Nick's 345G Build

[this is me]

No. Don’t adjust your light. Adjust your White Balance in the camera. You can do it in the camera if you shoot in JPEG or shoot in RAW and adjust it in software. For example, if you’re running your light close to 14k to 20k adjust your white balance to that range and 99% of the time, it’s close to what you’re seeing in term of coloration.
Don’t shoot with Halloween lights.

 

[Hannahhh]

No. Don’t adjust your light. Adjust your White Balance in the camera. You can do it in the camera if you shoot in JPEG or shoot in RAW and adjust it in software. For example, if you’re running your light close to 14k to 20k adjust your white balance to that range and 99% of the time, it’s close to what you’re seeing in term of coloration.
Don’t shoot with Halloween lights.

Thank you for the tips. I will try this out tomorrow.

 

[this is me]

Here's a White balance example.
I'm using Radion G5 with AB+ setting which is about 14K. I shoot in RAW so I usually never care for the setting of WB in the camera. I just set it at Auto. Modern camera Auto WB is great for outdoor natural light. It will nail it. However, indoor lighting and especially with the kind of lighting we use in our tanks, it's horrible with dealing with it.
As you can see, straight out of the camera shot of this Garf Bonsai is quite blue and not how I see my corals. Some people like this artificially over the top blue but I don't. This is not how I see my corals. Period.

I know the Radion G5 lighting I'm running is around 14K. All I did here was slide the color temp to about 14k and it's a lot closer to how I see my corals everyday. My rocks are pink and purple not blue like above.

 

[this is me]

Notice the angle of the shot. It's straight on and perpendicular to the subject's plane. You might think but my corals look better when I look from the top so I'm going to shoot from the top. That's a terrible idea and will create all sort of distortions and destroy your picture quality. Anytime to shoot behind a piece of glass, you always want to shoot perpendicular to it. Any angle will create distortion. You can get a way with a slight angle but it's usually never good.
If you want to get top down pictures of your corals, use a camera/lens box or dunk your water resistant phone in the water. Do it at your own risk.

 

[Hannahhh]

This is extremely helpful. I was already shooting mostly in RAW so hopefully I can touch up some of my old pictures too. One thing I am confused on, how do you know that your lights are at 14k? I have primes, is this something I can find out in my settings? Again, thank you so much!

 

[this is me]

Slide the WB 10K-25K. Within this range, the photo should look like what you see.

 

[Corwyn]

I was just looking for info on jawfish and to see if anyone has more recent info than what I found here.

DIY Jawfish House

I originally posted this in my Expierience thread, but because of a rash of PM's enquiring about it I thought I would share it here as well. I have always wanted a Blue Spot jawfish and when my LFS got a few in I jumped on the prettiest one. I figured my 2" deep sand bed was not quite enough so I...

www.nano-reef.com

This might help you. Though MY original question was what 3/4" pipe being too big, given the size of the opening they make naturally.

 

[this is me]

Thanks. That look like a fun project for the jawfish.
I think my main problem as mentioned before is the amount of fish activity in the main tank. The jawfish will never settle into something like that I think. They’re much more comfortable in the other tank where there’s no fish. I will need to look into setting up another tank and build their house. They’re beautiful fish but requires a proper species specific tank(I think).

 

[this is me]

Here's some photo update. I didn't really want to post any pictures since the tank is quite young and the frags are barely recognizable.
Some frags need more marinating time.

 

[this is me]

 

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[this is me]

 

[this is me]

September 2, 2020.

Feburary 27, 2021.
It's starting to look like a reef tank with full coraline covering rocks. Frags will need to get working for the next 6 months. Hopefully, you'll be able to see them the next time I post a FTS.

 

[Chlorinated]

Beautiful tank Nick!

 

[Sparent25]

Wow!

 

[this is me]

For the past couple weeks, I’ve been completely independent of using dried nori(sushi seaweed) and feed the tangs on macros that are grown in the fuge. I’ve also stopped using GFO completely. After 2 weeks of testing PO4 daily with and without GFO, I didn’t feel the need to use it. PO4 is sitting between 0.07 to 0.1ppm.

I have 6 varieties of macro in the fuge and rotate between them on harvesting and feeding to the tangs

Harvested last week

This weeks harvest. Half a gallon container full last about a week. And I do feed them heavily.

Some stomatella snails came along.

 

[Joe Rice]

Very cool. Where did you get the different varieties of macroalgae?

 

[this is me]

I got most of them from a member here who had a macro display tank when he broke down the tank.
I also got a lot of them from

: : : : Indo-Pacific Sea Farms : : : :

Indo-Pacific Sea Farms produces captive-bred marine life for healthier reef aquariums: invertebrates, detritivores, live sand, snail grazers, amphipods, beneficial worms, macro algae, plankton, corals, coral food and beneficial bacteria.

ipsf.com

Remember to tell him to ship to your house. I didn’t realize it until the shipment was shipped to FedeX in Burlington.

 

[Zirky]

That fuge is so cool thanks for sharing such great info. Another place for seaweed is Gulf coast Ecosystems. I haven’t bought from them but they have a great website.

 

[this is me]

Can't believe it has only been 10 months after the first livestock added to the tank. I guess the pandemic makes every seem much longer.
Enjoy the bombardment of photos taken yesterday. I shouldn't be too hard on the colors. I think they're there, it just the acors are still still that I can't really see it until I take macro shots and look at it on a screen.