Pickupman66"s Downsized Simplified 66 rimless

BrotherReef · Aug 22, 2015

Tank is looking superb sir.

pickupman66 · Sep 27, 2015

OK, Update time. I t has been a while since I posted. I now have everything where i want it level wize and the tank is just churning right along. I had an issue with one of my RBTA sitting on my clam and then the clam developing a case of pinched mantle. I solved part 1 with a power head and relocated the anemonee and then diped the clam twice in fresh water. it looks great now. The Archon controller is coming right along and is really doing a great job on the system.

This past weekend I went to a Little frag swap in Huntsville. It was great to see good friends. I picked up a few nice gems including some Zoas, a Gonipora and a small acan frag. Lets see if I can make them grow.

ON to the photos. :

pickupman66 · Sep 27, 2015

pickupman66 · Sep 27, 2015

JOKER · Sep 27, 2015

Looking great!!

BrotherReef · Sep 27, 2015

Awesome tank P.

MrDJeep123 · Sep 27, 2015

Very nice! I was reading from the beginning. It was nice to see the progression.

Tahoe61 · Sep 27, 2015

Wonderful color, beautiful tank.
Do you think the day will come when the zoanthids will out compete everything else?
That Potters is stunning.

pickupman66 · Sep 27, 2015

Tahoe, nope. The LPS sting them back pretty good. And if you notice one of the plateaus used to be completely covered. It is now barren of the green ones and I am getting to plant a variety in there.

Yea, that potters is fat and happy. No nipping and he won't eat sponges either. I have a ton of them in the dark places on the rocks. I did however discover a rather large aptasia the other day in a very hidden area. I guess I do miss that big cbb.

srad750c · Oct 3, 2015

Beautiful tank, how did you get your pictures to come out so good? I can't get the true colors when I take photos.

Reef_Junkies · Oct 4, 2015

Amazing tank! How do people get their corals to grow right next to each other without stinging? Especially the BTA...

pickupman66 · Oct 4, 2015

Srad750c, I take all my photos in raw and then manually adjust the white balance with photoshop to 14000. Then add some clarity and sharpen them up. Sometimes adjusting the blacks to get the contrasts and then just a hint of vibrance. I try to adjust to that I actually see and not to make them embellished.

pickupman66 · Oct 4, 2015

Yo_im_joe, the anemones do sting the zoas. Not so much the clam, but it has since moved to the floor of the tank. The torch stings the zoas as well. I added a goni to where the clam was and it stinks the zoas. So they grow away from it.

srad750c · Oct 4, 2015

pickupman66 said:
Srad750c, I take all my photos in raw and then manually adjust the white balance with photoshop to 14000. Then add some clarity and sharpen them up. Sometimes adjusting the blacks to get the contrasts and then just a hint of vibrance. I try to adjust to that I actually see and not to make them embellished.

OK, I don't have a photo software, which one do you use? I took my photos in RAW, white balance on my camera does't go high enough. Thanks.

pickupman66 · Oct 4, 2015

I use Adobe Photoshop.

Brw. Shot this short video this afternoon. Tank was on point tonight. Did a 10 gallon water change yesterday.

Jordan Polack · Oct 4, 2015

Tank looks great, Zoas are growing like weeds

srad750c · Oct 5, 2015

pickupman66 said:
I use Adobe Photoshop.

Brw. Shot this short video this afternoon. Tank was on point tonight. Did a 10 gallon water change yesterday.

Looks great, which version of Photoshop? Do you set ISO and white balance settings, if so what are they set at? I have a Nikon D3100, hopefully I can get close to your settings.

pickupman66 · Oct 5, 2015

in all the images above the ISO was 800. I normally dont shoot it that high because it can get grainy. I guess I may have changed it for some reason. normally for me 200-400 is a sweet spot, but it gets darker. I have photoshop CS5.1.

I shoot in raw, Manual mode. ISO at 5.6 or below (depends on if zoomed in) and shutter at about 1/100 or so if I am handling the camera. I shoot a D-3000 nikon. Kill your pumps so the corals arent moving. clean the glass and shoot away. my top downs were all with all pumps off. I have a porthole but I really want one of those avast marine ones.

pickupman66 · Oct 5, 2015

Ok, here are some examples of what I actually do with my camera.

1. this is the JPEG basic straight out of my Nikon. Camera did its WB and all the camera processing in its software. I did not touch this image.

2. This image is straight out of the RAW file. No processing except to open it and save as a JPEG.

3. This is my edit. White balance to 14000 (darn near where my tank is), added clarity, Vibrance, some recovery to bring some of the brights back and then sharpened it a little.

srad750c · Oct 5, 2015

pickupman66 said:
in all the images above the ISO was 800. I normally dont shoot it that high because it can get grainy. I guess I may have changed it for some reason. normally for me 200-400 is a sweet spot, but it gets darker. I have photoshop CS5.1.

I shoot in raw, Manual mode. ISO at 5.6 or below (depends on if zoomed in) and shutter at about 1/100 or so if I am handling the camera. I shoot a D-3000 nikon. Kill your pumps so the corals arent moving. clean the glass and shoot away. my top downs were all with all pumps off. I have a porthole but I really want one of those avast marine ones.

Thank you very much, looks like I need software and a tripod. Also I think Kessils are a little too blue. Yes, it's sweet Ilooked at it.