Broadfield's Red Sea Reefer 450 Build - OCD Inspired... Going Back To a Reef

[Crimsonvice]

This is what I suggest for the camera:

• Shoot in RAW mode.
• Shoot in Aperture Priority mode... which is Av on a Canon.
• ISO around 400 - 800
• For white balance, shoot in Kelvin mode... crank it all the way up to 10,000
• Then adjust WB correction/shift to suite your lighting. For mine, I use a WB shift of around B3, G3

This is what I suggest in Photoshop for blanket, basic adjustments:

• First open in the RAW editor and adjust your white balance if needed. You may need to shift it a little to make it look like what you are seeing with your eyes.
• You can also adjust contrast, vibrance, saturation etc in the RAW editor. I usually bump those up a few spots... maybe a tad more. Depends on the shot, but I adjust to what it looks like with my eyes.
• You may need to tick the clarity up a tad too, but nothing drastic at all.
• Now you can open the photo within Photoshop.
• Go to the Spot Healing Brush Tool and remove any of the little particles that you see. These will be very pronounced on a black background. They are simply particles in the water column that are difficult to see with the eye and the fact that they are moving around in the water column. But when you take the shot, they will stand out because the camera catches it in still form and can even blur the particles depending on the length of the shutter.
• Once you get rid of all of the little specs and whatnot, then go ahead and crop the image if necessary.
• At this point, make sure to click on Layer > Merge Visible
• Lastly, go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask. Usually a setting around 100 - 200 will do the trick. You can click on the preview button and see the before and after. Don't go too high as it just won't look natural.

So those are just easy, basic adjustments to get your image looking like what you see with your eyes. I do other stuff sometimes, but not too much... I don't get crazy with it. However, I make take 200 photos and only get a handful that are acceptable. NOTE: I just dabble in photography, so I don't really know that much lol.

Thanks for this. This helps a lot for camera newbies.

 

[Broadfield]

Picked up some nice frags from @Russo757

Walt Disney by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

UC Strawberry Shortcake by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

RRC Orange Passion by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Oregon Tort by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

 

[CWR24]

Hey there Broadfield......can you let me know if my PM came thru to you this morning?

Thanks.......Craig

 

[DSC reef]

Such an amazing build. I liked your write up in reef hobbyist. Unbelievable work!

 

[revhtree]

Man some beautiful frags!

 

[cr2jones]

Just read both this post and the ToM post, Love what you have accomplished both in and out of the tank. I will be using several of your ideas and your color scheme. Orange is where it is at! Truck, motorcycle and tank will be orange! Keep up the great work and I will continue to follow.

 

[rockstarta78]

Man! This tank is pure inspiration. When I feel down I come visit this thread.

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

I’ll second that!

Toby, is there any bad pictures of your tank?! My eyes don’t see as well as your pictures, it’s insane!

 

[kmcgillz]

Not sure if you've answered this later on in the thread... but I just discovered it and haven't had time to go through all 58 pages yet!

Have you had any problems with "contamination" of your salt water holding/mixing tank? I know it's minimal, but I expect there is a small amount of your old tank water that sits in the pipe above the valve on the line that heads into the salt tank. (circled in green on the pic...) Thanks!

 

[mattstanks2016]

Hey @Broadfield . I am working on my led lights and I am wondering what you did. Did you buy them waterproof or did you seal them with something? Also the operating temperature of my leds is pretty hot. As someone who has never done any work with them is it ok to use on wood and on acrylic, or will it burn/melt it?

 

[Hulley]

Good Lord, I just went through this whole thread last night and this morning, EPIC Tank! This alone makes me want to get back into the hobby. I am actually on R2R because I am wanting to get back into reefing but this tank is a huge inspiration. Well done!

 

[Erick Armanii]

I have been gone from the hobby for far to long! Please tell me you have a video of this god sump and control panel somewhere on YouTube?! I read every comment on these 58 pages of this thread lol!!! I need to see a video!

 

[choss]

Just read both this post and the ToM post, Love what you have accomplished both in and out of the tank. I will be using several of your ideas and your color scheme. Orange is where it is at! Truck, motorcycle and tank will be orange! Keep up the great work and I will continue to follow.

KTM rider?

 

[JoeIII]

KTM rider?

My guess is HD

 

[Broadfield]

I’ll second that!

Toby, is there any bad pictures of your tank?! My eyes don’t see as well as your pictures, it’s insane!

LOL, well you should see the thousands of images that never make the cut.

Not sure if you've answered this later on in the thread... but I just discovered it and haven't had time to go through all 58 pages yet!

Have you had any problems with "contamination" of your salt water holding/mixing tank? I know it's minimal, but I expect there is a small amount of your old tank water that sits in the pipe above the valve on the line that heads into the salt tank. (circled in green on the pic...) Thanks!

I have thought about that myself, but I haven't done anything about it nor I have noticed any ill effects. If a person was concerned about it, they could simply undo the union below the valve and drain that little bit off, into a cup or bowl, before they fill the salt tank up with fresh RO water.

Hey @Broadfield . I am working on my led lights and I am wondering what you did. Did you buy them waterproof or did you seal them with something? Also the operating temperature of my leds is pretty hot. As someone who has never done any work with them is it ok to use on wood and on acrylic, or will it burn/melt it?

Most strip LEDs are naturally waterproof to an extent. The entire strip is inside of a clear casing that protects it. Then you can simply use heat shrink, that has the glue inside of it, to seal the end.

Good Lord, I just went through this whole thread last night and this morning, EPIC Tank! This alone makes me want to get back into the hobby. I am actually on R2R because I am wanting to get back into reefing but this tank is a huge inspiration. Well done!

Thank you very much... that's the best compliment one can receive!

I have been gone from the hobby for far to long! Please tell me you have a video of this god sump and control panel somewhere on YouTube?! I read every comment on these 58 pages of this thread lol!!! I need to see a video!

I do not have a video yet... this is my busy time of the year at work and I just haven't had any spare time. But it's on my to do list! I have a YouTube channel, but haven't really utilized it beyond some older, basic videos. My intent is to really ramp it up and start doing product reviews etc. Please feel free to subscribe to it and then you'll be notified when I finally get that video up.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpY3kO7hU83lQgaOYEz_69g?view_as=subscriber

 

[Erick Armanii]

Done

 

[Erick Armanii]

In the mean time could you provide a picture of your sumps manifold design or layout? (Or where I can find them) I’ve seen your pictures almost everywhere lol but I haven’t seen much on how the manifold was plumbed. Thanks!

 

[klondike4001]

In the mean time could you provide a picture of your sumps manifold design or layout? (Or where I can find them) I’ve seen your pictures almost everywhere lol but I haven’t seen much on how the manifold was plumbed. Thanks!

Post 677 ish

 

[klondike4001]

For Erick.

I'm waiting on a bushel of LEDs and various acrylic, so I decided to start the plumbing for the sump. The new sump is taller, but not quite as wide as the Red Sea sump. It's also not as open since it has a top plate. Which means that I can't have the reactors hanging down over the water line like I do now. So they will need to be completely above the sump... even with some room to spare so I can remove the canisters and service everything. And since I like to make things hard on myself, I decided to add a 3rd reactor to squeeze in there.

I upgraded to a Vectra L1, from my M1, since I'm adding that 3rd reactor. Also went with 1" piping.

IMG_7619 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

So the entire assembly will hang from the underside of the stand like now, but it will hug it really tight. I rotated the T's up 90 degrees... so instead of the gate valves and reactors hanging down from the T's, they will shoot forward and then a simple 90 degree fitting into the reactor. I still need to finish the exit pipes for each reactor and the drain and emergency overflow pipes. NOTE: the black boards under the reactors are just temporarily there for proper spacing of the reactors above the sump.

IMG_7613 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_7618 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

 

[Erick Armanii]

Love you! @klondike4001