Corals Finally Starting to Be Happy - Macro Shots

[o2manyfish]

Hey Guys,

The past 5 months my tank has been assaulted by instability from so many different issues, and then when we had the big rains last month a 14 hour power outage while I was up in San Francisco.

But things are starting to stabilize. I got motivated to take some photos of the happy corals.

Shooting with a Canon D70, 105mm Macro and no tripod.

Lighting is Radion G3 Pro running 20k color profile at 70%


Miyagi Tort Outside in Frag Tank

Bizzaro Chyphastrea

This is the tip of my AEFW Proof Purple Tip, Turquoise Stag. This is huge and right next to my Red Planet that has been filled with AEFW for over 2 years. And not once has there been one on this colony. Colony is huge and I have tons of frags available (free to locals)

My Grafted Monti Colony is amazing and huge. It keeps getting 'Fragged' by the glass magnet cleaner. This little plate was under a bigger plate I broke off a few weeks ago - entirely in the dark. Now look 3 weeks later... Amazing Coral.

My Millies are amazing. They don't catch my eye, they always have AEFW, and then I get up above them over the tank, and I am just stunned by what they are hiding.

I have a Miyagi Tort that just keeps growing and growing. The first photo is from a piece I mounted Horizontal and it keeps growing just horizontal. First photo is the tips and you can just see the green starting to appear at the top

This is the base of one of the Miyagi colonies

Part 1....

 

[o2manyfish]

This is the base of my Rainbow Millie

And this is the tips

Here is my Rainbow Monti that is slowly starting to color and expand

And here is my Kung Pao Monti

Dave B

 

[LesPaulPlayer73]

Very nice photos.

 

[JustReefBaby]

Very nice Dave

 

[kajung2k]

Nice pictures. What is your shutter speed, ISO and aperture on those shots?

 

[pdreef]

I'm using the same lights too and still trying to find the right setting to colour up sps. Is your brightness at 70% or the intensity? Also, are you using sps AB+?

 

[F-Dawg]

Nice shots!

 

[pirate2876]

Neat pics. Are you still battling AEFW?

 

[joseserrano]

Neat pics. Are you still battling AEFW?

I don't think he is battling, I remember him saying in one of his vids that all he really ever does is blow the affected corals with a turkey baster every now and then, but that's it.

 

[o2manyfish]

Kajung2k --- Shot with the Canon 70D, 105mm Sigma Macro Lens, ISO of 2500, AF 6.3 and some last ones at 9, shutter speed 1/200 to 1/125. Hand held - no tripod and no remote shutter.

 

[o2manyfish]

PDReef,

I control my Radion G3 Pro with my Apex WXM, I run the stock 20k color profile, and the intensity is 70 to 76% depending whats under any of the 8 lights.


Dave B

 

[o2manyfish]

Pirate2876,

It's not a battle it is just a nuisance. My Red Planet has had lots and big ones for years. All the corals around it are perfectly clean. I did have some tri colors on the left side of the tank that were affected, and unhappy, but after a few months of just basting and basting I haven't found any on them in awhile.

The Millies on the side of the tank always have some small ones.

And I recently found some on a couple of pieces in the outdoor frag tank. I had 2 XLRG colony size frags of a super bright Green Stag, that were being attacked. And yet the 20+ other frags of the same coral I couldn't find any or see any damage.

As long as every 2 weeks I baste the red planet and blow them off she stays looking pretty. But growth has slowed way way down on the colony.


Dave B

 

[Smite]

Beautiful corals! I really like that Kung Pao and first Millepora.

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

This is the base of my Rainbow Millie

And this is the tips

Here is my Rainbow Monti that is slowly starting to color and expand

And here is my Kung Pao Monti

Dave B

Hi Dave,

WOOOOW
These pictures are incredible:a02:
How many corals do you have?
Are you a photographer?

Zhenya

 

[o2manyfish]

Zhenya,

I have lots and lots of corals. Several hundred different corals in the display tank. And I don't count 30 zoas and 30 corals. If I say 30 zoas, then i have 30 different groups of zoas which could be 5 polpys or 500 polyps.

Plus I have my outdoor frag tanks and they have 100's of more corals.

But if you don't believe me, sit down at your computer and count them yourself. Both tanks have public webcams

www.o2manyfish.com/webtank/

www.o2manyfish.com/fragtank/

And the 400g display tank has over 130 fish in it. But don't bother trying to find them with the webcams because some are really hard to keep track of.

I am not a photographer. Usually I shoot about 200 photos and get 10 that I like. And then sometimes for no reason the photos turn out amazing. This session i probably got 7 good shots for every 10 I took.

I was always mesmerized the beautiful macro shots people posted. So I bought a good camera Canon70D and a Good Lens 105mm Macro. I also use lens hood that lets put the lens into the water.

With a Tripod the photos get even better. But to shoot so many different pieces I don't have the patience to keep moving the tripod.

These photos were shot with an iso of 6400. Which helps keep things in focus when holding by hand. If i moved down to a 400 of 800 iso the photos could be much clearer, but not if my shaking fat fingers are moving.

Sometimes I have people over on the weekend and we have photo shoot sessions. Everyone brings their equipment, and we all work on shooting the same thing under the same conditions and see which settings work, and what techniques work. It's a fun couple of hours and everyone usually leaves with the ability to get some more better photos. Except Greg Rothschild, he is the guru and his photos are always perfect.

Dave B

 

[EyeReef]

Amazing as always Dave! What is the secret of keeping nutrients down with this amount of fish? I'm struggling with algae with just 30 in a 300g. What is your feeding regime? Would love to see a video of a feeding session it will be awesome seeing this many fish come out at once for a meal


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[o2manyfish]

Nutrients down... LOL

I'm not a believer of low nutrients. For the past 2 years my phosphates swing between .6 and .8...Not .06 but .6 And as of February I am up to 1.68.

I have no algae issues, and no problems with coral colors.

I am happy to schedule a feeding session, you can watch on the webcam. And my new freezer arrived today, hopefully in the next 2 days I will have my automatic frozen fish food feeder ready to rock the tank - Frozen Mysis, Arctipods, Rotifers, and Brine - As many times a day as I want. Hoping to see a huge difference in coral happiness.

Dave B

 

[pga7602]

How often are you doing water changes on this system Dave?

 

[o2manyfish]

Last year there were 2 water changes. When I moved the frag tank to the new location I was floating my fish in plastic spaghetti strainers in the rock sump. My Yellow Belly Mis-bar regal jumped out into the rock sump. 24 hours later I pulled out 800lbs of rock to catch him. When I got to the bottom there was a bunch of decade old crap. I sucked it clean with a wet dry vac. So that time I maybe added 100g of fresh salt water.


And then I also cleaned out my filtration sump cause it was looking kind of dirty and needed a wet dry vac attack - And that one was 60g. That's it for water changes.


The system does lose salinity. I can add salt and get it to 1.026 and in less than 4 days its down to 1.022. And it will stay at 1.022 until I give away a bunch of corals and then the topoff replaces the water. But the system will not stay at 1.026 for more than a couple of days. Everytime I get my Triton ICP results back and see the low Sodium and Magnesium I will drop in a couple of bags of salt. But that's it.

Dave B

 

[pga7602]

Last year there were 2 water changes. When I moved the frag tank to the new location I was floating my fish in plastic spaghetti strainers in the rock sump. My Yellow Belly Mis-bar regal jumped out into the rock sump. 24 hours later I pulled out 800lbs of rock to catch him. When I got to the bottom there was a bunch of decade old crap. I sucked it clean with a wet dry vac. So that time I maybe added 100g of fresh salt water.


And then I also cleaned out my filtration sump cause it was looking kind of dirty and needed a wet dry vac attack - And that one was 60g. That's it for water changes.


The system does lose salinity. I can add salt and get it to 1.026 and in less than 4 days its down to 1.022. And it will stay at 1.022 until I give away a bunch of corals and then the topoff replaces the water. But the system will not stay at 1.026 for more than a couple of days. Everytime I get my Triton ICP results back and see the low Sodium and Magnesium I will drop in a couple of bags of salt. But that's it.

Dave B

Wow. Thanks for the thorough explaination. I've actually seen your amazing system before but did not get a chance to ask about WC due to the large audience gathered around you.

Do you think your methods can apply on a smaller scale? For example, a 100 gallon sps dominated tank with only yearly WCs? Please say yes... and where do I apply for apprenticeship?