Project 365 - My Reef Journal - One Photograph Per Day

urbaneks · Jan 28, 2016

Project 365 - January 28th, 2016
Here is the 28th entry into Project 365

There is nothing fancy or difficult about keeping Montipora but I do like the growth form and texture they add to an aquascape. As with any coral, these guys have the drawbacks, they grow very large and have a tendency to shade other corals. I like to add montipora down low and on the edges of my aquascapes. That prevents them from shading coral and gives them room to scroll. In this photo you can see the Idaho Grape on the left, Purple Rimmed Green in the middle and the ORA Setosa in the background. I liked the way this grouping came out.

Thanks for looking
28 down 337 to go!

Project 365 - 1/28/16 - Montiporas

urbaneks · Jan 29, 2016

Project 365 - January 29th, 2016
Here is the 29th entry into Project 365

First things first, Happy Birthday @Reeflogic. Hope you are having a great Bday.

Well, just one day away from the first month of Project 365 being completed. In many ways it's been a long process while in other ways, it's hard to believe a month has come and gone. At this rate, 2016 will be gone in a flash.

Today's post is of a photo of my Strawberry Fields acropora. This coral is very similar to Red Planet but tables much flatter. This particular coral is mounted high in the aquarium and gets lot of lights. You can see that it is 100% pink. I have a small piece of this same coral mounted low and in the shade. If I had not cut and mounted it myself I would swear it's two different corals. The other piece has a green base with pink tips. Actually a more impressive coral in the shade but the tabling of the larger piece is wonderful.

Photobucket is down for maintenance tonight so I'm attempting to upload my photo directly to Reef2Reef. I hope that it displays properly. That's it for today, tomorrow I will post photo 30 along with a recap of the first month.

Thanks for looking
29 down 336 to go!

Project 365 - 1/29/16 - Strawberry Fields

Reeflogic · Jan 29, 2016

Thanks urbaneks, it was a great day! Beautiful photo! Looking forward to the sister colony photo! Have a great evening.

drstratton · Jan 29, 2016

Another beautiful picture! Looking forward to the recap!

urbaneks · Jan 30, 2016

delandreefer said:
Great thread, looking forward to the post to come.

Delandreefer - thanks for the comment on the thread. Look forward to having you along for the ride.

erk said:
Gain another year of knowledge, but lose another year of life.

Erk-I've lost many years, I must have great knowledge. [emoji1]

Reeflogic said:
Thanks urbaneks, it was a great day! Beautiful photo! Looking forward to the sister colony photo! Have a great evening.

Reeflogic- glad to hear it was a great day. Perhaps month 3 or 4 the sister colony will be ready for photo. It's too small right now.

drstratton said:
Another beautiful picture! Looking forward to the recap!

Drstratton-thank you! Recap is eminent.

steve&mari · Jan 30, 2016

Such stunning corals and truly a showcase of photography art and skills. The month recaps going to be amazing I'm sure already. Keep em coming and know the time involved is being very appreciated.

urbaneks · Jan 30, 2016

Project 365 - January 30th, 2016
Here is the 30th entry into Project 365

A big milestone today in Project 365 as I've hit the one month mark, 1/12th of of the way through the project. I'm happy that I've been able to stay true to the project thus far, 30 days and 30 photos. I will be making one additional post today which will be a photo recap of the first month.

Today's photo is of my Strawberry Shortcake colony. At some point I will get some top down shots of this coral so everyone can see it's real beauty. It's unfortunate that as the coral sits in the aquarium, you see more of a side shot which is nice but nothing like the top down. What you are seeing in the photo below is about 1/2 of the total colony, which in total is about 12" across. This coral is mounted high in the aquarium and sits about 8-10" away from the MP60. In other words, it gets high light and very heavy flow. This coral has become the focal point on the left side of the aquarium.

Thanks for looking
30 down 335 to go!

Project 365 - 1/30/16 - Strawberry Shortcake

tripdad · Jan 30, 2016

Congrats on the 1 month anniversary, well done. It has been a treat to follow along. I was a fan of your old journal and if possible pictures are even better. Best of luck for the rest of the year and thanks for sharing.

urbaneks · Jan 30, 2016

Project 365 - January 30th, 2016
30 Day Recap

After 30 days of Project 356, I've learned that the benefits of this project reach beyond the creation of a photo a day. It has made me slow down and enjoy some of the finer details of the aquarium. It has made me appreciate where my reef is vs. wishing it had more growth, better color, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, I still have a fair bit of that going on.

I hope that through my efforts that perhaps someone else out there will start their own Project 365. There is nothing magic about January 1st, you can start any day of the year. You can reap the benefits of this project.

Looking back over the journal, I see a bunch of individual photographs, each one nice in it's own way, but when they are put together you start to see the true beauty of our amazing hobby. So many nuances, so many colors, so many textures, so many awesome creatures. For me this is a reminder that what I have here is so much more than an aquarium, so much more than a hobby, its one of my life passions. I love it...

Thanks again to all those that have chose to join me in this project. Your views, comments and likes are a great source of encouragement.

Project 365 - 1/30/16 - First 30 Day Recap

drstratton · Jan 30, 2016

Congratulations! Your final recap is stunning, I agree it's pretty amazing all of the different colors and textures, just beautiful! I love that you have the full tank shot in there, it draws everything else in! Looking forward to this next month and the next 335 pictures!

dolliecc · Jan 30, 2016

Hat off to you! I have so enjoyed your pics and comments on each pic. Can't wait to see what's coming for Feb.

dolliecc · Jan 30, 2016

urbaneks said:
Project 365 - January 28th, 2016
Here is the 28th entry into Project 365

There is nothing fancy or difficult about keeping Montipora but I do like the growth form and texture they add to an aquascape. As with any coral, these guys have the drawbacks, they grow very large and have a tendency to shade other corals. I like to add montipora down low and on the edges of my aquascapes. That prevents them from shading coral and gives them room to scroll. In this photo you can see the Idaho Grape on the left, Purple Rimmed Green in the middle and the ORA Setosa in the background. I liked the way this grouping came out.

Thanks for looking
28 down 337 to go!

I really like this grouping also, I am into the montipora's

Project 365 - 1/28/16 - Montiporas

justaDutchguy · Jan 30, 2016

Congratulations! Still enjoying your daily post very much. That recap picture is beyond amazing and i would definately hang that if it were a poster. Keep up the great work and i will feel your pride and satisfaction at the end of the year.

urbaneks · Jan 30, 2016

steve&mari said:
Such stunning corals and truly a showcase of photography art and skills. The month recaps going to be amazing I'm sure already. Keep em coming and know the time involved is being very appreciated.

Steve&Mari - glad to hear the photos are appreciated. Hope you found the monthly recap pleasing.

tripdad said:
Congrats on the 1 month anniversary, well done. It has been a treat to follow along. I was a fan of your old journal and if possible pictures are even better. Best of luck for the rest of the year and thanks for sharing.

Tripdad- thanks, thanks and thanks. Curious which journal you followed? Was it the Nano Cube or the 110g?

drstratton said:
Congratulations! Your final recap is stunning, I agree it's pretty amazing all of the different colors and textures, just beautiful! I love that you have the full tank shot in there, it draws everything else in! Looking forward to this next month and the next 335 pictures!

drstratton- thanks so much. Really appreciate all of your kind words. You've been following since day 1.

dolliecc said:
Hat off to you! I have so enjoyed your pics and comments on each pic. Can't wait to see what's coming for Feb.

Dolliecc - thanks for the kind words. I'm happy that you've been along for the ride and have enjoyed the posts.

justaDutchguy said:
Congratulations! Still enjoying your daily post very much. That recap picture is beyond amazing and i would definately hang that if it were a poster. Keep up the great work and i will feel your pride and satisfaction at the end of the year.

JustaDutchguy - thanks for following along daily. Calendars and posters, I'm getting all kinds of great ideas here.

tripdad · Jan 30, 2016

Your welcome, I followed the one on your 250, it was when I got back into the hobby and learned from it.

jstuver · Jan 31, 2016

So much beauty!!!

Maritimer · Jan 31, 2016

Each day is an anticipated treat . . .

Particularly enthralled by the "Strawberry Shortcake's" range of colors, and its tabling habit. Rather spectacular!

Hope you don't mind ... I've made your "Toxic Green Palys" my desktop image, as it's both brilliant and soothing!

~Bruce

urbaneks · Jan 31, 2016

Project 365 - January 31st, 2016
Here is the 31st entry into Project 365

I thought I would get this next 30 days kicked off with one of my all time top favorite corals, the ORA Hawkins. For those of you that have or have had this coral, you know what a gem it is. One thing to be mindful of with this coral, is it does not take to dips well. They almost always die if they are dipped, thus it's important to get this coral from a reliable source. The fellow reefer I got this from has the most amazing colony of this coral, we are talking 15-20" long branches. I'm happy to report that this coral is growing well for me after a very long period where it sat idle. I'm hoping that I can get it into the same glory in which it came from. The coral can take very low light, in fact, the reefer I got this from keeps it near the sand bed. For me, I have it mounted about mid tank.

This photo was taken at sunset, which is the beautiful light source you are seeing in the background. I typically try to avoid a bright background but in this case, I think it worked out nicely and does not take away too much from the coral.

Thanks for looking
31 down 334 to go!

Project 365 - 1/31/16 - ORA Hawkins

urbaneks · Jan 31, 2016

tripdad said:
Your welcome, I followed the one on your 250, it was when I got back into the hobby and learned from it.

tripdad - Thanks for the response. I was never very good at updating that journal. My 110g journal was excellent, lots of great information in that one.

jstuver said:
So much beauty!!!

jstuver - Thanks so much!!!

Maritimer said:
Each day is an anticipated treat . . .

Particularly enthralled by the "Strawberry Shortcake's" range of colors, and its tabling habit. Rather spectacular!

Hope you don't mind ... I've made your "Toxic Green Palys" my desktop image, as it's both brilliant and soothing!

~Bruce

Bruce - I don't mind at all. I had another user contact me about using the 30 day summary as a desktop background. I emailed him a larger copy of it to fit his desktop.