Neptune Aquatics

Rich's First SF Build

Very nice setup! Good choice on clown fish. I myself got the same pair of fish that u did from Ed also lol.
When u rdy for some z and p hit me up I got a Dec size collection of them. I like the size of tank also like the option of looking down to view.
Great start and great choice on light you will love it. Nice coverage and little heat and cheep on the electric bill.
 
The tank is starting to really shine. Frags are growing out and colors are filling in.

Full Tank Shot


Twinspot Goby Watermelon Psammacorra

WWC Sunrise (This thing just keeps getting better and better)

Sexy's Purple Poison

My Jawbreakers

OG Vampire PE (finally starting to color up)

Now for some unnamed zoas.
A few places have these up for sale, but I'm not a fan of the names so they stay unnamed
Unnamed #1

Unnamed #2

Unnamed #3

Unnamed #4
 
Haven't seen that shroom in awhile (of all people, Alicia would have it in her collection).

Beautiful build and looking forward to seeing this sucker fill in.
 
I've been wanting to compare the WWC Sunrise to the JF Crazy Fox and JF My Miami for a long time. Today I bought a frag of each. Only thing that is the same is that they all have a green rim



Here they all are in a group shot


This is just a sweet new shroom I picked up. You can't see it well in the picture, but there is a gold rim around the entire thing
 
Kensington Reefer said:
You have some amazing corals in there. But once that anemone settles in, it will sting all that it can reach. Just a heads up.

I plan on giving the nem it's space. I've had quite a few in the past. They are usually okay around zoas and shrooms, get into a little trouble around chalices and acans.
 
monkeybiz said:
Your pics look great! And tips on general camera settings?


First off, I have a Pentax DSLR. I have a Tamron 90mm Macro lens that will let me get about 4-5 inches away from the object of interest. The macro lens really does all of the work. And most importantly I have a reliable solid tripod. The tripod is probably the most important part of the entire setup. It allows you to get a really long shutter depression without any wobble which just kills the look of a photo.

As far as setting and lighting:

I have LEDs so I adjust them to mostly white. I open up the aperture to around f12 (every macro lens has a sweet spot that gives you the crispest shots) or wider and adjust the shutter accordingly. I use a custom white balance which on my camera is around 10000k. If I'm shooting the chalices I just leave the flow on because they really don't move. When I'm shooting Zoas I shut everything off. I do all processing on my camera to get the colors correct. My shutter speed is usually around 1-2 seconds. With things like SPS that have a crazy amount of polyp extension and are almost always on the move you are going to have to close the aperture a little and get a fast shutter time.

Here is another little tip. If you have one of the newer DSLR or one of the higher end older DSLR (cannon 5d MarkII) you can make your life easier by increasing the ISO setting to 400+. In practice this allows you to use a faster shutter speed while keeping the aperture open.

Feel free to contact me if you want some help or want to come over and see my set-up in person. First lesson is free :)
 
>... My shutter speed is usually around 1-2 seconds....
Ahh, I was wondering why everything in the main tank shot looked so crisp, yet
your fish was a total blur.

Pictures are great!!
Good tips! I need to add a mode on my LEDs for picture taking.
 
rygh said:
>... My shutter speed is usually around 1-2 seconds....
Ahh, I was wondering why everything in the main tank shot looked so crisp, yet
your fish was a total blur.

Pictures are great!!
Good tips! I need to add a mode on my LEDs for picture taking.


yeah, that shutter speed also allows you to widen the depth of field (via aperature) so you don't have to be as precise with the focus. Nothing worse than getting everything right and loading the picture on the computer and realizing you have the side of the frag plug in focus instead of the coral.
 
RichieT said:
rygh said:
>... My shutter speed is usually around 1-2 seconds....
Ahh, I was wondering why everything in the main tank shot looked so crisp, yet
your fish was a total blur.

Pictures are great!!
Good tips! I need to add a mode on my LEDs for picture taking.


yeah, that shutter speed also allows you to widen the depth of field (via aperature) so you don't have to be as precise with the focus. Nothing worse than getting everything right and loading the picture on the computer and realizing you have the side of the frag plug in focus instead of the coral.


I do that ALL the time!! Ugh. Nice of you to post some tips. Much appreciated.
 
Got some better angles on a few pieces. The shrooms are getting pretty fantastic looking

I'm hoping that is a green stripe starting to come in. It's definitely different that the surrounding area


The next two are shrooms I just picked up.
Cool metallic pink with green "marks" throughout


This one is pink with pink dots and a very hard to see gold rim



Here is the Sunburst chilling under his overhang
 
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