was a frog spawn and the scoly slowly died over a couple weeks.....I knew it was going to die so I snagged another one from the shop:redface:

That sucks :sad:

Mindy those scolys are extremely hardy, I came back from holidays and mine was completely buried. I had shrunk down the probably a dime size and now its back to full size. Took about 3 months or so to recover tho.

The mouths are gaping on it Wes and it won't eat, I think it's a goner.

It was showing feeder tentacles so I was feeding it some Fauna Marin LPS pellets, but it wouldn't eat them. I received some New Era pellets and have been trying to feed it those, but it won't take them either. I tried PE mysis, no luck. My brine shrimp eggs aren't hatching, otherwise I was going to feed it some NHBBS. I will try some frozen foods today. It grabs onto the food, but then lets go.

I moved it yesterday to a place with less flow but more light.

When we were on holidays, Mom allowed an acan to topple onto a totally P**sed-off frogspawn. :sad:
Sometime you just need to let it be. It may not feel like eating for a while, poor thing. But I have seem some that did come back, albeit after a long while. Maybe worth keeping at a corner and see if it heals.

My tank isn't a very good LPS tank right now. I'm having troubles with a few brains over the last 6 months. I had a healthy looking Lobo slowly recede to death for no apparent reason, and I have a Symphyllia that's slowly receding real bad right now and I have no idea why. So I'm worried that whatever has been ****ing off those brains may affect the recovery of this Scoly. The Scoly has been off in a corner up until yesterday I traded it to a place where an Acan echinata was real happy. I am actually looking at some of my Asterina starfish lately and wondering if one of them is predatory. I was fighting a cyano outbreak for awhile too after coming back home, but it is under control now.

Well, you might have gotten to the LNS where LPS don't do well, and your SPS are.

Best of luck.

Thanks ALang! :) I wish I was at LNS, but I'm still making up for being away for most of the last year and a half. The tank has really suffered in that time. There was a layer of detritus on the sand, and a layer of cyano on top of that! I cheated and used ChemiClean to zap the cyano a couple days ago. Now I'm at home permanently I can do the maintenance on the tank and get it back into shape. It could be the toxins that cyano releases that were affecting the LPS. Combine that with a lack of carbon, and that could be the issue. Fresh carbon a week ago, fresh GFO today...things should be turning around soon!

Sorry to hear about your Scoly Mindy. It's a beauty too. :sad: I had almost the same thing happen to me. A large turbo snail pushed my scoly over and it landed upside down onto a hydnophora. Needless to say, it was fried! Hopefully yours comes back for you.