therman's 12 year old SPS system...top down shot, starting to enjoy this tank again

[Charlie’s Frags]

Reefbreeders Photon v2. The AB was photographed under pretty heavy blues. The Kombucha looks like that under full spectrum, it is one of the nicest tenuis out there..kind of a purplish/indigo color.

Awesome. Last question.....until the next one. What intensity do you have your whites on your v2’s?

 

[therman]

Awesome. Last question.....until the next one. What intensity do you have your whites on your v2’s?

Most fixtures are at 70% on the whites and reds, 100% on the other channels.

 

[lwmnfrvr]

How high off the surface of the water are your Reef Breeder Lights?

 

[Memoreefs]

Are these corals still for sale?

 

[OrionN]

This is the best thread on SPS anywhere. I really love the fact that corals were grown and pictures taken under white lights instead of heavy blue. And what corals these are.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

The white light using the led is defiantly refreshing to say the least!

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

The white light using the led is defiantly refreshing to say the least!

I remember Tim saying some of these are under blues and white balanced

 

[OrionN]

@therman
Great thank. Can you remind us again what king of lightning do you have on this tank? I would love to try to imitate your success.

 

[therman]

@therman
Great thank. Can you remind us again what king of lightning do you have on this tank? I would love to try to imitate your success.

It is mostly Reefbreeders photon v2 lights. I run them at a constant mix of blue/white as I mentioned above (~70% white and red channels, 100% for the others). These don’t fade on or off, just all on at once. For some
of these photos I have dialed back the whites somewhat to make the colors easier to photograph (which would probably be comparable to a mid morning/afternoon setting if you fade on the whites) and I use the underwater white balance setting on my Olympus TG-5 point and shoot.

As anyone who has tried knows, it is a challenge to photograph corals and capture all the colors. I am no expert at it and this is just the method I’ve stumbled upon which works for me. I am not a fan of the “neon frag levitating in a pit of tar” look that seems to be dominating certain vendors and social
media these days.

 

[therman]

I remember Tim saying some of these are under blues and white balanced

The only ones taken under all blue are pretty obvious, and I mention the fact when I describe the photo. Most are taken under a full spectrum mix of all color channels.

 

[therman]

How high off the surface of the water are your Reef Breeder Lights?

Over my shallow 12" deep prop tanks they are 14" off the water. Over the 180g they are about 6" from the surface.

 

[Michael Gray]

I still can't wait to get pieces from you. My tank is turning around for the better. Dino battle bryopsis. GHA. Im battling it alll but getting t5 hybrid tomorrow to hook up. No idea how to get it running to my ghl mitras but I'll just wing it. Hoping it helps more.

 

[VAFish]

not only are your tanks beautiful your frags are incredible. And most importantly, a really nice guy.

 

[Michael Gray]

I've bought a few pieces when my tank was not ready. I gave to someone so they'd have a chance at life. They were good size pieces and he adds one or two extra.

 

[dadnjesse]

Do you actually put the Olympus TG-5 point and shoot under the water when taking pictures

 

[CCauthers]

Just curious, but do you know what your nutrients are at? I know you run (or at least used to) your alk over 9, and do you have any problems with burnt tips on anything?

 

[therman]

Finally got the camera out again...

A long overdue coral. There are a lot of aqua tipped corals out there and this is perhaps my favorite.

Greg Hiller Aqua Delight

Gorgeous aqua base tone that persists in the body of the coral, stunning blue and purple tips, and nice red-hued tips on the axial corallites. Old school classic that looks better than a lot of corals that cost 5x as much

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[therman]

Do you actually put the Olympus TG-5 point and shoot under the water when taking pictures

Yes I do most of the time! So much easier than fighting reflections of lights off the surface or distortion from shooting through the glass.

 

[therman]

Just curious, but do you know what your nutrients are at? I know you run (or at least used to) your alk over 9, and do you have any problems with burnt tips on anything?

I try to keep my main system at 9.1-9.3 dKH, and 0.15 ppm PO4. Nitrates are consistently undetectable and have been for ages. After learning a bit more about the subject, and doing a microbiome analysis with @AquaBiomics , I suspect all of my nitrogen gets absorbed by the massive amount of rapidly growing coral as ammonia, before it gets the opportunity to be converted to nitrite/nitrate. The corals are by no means showing symptoms of nutrient deficiency, and the microbial analysis showed a dearth of bacteria associated with nitrite/nitrate conversion.

The only time I've had issues with burnt tips was when I'd be on vacation and something would go wrong with the calcium reactor. I had this happen a couple of times in the past 5 years, when KH would jump to 10 or 11 and a few corals would get seriously upset. Since then I have adjusted my reactor system to prevent it....knock on wood, so far so good.

 

[therman]

Still not super happy with this photo, as it is a really cool coral that is under appreciated and is purpler than this image shows.

BC Bonsai humilis

Super tight growing flat plate covered in short knobby tips. Doesn't seem too demanding for a "humilis" type, does fine at PAR down in the 300s. Honestly I dont have any other coral in my collection with a growth form quite like this one!