Reef Pilot's Undersea Oasis

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Salty23

Wow good to know about the camera, maybe I'll try it out this week and can show you a photo of that purple plasma acro. Its similar however the tips might be slightly different. I picked it up as a Purple plasma acropora, but we will see what I get a good photo like yours. Too bad you can't make it to the frag swap.

Yeah, bummer,.. I missed it last time, too, when it was out there,... can't remember, but was gone somewhere again. But I was at Dave's, the last one here in Langley, and was a great turn out.

That camera has a lot of capabilities with the different scene settings and super macro mode. Also, can play with flash and exposure, too. And that manual white balance setting is great to get rid of that blue or purple hue that you get with the lights. But it takes time and patience to experiment with it, and find what works best for you. Sure is nice to just put it in the water, though. I think the TG-3 is still rated as the best camera of its type when you read the reviews.

[Tn23]

Snapped a quick shot earlier tonight, not with the TG3 but with my cell phone instead haha.

Looks similiar?

[Reef Pilot]

Yeah, definitely similar in color. Your branches look thicker, though, but with smaller tips. But could be just differences in lighting and nutrients as I know acros can really vary by tank. I will have to do some searches and see if I can get more images of the purple plasma and compare.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Yeah, definitely similar in color. Your branches look thicker, though, but with smaller tips. But could be just differences in lighting and nutrients as I know acros can really vary by tank. I will have to do some searches and see if I can get more images of the purple plasma and compare.

After looking at ORA and other sites, don't think it is a purple plasma. Coloring and polyps are different. Having said that, I did find some called that may be similar, but with no credible pedigree.

Here is another pic of my coral from a year ago. It is a lot bigger now of course.

[straightrazorguy]

Great tank and great shots Walter. Very inspiring. Your coral looks so healthy!

What kind of butrterfly fish is the one in yesterday's full tank shot? Sorry if this was adressed earlier in the thread.

[Reef Pilot]

Thanks. That's a Pearlscale Butterfly. I have one in each of my tanks. Had them for almost 4 years now, and they keep my tanks clear of aiptasia. If you go back early in my journal, I describe my initial tank conditions and all the aiptasia I used to have. The Pearlscales totally decimated the aiptasia and have kept my tanks clear ever since. And contrary to popular opinion, they don't bother my corals (have all types incl softies, LPS and SPS). Plus they make nice peaceful tank mates and eat all kinds of foods.

Having said all that, you can't just buy them and plunk them into your display tank. They likely won't survive, and if they do, will probably go after your corals. But there is a way...

[kien]

Gorgeous! Clearly someone around here knows what they're doing

[Reef Pilot]

Yeah, like EZ PZ,... haha, I can only wish... But thanks for the comments.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Yeah, like EZ PZ,... haha, I can only wish... But thanks for the comments.

I never suggested that it was easy. Just that you seemed to know what you're doing. reefing is far from easy! If it were easy everyone would be doing it :-)

[Reef Pilot]

No, for sure it's not easy and I have had my share of challenges this past summer again. For me the key has been trying to understand what went wrong, and then correcting it. And lots of patience. Tanks can go bad fast, but they sure don't turn around for the good fast.