Nick's 360 Gallons Reef Tank with Angels

this is me · Feb 14, 2019

SPR1968 said:
Beautiful pictures, stunning!

May I ask what are your basic camera settings for the fish, to avoid blurring with movement. I just can’t get a decent shot of the Flame Angel he doesn’t stop still! Lol

Hi Shaun,
Photography is my other hobby so taking pictures of my tank is natural to me.
For moving subject like a fish, I try to keep my shutter speed at least 1/125". Obviously, the faster the shutter speed, the better. However, you'll be pinned up against your ISO being pretty high and end up with noisy(grainy) pictures. Shooting pictures with MH lighting is a lot easier than an LED due to the narrow spectrum of LED lights. LED lights can also pose issue with white balance as well.
I'm all for taking picture without flash. You can use flash on fish but often time, you'll fight with reflection, shadow, and unnatural color of the fish. For this reason, I seldomly used flash. If I really want a super high resolution macro of something, then I'll bring out the flash. But I would never use a camera mounted flash, always off camera flash so I can control where the shadow will be or not.
If this is all too much for you, set your camera to Manual mode, set your aperture to F4, set shutter speed to 125, and set your camera to auto ISO and see what you get. You can then adjust the aperture up or down to fine tune your depth of field. This will affect your ISO level. Always set your auto focus mode to continuous when shooting something moving.
Shutter speed of 1/125 is not suitable for a tang darting around the tank. You have to study the fish and know when to press the shutter release button. Follow the fish with the camera, if it's swimming really fast, don't bother pressing the shutter release button. Allow the fish to pause(when it's changing direction) or rest then shoot away.
For slow fish like gobies, you can let the shutter speed drop to 1/60".
When all fails, put your camera in machine gun mode and shoot away. In the film days, I would never suggest this. But it's 2019 and it's practically free for all the bad pics you've taken. Delete the bad ones and no one will know about it. If you throw enough paint on the wall, something eventually will stick.

Let me know how it goes.

SPR1968 · Feb 15, 2019

this is me said:
Hi Shaun,
Photography is my other hobby so taking pictures of my tank is natural to me.
For moving subject like a fish, I try to keep my shutter speed at least 1/125". Obviously, the faster the shutter speed, the better. However, you'll be pinned up against your ISO being pretty high and end up with noisy(grainy) pictures. Shooting pictures with MH lighting is a lot easier than an LED due to the narrow spectrum of LED lights. LED lights can also pose issue with white balance as well.
I'm all for taking picture without flash. You can use flash on fish but often time, you'll fight with reflection, shadow, and unnatural color of the fish. For this reason, I seldomly used flash. If I really want a super high resolution macro of something, then I'll bring out the flash. But I would never use a camera mounted flash, always off camera flash so I can control where the shadow will be or not.
If this is all too much for you, set your camera to Manual mode, set your aperture to F4, set shutter speed to 125, and set your camera to auto ISO and see what you get. You can then adjust the aperture up or down to fine tune your depth of field. This will affect your ISO level. Always set your auto focus mode to continuous when shooting something moving.
Shutter speed of 1/125 is not suitable for a tang darting around the tank. You have to study the fish and know when to press the shutter release button. Follow the fish with the camera, if it's swimming really fast, don't bother pressing the shutter release button. Allow the fish to pause(when it's changing direction) or rest then shoot away.
For slow fish like gobies, you can let the shutter speed drop to 1/60".
When all fails, put your camera in machine gun mode and shoot away. In the film days, I would never suggest this. But it's 2019 and it's practically free for all the bad pics you've taken. Delete the bad ones and no one will know about it. If you throw enough paint on the wall, something eventually will stick.
Let me know how it goes.

Thanks Nick that’s very helpful, I’ll have a play around with the settings you mention.

It’s clearly another hobby you enjoy and are very good at it! And we have the perfect subjects with our reef tanks.

I agree with ‘machine gun mode’ sometimes, as you might get a decent shot out of 100 pictures!

Hemmdog · Feb 15, 2019

Incredible tank my friend! Simply inspirational!

Dragonetti · Feb 15, 2019

One of the most perfect things I have ever seen. I see failure in my future trying to start up a system after seeing this.

Slicktop · Feb 15, 2019

Absolutely beautiful! I may have missed it but see lots of water movement, what are you using to move all that water?

this is me · Feb 15, 2019

Dragonetti said:
One of the most perfect things I have ever seen. I see failure in my future trying to start up a system after seeing this.

I don't know who said this and not to be corny but
"There are no failures, only lessons to be learned"
I'm sure you will be just fine.

this is me · Feb 15, 2019

Slicktop said:
Absolutely beautiful! I may have missed it but see lots of water movement, what are you using to move all that water?

Main flow is provided by two Tunze 6255 running anti sync at 50% power. Even at 50% power, I have pocket of sand blowing at the other end of the tank.
I originally planned for two MP60QD but they did not work out for my peninsula set up. With the too wide and deep overflow, I wasn't able to mount the MP60 the way I want. And even at 100%, I didn't feel like there was enough flow on the other end of the tank.
The Tunze have always been serving me well in terms of shear flow and quietness. I've ran MP40 on my previous tank but it needed to be mounted end to end. For a peninsula tank, this takes a lot of the aesthetic IMO.
The return is a Vortech Vetra L1 at 50% power. As you can see, I like to buy overrated equipment so I can run it at half the rated duty. I find this helps with reliability and longevity.

this is me · Mar 2, 2019

Just changed bulbs.
2x80W ATI Blue Plus
2x80W Geismann Super actinic
3x250W Radium

Some pics from iPhone lol.

kamla · Mar 20, 2019

OH MY GOD !!!!!!!!

just no words....
well done..

this is me · Mar 30, 2019

A buddy showed up at the front with a bucket. I just couldn't say no.

this is me · Mar 31, 2019

Video of how the Sohal has settled in.

luis carreiro · Apr 1, 2019

Beautiful

gdemos · Apr 3, 2019

are you running a closed loop or just tunze for flow? and powerheads only at overflow end, nothing at viewable end?

this is me · Apr 3, 2019

No closed loop. Just Tunze 6255s on the overflow end. I love the 6255. I run antisync long pulse mode at 50% and I get bare spot on the sand at the other end. Really sweet stuff.

this is me · Apr 7, 2019

Emperor is starting its adult transition.
June '18

Now

nbd13 · Apr 8, 2019

this is me said:
Emperor is starting its adult transition.
June '18

Now

What acclimation box is that? Looking for one.

Thanks

this is me · Apr 9, 2019

I bought the Seaside Aquatics RF400C.
https://www.seasideaquatics.com/cat...magus-acclimation-box-collapsible-rf400c.html
The largest one they make. Looks like it's now Bubble Magus brand. Acclimation box is a must have for me. It's key to introduce new fish.
What I like about it
-Large. The RF400C is quite large. I have no issue of keeping a 4" regal for a couple weeks while trying to get it to eat.
-Collapsible. I can disassemble the box and store it easily
-Sectionable with divider. Helps when you're introducing multiple fish at a time
-Mountable on both rimless and eurobraced tank
-Adjustable height
-Easy open-close lid. Can take the lid out completely

What I don't like about it
-Collapsible. Takes some time to assemble and disassemble
-Collapsible. Pieces are put together by slots and silicone rubber O-rings. I broke a couple O-rings already. Good thing is that you can find the O-Ring at the hardware store and that you don't need to put the O-Ring on every single joint.

nbd13 said:
What acclimation box is that? Looking for one.

Thanks

nbd13 · Apr 9, 2019

this is me said:
I bought the Seaside Aquatics RF400C.
https://www.seasideaquatics.com/cat...magus-acclimation-box-collapsible-rf400c.html
The largest one they make. Looks like it's now Bubble Magus brand. Acclimation box is a must have for me. It's key to introduce new fish.
What I like about it
-Large. The RF400C is quite large. I have no issue of keeping a 4" regal for a couple weeks while trying to get it to eat.
-Collapsible. I can disassemble the box and store it easily
-Sectionable with divider. Helps when you're introducing multiple fish at a time
-Mountable on both rimless and eurobraced tank
-Adjustable height
-Easy open-close lid. Can take the lid out completely

What I don't like about it
-Collapsible. Takes some time to assemble and disassemble
-Collapsible. Pieces are put together by slots and silicone rubber O-rings. I broke a couple O-rings already. Good thing is that you can find the O-Ring at the hardware store and that you don't need to put the O-Ring on every single joint.