New pics 55g reef

[mile sq. reefer]

New pics, Things are growing and slowly coming along. Now I just need to work on the camera skills.http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w227/milesqreefer/112_1261.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w227/milesqreefer/112_1260.jpg http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w227/milesqreefer/112_1259.jpg

[sniggir]

I love the Acan and the SPS colonies... how old is the tank?

[specialkb]

Looks really good I love the way it's looking, I hope my 55 will look that good one day.

[Ritten]

Everything looks so healty, nice tank.

[mile sq. reefer]

Thank you for the kind comments. The tank is three years old, recently swithced to SPS/LPS in Nov 06. The LPS are about 2.5-3 yo. Some SPS started as frags and some as small colonies. I may add some more rock for additional Stags and glue a small pc of shelf rock onto a mag float to put some orange M. Caps which will be on the back right side of the tank.

[mile sq. reefer]

any other feedback

[King-Kong]

I like your discipline in allowing for the open aquascape. I think it has paid off handsomely. Please keep your focus, and dont add more rock :P

That said, I would consider scraping the back glass with a razor blade, and adding a background. Be it black, blue, or etc.

[samherston]

Your tank is NICE and HEALTHY looking!

[plyle02]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10263779#post10263779 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by King-Kong
I like your discipline in allowing for the open aquascape. I think it has paid off handsomely. Please keep your focus, and dont add more rock :P

That said, I would consider scraping the back glass with a razor blade, and adding a background. Be it black, blue, or etc.
I could not agree more. If you continue the sps route, you will end up removing LR to make room for their growth. I also agree with the back glass, and adding a blue or black background, it will help make your beautiful corals stand out. Your corals health, aquascaping, and the over all look is sweet. Just for shi*s and giggles, scrape the back glass, and add a background then post another pic just to see what the overall consensus is, I am sure you will be very pleased......Nicely done!!!

[AquaKnight]

Nice tank.

What are the lighting specs and what do you do for cal./alk.?

[mile sq. reefer]

I use the Sunpod by Current with two 14k 150w DE MH with 6hr photoperiod. Calcium is around 420, DKH 9, PH 8.2, M++ is high 1450, Temp 78, S.G. 1.024.

I top off with Kalk, mixed 1tsp per gallon RO/DI and use Bionic two part additives.

[MTB]

Lookin good! Just need to scrape the glass and it would make a drastic improvement.

[MrSpiffy]

Your tank looks nice! The pics, however, seem a bit hazy. That could be crud on the glass. It could also be your camera. But it's slightly over-exposed, too. Try playing around with your camera settings to get a good balance of color and brightness. There should be a way to adjust your white balance and exposure on your PowerShot.

I'm kinda new to photography that's not disposable cameras or cheapies, so I went looking around for information. Ximina's Photography (http://www.ximinasphotography.com/lessons/index.html) is a great site to learn all about taking great pics. Shoot, I filled up my brain in just an hour or two! :lol: It's definitely worth checking out! And it focuses on aquarium photography, too.

[mile sq. reefer]

Thanks Mr. Spiffy I'll give it a look. Need more practice.

[mile sq. reefer]

If I do scrape the back glass what background, blue or black?

[BWine]

Nice tank. I love the open aquascape!

[mile sq. reefer]

Thanks Bwine. Still no opinions on the background. I like the coralline. Oh well.

[specialkb]

Black, or really really dark blue.

[mile sq. reefer]

I may go with the black.

[frederickk]

Very nice!

[Trigeek]

Absolutely scrape the corraline, add a background. You won't be able to stop looking at your tank!

[mile sq. reefer]

Thank you frederickk.

Trigeek, I am constantly looking at the tank even though it doesn't have a background. I just havent had time to scrape the back, looks like I know what I'll be doing next week.

[Trigeek]

You have a great variety of colors in there that will just pop out against a clean, solid background. Trust me, I did this and it's one of the best things I could've done to enhance the look of the tank.

[CeeGee]

black. It will make that green slimer pop like crazy!

If you stay on top of that coraline it isn't hard to remove. Coraline really distracts from a nice tank IMO. On the rocks is fine on the glass, no thanks.

[mile sq. reefer]

Ok, so I just cleaned the glass, siphoned some of the sand bed and did a water change. Man, I will stay on top of it, don't want to go throught that again. As soon as the water clears up I'll post a new pic. Right now the skimmer is pulling out pink lemonade. Thanks for all your kind words and advice. Mile.

[specialkb]

Yea it's no fun thats for sure. Cant wait for the new pics.

[mile sq. reefer]

Glass cleaned with black background.
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w227/milesqreefer/112_1271.jpg

[specialkb]

That looks really really well, what do you think of it so far? I think it's bringing the color out in everything.

[mile sq. reefer]

I used to keep the back clean, then I just got lazy with my scraping duties, and took a more natural approach. I always liked this look better, makes my corals pop.

[tbar]

Looks mo better now !!

[mile sq. reefer]

Without all that coralline competing with the corals for trace elements, they should take off. How much calcium does coralline take up to calcify?