Dr, Jim's SPS: (NewCamera)

[Dr. Jim]

I considered posting this in the Photography Forum but decided to post it here since more SPS reefers may view it….. and I know how you guys and gals like pictures!

First, I just want to thank Bubba (@bubbaque) again for inspiring me to buy a better camera and spending time with me when I visited him at TSA in my endeavor to learn how to take better pictures. The photos in his thread are amongst the best I have ever seen. I hope he doesn’t mind that I bought the same equipment that he uses: Canon EOS-R with 100mm RF macro lens and a Building an Obsession Camera Tube. But I quickly learned that good equipment is only a start; the art is just as important and that requires a long learning curve. The photos posted below are my first ones. I’m happy with some but others I need to redo and work on a little more.

PHOTOGRAPHY NOTES: (Skip this if you just want to see photos).
-Bubba mentioned that one thing he likes about the Canon EOS-R is the Custom White Balance where you shoot a “Grey Card” and set it as “true white.” This eliminates the need for RAW processing (which I’ve done in the past with a cheap camera). But, I’m struggling a bit with getting the Custom White Balance to work out for me. What I finally settled with, at least for now, is to take photos at mid-day when all my lights are on (which include halides, Radions, and T5’s). The halides make everything a little whiter which allows me to use AWB (Automatic White Balance) instead of Custom White Balance which comes very close to true colors. I just need to remove a small amount of blue when processing.
-Another benefit of mid-day shooting under the brightest light is that it allows for the largest f-stop to get the greatest depth of field.
-I find that I can leave the ISO and SPEED the same and just adjust the f-stop to get the right exposure.
-Getting the proper red color is a big challenge. I need to keep working on that.

PHOTOS:
All my colonies started as frags that I purchased over the past 1-2 years and mounted on 2”x 2” tiles, so they are still just “mini-colonies.” About 35 of 100 are large enough to start to frag. (I started with SPS in 1995 but sold my entire collection 5 years ago when I semi-retired and moved several times. I just started up again 3 years ago when I realized I cannot give up this hobby!)

Here we go…….

Who thinks the TSA Rainbow Fusion is the same as JF Jolt?

 

[spsick]

Awesome pics, can you tell us a bit about your reef?

 

[exnisstech]

It looks like your getting the hang of the camera for sure. A couple are a little soft but most are spot on. What lens are you using? If you want to tinker on the PC you can shoot RAW and adjust your white balance with software. I tend to shoot mostly raw as I think I can get the images a little better than the in camera jpegs. I'm still getting used to my new camera (Sony A7 II) after being away from photography for 10 years

 

[Dr. Jim]

Awesome pics, can you tell us a bit about your reef?

Yes, I will.....but just give me a day or two to write something up.

 

[revhtree]

Looks great! Nice photos and corals!

 

[Dr. Jim]

It looks like your getting the hang of the camera for sure. A couple are a little soft but most are spot on. What lens are you using? If you want to tinker on the PC you can shoot RAW and adjust your white balance with software. I tend to shoot mostly raw as I think I can get the images a little better than the in camera jpegs. I'm still getting used to my new camera (Sony A7 II) after being away from photography for 10 years

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I do plan to try a lot of things, including RAW. As you know, all this takes time. I expect the learning process to go on for years!

 

[Dr. Jim]

Here's a few more.......

Need to work on getting the exact "red" on this one:

This is one of my favorites.....but having a problem with the "red" on this one too:

From my buddy in PA (Greg's Corals):

Homewrecker lost it's orange but hopefully will come back...

PC Rainbow

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Photos look good, seems like you are doing a good job with the camera from what I can tell!!

 

[BirdFish5000]

JF Jolt.... man, one day I'll have one; just not confident enough with acros yet to drop that kind of coin.

 

[Dr. Jim]

Awesome pics, can you tell us a bit about your reef?

MY SYSTEM(S)
I became a snowbird 8 months ago and live in Florida and in Rhode Island. I have systems running in both locations and move my corals and fish back and forth every 6 months. (An electric car works great for the move.) I just started doing this 8 months ago and am still working out the kinks. I’m hoping to eventually control the tanks remotely so I won’t have to move livestock. If this works, I will write it up some day!
Better yet, I may try to convince my wife to stay in one place! Then I can set up one huge grow-out system AND my dream mixed tank built into a wall.
Both systems are relatively small and temporary since I will be moving again soon in each state; and, they are set up to be functional, not pretty.

FLORIDA SYSTEM
-IM 100 gal EXT tank (48” x 24” footprint); Bare-bottom
-Live Rock: half KP (Fl Keys); half Gulf rock; a little Australian rock
-Hamilton Cebu Sun fixture: (4) T5’s; (2) 250W halides; magnetic ballast
-(2) Radion XR15 G6 (1 PRO; 1 BLUE)
-Trigger 34” Platinum sump with fleece roller
-(2) Varios-2 DC return pumps
-Regal 200INT 8” VarioS – Reef Octopus skimmer
- 3-Stage CO2 Scrubber to feed skimmer. (first stage has carbon); piped to window via 1/2" pvc pipe.
-Canister for media (when needed)
-Tunze Wave Box
-Maxspect Gyre
-Reef Octopus Octo Pulse 4+ Wave pump
-(2) EcoTech MP10 pumps, each connected to an Ecotech Battery backup; (positioned at surface in case of power failure)
-GHL Controller System (incl. KH Director and ION Director)
-11-stage BRS RODI: (2) sediment filters; (2) each of cation, anion and mixed bed DI
-29 gal RODI tank; 29 gal salt mixing tank
-Icecap KALK mixing reactor
-SALT: Prefer ESV when I can get it (up North); Red Sea Blue; HWMarine; Instant Ocean
-10 gal DSB filter (off-line now do to leaching of Nickel from sand)
-30 gal Q tank for corals; 30 gal Q tank for fish

-DOSE:
-Ca, Mg, Alk, Part C Balling
-Trisodiumphosphate (dose q 2hr)
-Trace Elements: I’ve been using ICP tests for 20+ years to tweak dosages. Small fraction of recommended dosages of the following:
-mostly ZeoVit additives (been using them for 25+ years)
-also Tropic Marin A and K; some ATI elements; some Triton elements; ESV B-Ionic Transition Elements.
- Carbon dose with Red Sea NO3PO4-X with added sugar

PARAMETERS
-pH: 8.0-8.4
-Ca and Mg: near middle of normal range
-ALK: 7.5-7.8
-NO3: 3 – 7
-PO4: 0.003 – 0.06
-K: 400
-Iodine: 0.03-0.04
-Salinity: 35ppt

TEST KITS
-ALK: Salifert; GHL KH Director
-Ca, Mg, K: Salifert; sometimes Red Sea for Ca
-PO4; Phosphorus Hanna checker
-NO3: Hanna checker; Salifert
-Iodine: Red Sea
-SALINITY: Tropic Marine High Precision Hydrometer (main reliance); VeeGee STX-3 Refractometer (highly recommend instead of cheap ones); Milwaukee digital

RHODE ISLAND SYSTEM
-Very similar but a little larger
-IM 170 gal EXT (60” x 30” footprint. Nice size for lighting. Can frame two 30 x 30” areas.
-LIGHTING
-(3) Cayman Sun halide reflectors: 250W HQI
-(8) Radion XR15 G6 Blue
-Sump: Home-made 48” 60 gal? Breeder w/ Roller mat; 2 VarioS return pumps
-GHL Controller System
-24” x 48” x 12” Frag Tank with XR15’s
-I’ll finish description of this system with photos after I’m back in R.I.

PHOTOS OF FLORIDA SYSTEM:
DSB filter is in cabinet at right; Kessil grow light mounted in lid; Off-line now due to ICP finding of Nickel which I believe is leaching from sand. Same thing happened with my DSB filter in R.I. Same brand sand but purchased in different states!
GHL Equipment in open cabinet on right

Sump:

I told you....it's not designed to be pretty!....just functional

Left side of tank; 2"x2" travertine tiles

Right Side: (That's a TSA Rocky Balboa: far right; 2nd row from front; and, JF Pink Highlighter far right, 1st row. Just received both from TSA last month (with no color! I'm a little worried about them. )

GHL Cabinet

11-Stage RODI with Booster Pump and Spectrapure Liquid Level (vacuum) Controller: I recently added another sediment filter because the water here is so nasty! Look how brown it is after 4 weeks! (far left; middle row). What is nice is how the second sediment filter is pure white showing how well the BRS ROSave.Z sediment filters work!

 

[exnisstech]

The Camara work is great. Focus is really on target. As to your system mine is stationary and looks like a 6 year old assembled it compared to yours. Good job now I have to go tidy up some wires

 

[Dr. Jim]

The Camara work is great. Focus is really on target. As to your system mine is stationary and looks like a 6 year old assembled it compared to yours. Good job now I have to go tidy up some wires

LOL !! I purposely didn't show my wires and tubing. A little of it can be seen in the last photo but what's behind the GHL cabinet is scary! (I'll be moving again soon so not too worried about it).

Thank you for the kind words!

 

[Dr. Jim]

In case anyone is interested, I just posted a bunch of frags for sale in the SELLING FORUM:

Florida - Live Goods - Dr. Jim's SPS

6/11/23 UPDATE. MOVING SALE: 15% OFF !! See Post #21 I have a bunch of SPS frags to sell via LOCAL PICKUP (Jupiter, FL) or I can SHIP them, BUT I can only ship to you if the ambient temperature is 35 degrees or above in your area. Please send me a PM with your zip code for a shipping...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[ryshark]

MY SYSTEM(S)
I became a snowbird 8 months ago and live in Florida and in Rhode Island. I have systems running in both locations and move my corals and fish back and forth every 6 months. (An electric car works great for the move.) I just started doing this 8 months ago and am still working out the kinks. I’m hoping to eventually control the tanks remotely so I won’t have to move livestock. If this works, I will write it up some day!
Better yet, I may try to convince my wife to stay in one place! Then I can set up one huge grow-out system AND my dream mixed tank built into a wall.
Both systems are relatively small and temporary since I will be moving again soon in each state; and, they are set up to be functional, not pretty.

FLORIDA SYSTEM
-IM 100 gal EXT tank (48” x 24” footprint); Bare-bottom
-Live Rock: half KP (Fl Keys); half Gulf rock; a little Australian rock
-Hamilton Cebu Sun fixture: (4) T5’s; (2) 250W halides; magnetic ballast
-(2) Radion XR15 G6 (1 PRO; 1 BLUE)
-Trigger 34” Platinum sump with fleece roller
-(2) Varios-2 DC return pumps
-Regal 200INT 8” VarioS – Reef Octopus skimmer
- 3-Stage CO2 Scrubber to feed skimmer. (first stage has carbon); piped to window via 1/2" pvc pipe.
-Canister for media (when needed)
-Tunze Wave Box
-Maxspect Gyre
-Reef Octopus Octo Pulse 4+ Wave pump
-(2) EcoTech MP10 pumps, each connected to an Ecotech Battery backup; (positioned at surface in case of power failure)
-GHL Controller System (incl. KH Director and ION Director)
-11-stage BRS RODI: (2) sediment filters; (2) each of cation, anion and mixed bed DI
-29 gal RODI tank; 29 gal salt mixing tank
-Icecap KALK mixing reactor
-SALT: Prefer ESV when I can get it (up North); Red Sea Blue; HWMarine; Instant Ocean
-10 gal DSB filter (off-line now do to leaching of Nickel from sand)
-30 gal Q tank for corals; 30 gal Q tank for fish

-DOSE:
-Ca, Mg, Alk, Part C Balling
-Trisodiumphosphate (dose q 2hr)
-Trace Elements: I’ve been using ICP tests for 20+ years to tweak dosages. Small fraction of recommended dosages of the following:
-mostly ZeoVit additives (been using them for 25+ years)
-also Tropic Marin A and K; some ATI elements; some Triton elements; ESV B-Ionic Transition Elements.
- Carbon dose with Red Sea NO3PO4-X with added sugar

PARAMETERS
-pH: 8.0-8.4
-Ca and Mg: near middle of normal range
-ALK: 7.5-7.8
-NO3: 3 – 7
-PO4: 0.003 – 0.06
-K: 400
-Iodine: 0.03-0.04
-Salinity: 35ppt

TEST KITS
-ALK: Salifert; GHL KH Director
-Ca, Mg, K: Salifert; sometimes Red Sea for Ca
-PO4; Phosphorus Hanna checker
-NO3: Hanna checker; Salifert
-Iodine: Red Sea
-SALINITY: Tropic Marine High Precision Hydrometer (main reliance); VeeGee STX-3 Refractometer (highly recommend instead of cheap ones); Milwaukee digital

RHODE ISLAND SYSTEM
-Very similar but a little larger
-IM 170 gal EXT (60” x 30” footprint. Nice size for lighting. Can frame two 30 x 30” areas.
-LIGHTING
-(3) Cayman Sun halide reflectors: 250W HQI
-(8) Radion XR15 G6 Blue
-Sump: Home-made 48” 60 gal? Breeder w/ Roller mat; 2 VarioS return pumps
-GHL Controller System
-24” x 48” x 12” Frag Tank with XR15’s
-I’ll finish description of this system with photos after I’m back in R.I.

PHOTOS OF FLORIDA SYSTEM:
DSB filter is in cabinet at right; Kessil grow light mounted in lid; Off-line now due to ICP finding of Nickel which I believe is leaching from sand. Same thing happened with my DSB filter in R.I. Same brand sand but purchased in different states!
GHL Equipment in open cabinet on right

Sump:

I told you....it's not designed to be pretty!....just functional

Left side of tank; 2"x2" travertine tiles

Right Side: (That's a TSA Rocky Balboa: far right; 2nd row from front; and, JF Pink Highlighter far right, 1st row. Just received both from TSA last month (with no color! I'm a little worried about them. )

GHL Cabinet

11-Stage RODI with Booster Pump and Spectrapure Liquid Level (vacuum) Controller: I recently added another sediment filter because the water here is so nasty! Look how brown it is after 4 weeks! (far left; middle row). What is nice is how the second sediment filter is pure white showing how well the BRS ROSave.Z sediment filters work!

@Dr. Jim How is the Rocky Balboa, which came in not looking great, doing now?

 

[Reefahholic]

Interesting setup and dosing regimen. I like the boomerang and atom bomb.

 

[Reef Psychology]

Bubba mentioned that one thing he likes about the Canon EOS-R is the Custom White Balance where you shoot a “Grey Card” and set it as “true white.” This eliminates the need for RAW processing (which I’ve done in the past with a cheap camera). But, I’m struggling a bit with getting the Custom White Balance to work out for me. What I finally settled with, at least for now, is to take photos at mid-day when all my lights are on (which include halides, Radions, and T5’s). The halides make everything a little whiter which allows me to use AWB (Automatic White Balance) instead of Custom White Balance which comes very close to true colors. I just need to remove a small amount of blue when processing.
-Another benefit of mid-day shooting under the brightest light is that it allows for the largest f-stop to get the greatest depth of field.
-I find that I can leave the ISO and SPEED the same and just adjust the f-stop to get the right exposure.
-Getting the proper red color is a big challenge. I need to keep working on that.

You can do this with any camera with the right software. Buy a plastic 18% gray card from Amazon and every time you take a photo have the gray card in the frame. Then, crop it out later. I use ON1 and Affinity Photo 2 And use the white balance dropper to chose the gray card. You should have a light setting for taking photos so you don’t have to mess with camera settings every time.

Your photos look really nice already though. Only thing I might add would be to stop any flow in the tank and close up the f/stop a little to get better DoF.

Nice setup!

 

[Dr. Jim]

@Dr. Jim How is the Rocky Balboa, which came in not looking great, doing now?

It hasn't changed a bit. Neither has the CC Pink Highlighter. Going on 3 months now. I can see retracted polyps with a magnifying glass or with the camera macro lens. As long as they don't die, I'll be OK waiting for however long it takes for them to perk up. Still disappointing though.

 

[Dr. Jim]

You can do this with any camera with the right software. Buy a plastic 18% gray card from Amazon and every time you take a photo have the gray card in the frame. Then, crop it out later. I use ON1 and Affinity Photo 2 And use the white balance dropper to chose the gray card. You should have a light setting for taking photos so you don’t have to mess with camera settings every time.

Your photos look really nice already though. Only thing I might add would be to stop any flow in the tank and close up the f/stop a little to get better DoF.

Nice setup!

I've been using a gray card but Canon tech support told me to shoot the card so that is the only thing in the frame, then use that as the Custom White Balance setting. I'll try your suggestion though. Not sure what you mean by "having a light setting." Do you mean keeping the ISO, fstop and speed the same all the time?
Thanks for the tips!

 

[ryshark]

It hasn't changed a bit. Neither has the CC Pink Highlighter. Going on 3 months now. I can see retracted polyps with a magnifying glass or with the camera macro lens. As long as they don't die, I'll be OK waiting for however long it takes for them to perk up. Still disappointing though.

That is disappointing, especially considering how expensive the rocky balboa is. Glad to hear they are still alive and hope they eventually recover.

 

[Reef Psychology]

I've been using a gray card but Canon tech support told me to shoot the card so that is the only thing in the frame, then use that as the Custom White Balance setting. I'll try your suggestion though. Not sure what you mean by "having a light setting." Do you mean keeping the ISO, fstop and speed the same all the time?
Thanks for the tips!

Canon isn’t wrong, but that setting is primarily for studio work where you have control of all the lightings. By setting, I meant your Radion’s. A dedicated setting closer to 10,000K where the camera doesn’t have to struggle so much. If you use the card with every photo you can use the W hite Point setting to fine tune every photo. What photo editing software do you use? Some of the more basic ones don’t have this option so you’d want to use Canon’s recommendation.

FYI RAW images give you 5-10 ‘steps’ of exposure adjustment (JPEG lock you to one exposure with little flexibility). If you look at the histogram of each photo you’ll see RED, GREEN and BLUE color mountains separated by little vertical lines. Each line represents a ‘stop’ which can be adjusted. You generally want all three colors to be centered. Anything that falls off the right or left side of photos is lost information. Keep this in mind while you are adjusting camera settings when taking photos.