Smite's Stout CDA - 205G

drexel

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Looking great! That silly string is really starting to take off!


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Smite

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Looking great! That silly string is really starting to take off!


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Yeah those small branches are really taking off on the sides. It's got those two weird rounded nubs towards the tip, I've been tempted to snip those off and see if it would encourage some new growth over there? Might looked kinda cool if it worked.
 

drexel

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Yeah those small branches are really taking off on the sides. It's got those two weird rounded nubs towards the tip, I've been tempted to snip those off and see if it would encourage some new growth over there? Might looked kinda cool if it worked.
I think once it gets some more growth you could easily cut off the funky part without issue. Btw, I think the abro is a sukarnoi now that I look at it closer, especially in my tank. I was comparing growth patterns between abro and sukarnoi, the short stocky growth is much closer to sukarnoi than abro. When I frag mine and place it on its own, I'll see some normal growth? Yours should branch out nicely, it's definitely a cool piece and that rich lavender color is pretty nice. That hyperberry is super nice! Unique had a very similar piece when I was there.
 

Smite

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Well speciosa #2 is most likely gonna be a loss. I think it's expelling zoo, wierd brown algae on it and super pale.

FTS from tonight. Sacrificed a higher shutter speed for a lower ISO. Fish are blurry but it gives a good idea of the corals as they sit today. Damn urchin must have dismounted my maxima clam. I see some filament/strings on the rock. Hopefully it's alright, appears healthy otherwise.
All t5s A Go, no bars in this one. Little dark though
FTS-4.jpg
 

drexel

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Looking good! That clam cradle is too small for that maxima, I would put it on a larger flat rock or somewhere in your rock work higher up. At that size it’s not going to grow that fast, but it would benefit from a more secure spot to snuggle into.


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Smite

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Tank is looking great, very lively. I love all of the chromis, have you had any problems with aggression?
That group really did bring the tank to life. I had an existing group of 5 that was doing very well. I added the other 10 and it seems busy enough to were there isn't much aggression. That left side of my scape is a bunch of false tonga branches I cemented together and it's acting like one large piece of coral. They are able to dart in and out and get away form one another in there, sleep ect. I do notice a smaller trio that sleeps in that frogskin to the right but for the most part they are all together so far. I'm not sure if its the really high flow or other larger fish that are keeping them grouped like that.

That could all change I'm sure but I'm enjoying it while it lasts.
 

Smite

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Looking good! That clam cradle is too small for that maxima, I would put it on a larger flat rock or somewhere in your rock work higher up. At that size it’s not going to grow that fast, but it would benefit from a more secure spot to snuggle into.


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I'll give that a go today. I've got a nice flat rock still I could use. I'd like it up front but maybe high and towards the back would be better over time.
 

Smite

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Thanks guys. It’s looking good all blue. Some colors are pushing through under daylight as well. Polyp extension looks better and no doubt it’s starting to shoot off new nubs. Might be a nice one in a few months!
 

Smite

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These millies are settling in pretty well. When they grow out I should have a colorful and contrasting group of them throughout the tank.
NuclearSunrise.jpg
Heliarch.jpg
NoNamegood-1.jpg
ASD Rainbow-4.jpg
Bahama Mama.jpg


I have to kill all flow so I can really lower my shutter speed but still I have to crank up my ISO into way too high of levels to get a decent picture. I think two more bars are in order.
 

Gedxin

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What pieces are those last two? Also have you shared your camera set up anywhere? Curious how you get the great top down clarity shots.
 

Smite

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What pieces are those last two? Also have you shared your camera set up anywhere? Curious how you get the great top down clarity shots.
The last two pieces are
ASD Rainbow Millepora - I got that from Dorado here on SCR
CC Bahama Mama - I got that from Money Pit Corals. I believe he is a vendor at the local CFM here.

I'm using an Avast Marine Porthole to get the top down shots. It came with a yellow filter insert but it doesn't work well at all for all blue. A buddy gave me a piece of orange film I cut to fit for blue pictures. I use a DLSR; Nikon D500 and these were shot with a Tamron Macro 90mm lens. Earlier in the thread I was using a older D70(80?), honestly worked just as well, just no LCD screen which does help with the large light fixture.

For daylight shots, I don't use any filter. I'm able to manually set my color temp to 10k and that is very close to what I see to my eye with just the t5s on. I'll adjust post in Lightroom if I need to (with quanta bars on). Usually, I just need to adjust exposure and color temperature. Light room is great for that; instead of just warm/cold it breaks it down in "k" value. So if I have all t5s a go AND quanta bars, I can slide to 17,500-20,k depending on the color of the piece and get an accurate picture.

For blues I have to adjust a lot for "noise" from the high ISO setting, so I'll use the "dehaze" slider, and that pulls the fuzz out of the water around the subject, but also lowers exposure. The macro lens really focuses on a small area, so you need to really crank up the f-stop to get even a decent size frag in focus and that worsens the need for high ISO settings. Even for these small millepora pictures, I was shooting with an F between 14-22.

T5 might be the toughest light to shoot under. MH is the most natural and easiest for me so far followed by radions.
If you're limited to a phone and have adjustable lights like Radions; crank all channels to 100% for the duration of taking pictures. If shooting blue with an orange filter that's even more important as the filter lowers your exposure. Cranking everything to 100% on leds for a picture won't harm anything and you'll see some colors you usually struggle to see or capture. I found the Orphek lens kit to work well for both yellow and orange. That paired with a decent top down viewer to place your phone in works great.
 

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