GQLMAO's Small Peninsula Tank

[Reef Pilot]

Nice set-up and nice corals. With the pics, I recently learned to use a manual white balance setting with the LED lighting (otherwise you get a blue/purple hue). I pointed the camera at the white sand to get my white balance setting. But anything white under the LEDs will work.

PS: Good choice on your LED lighting...

[gqlmao]

Thanks! I will have to look into white balance, unfortunate I don't have any sand or white things in the tank. I might just cut a piece of white plastic and use that instead. I have noticed it is very hard to avoid the blue hue with the led setup, I have to use a ton of temperature correction to get the colors back to perspective.

I like the Radion, sleek, allows for tons of adjustment and shimmer. I run them at a pretty high output, the corals don't seem to mind after the initial acclimatization. But I have always been wondering... how would the tank look with a set up T-5s. I miss the purple/blue combo also the tank being 24 inches long I am having issues getting light to the corals in the far back. It appears that I have to go higher but any higher its going to bother the heck out of me when I use my computer.

Stanley,

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Nice set-up and nice corals. With the pics, I recently learned to use a manual white balance setting with the LED lighting (otherwise you get a blue/purple hue). I pointed the camera at the white sand to get my white balance setting. But anything white under the LEDs will work.

PS: Good choice on your LED lighting...

[thmh]

I love the simplicity of your tank!!! really digging the aquascape.


~Tony

[gqlmao]

Thanks! Couldn't of done it without some Mad Jelly Corals in the tank!

Stanley

Originally Posted by thmh

I love the simplicity of your tank!!! really digging the aquascape.


~Tony

[kien]

Wow, that's looking sweet! Love the stand. Very classy

Your pics are pretty good too. You could use a bit more exposure on them maybe. You can either bump up the exposure during post processing with an image editor, or, if you're finding that your pics straight out of the camera are under exposed based on the exposure metering that your camera is giving you (aperature and shutter and ISO), then try turning up the exposure compensation.

Photographing tanks is challenging for SLRs because the lighting, the glass, the water, and the subject can all mess with the camera's built in light/exposure meter. A lot of the time you have to adjust whatever the camera gives you, or redirect (exposure wise) what the camera thinks is a 'good image'.

I would also recommend getting at tripod. The 100mm macro lens is a great lens, but when shooting at 100m every little movement from your camera (hand shake) will register in the image (as blurry). If you have the IS version of the 100mm macro that will help, but I would still put it on a tripod. Tripods are cheap and will produce A LOT more usable images.

Finally, HOLY FRAK I want to see more Gundams ! Maybe sneak in a few close ups of those beauties

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by kien

Finally, HOLY FRAK I want to see more Gundams ! Maybe sneak in a few close ups of those beauties

wow that took longer than expected.

Love the stand and wow that looks like a square footprint in the pics I was having a tough time at first believing it was 30" front to back. Tank looks great and your scape is unique too.

For your first macros those look awesome. At the very least I would shoot a particular shot at various settings and focus on different areas then just pick the best later.

Sweet start to your zoa garden!

[gqlmao]

Now that you pointed that out, the pictures do look like a square tank. The display part is only 24x18x14, so it does come close to a square foot print. I will leave it on a tripod and same spot and tamper with the settings tonight. For me, its easier to learn by practice and experimenting. :

Calling it a zoa garden is an overstatement, I am getting 1 polyp growth per month or two. So if I wait a couple of years I might be able to cover those frag blocks :P

Originally Posted by lastlight

wow that took longer than expected.

Love the stand and wow that looks like a square footprint in the pics I was having a tough time at first believing it was 30" front to back. Tank looks great and your scape is unique too.

For your first macros those look awesome. At the very least I would shoot a particular shot at various settings and focus on different areas then just pick the best later.

Sweet start to your zoa garden!

[Proteus]

Very nice. I love smaller tanks

[gqlmao]

Small tanks have always been a hit for me. Especially when it comes down to SPS, a large tank is way to costly to set up. Speaking of SPS and nano tanks, I've seen your thread and know you are a big fan of both

Originally Posted by Proteus

Very nice. I love smaller tanks

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by gqlmao

Small tanks have always been a hit for me. Especially when it comes down to SPS, a large tank is way to costly to set up. Speaking of SPS and nano tanks, I've seen your thread and know you are a big fan of both

For sure. I did the big tank twice and while I loved them. The cost I felt could be put toward better things (acros). Lol