My 1st humble piece of the ocean

[jxlex]

i tried and did that.... but failed... haha......

which lens are you using?

I use mainly either a 50/100mm prime macro f2.8... have to take into considerations refraction also la... that one cannot control one... but if your tank scaped for front viewing then take from front should be ok ba...

For wide shots i change to 31mm/40mm prime quick lens also can... but macro gives you the additional benefits of being able to focus on subjects that are really close to your lens...

Use a hood to block out lights coming from other directions... should work la...

[comycus]

yup the power of primes and a good photographer Think really have to be disciplined and learn from you. Start shooting with tripod, window up and manual focus.

Jacky you are limited by your acrylic tank coz can't take at angles... really limit the amount of shooting you can do.

[jxlex]

Hahaha.... its the power of primes omit the "Good photographer" part...

[gerrard_boon]

wow....really great looking photos..!

[yikai]

Some new additions to my tank 2 days back...

Was told this is anemone coral

long tentacle plate coral. place this on the sand.

Some red stuff (whats the name btw)

red lobophyllia. very nice!

Orange Yuma (have green lips leh but dunno why photo come out cannot see)

Some plate with orange lips n green tentacles

This is a sun right? (got 2 frags... about thumb size)

yes. sun coral.. doesn't look too good. feed it alot.

One of the sps frag given to me to "try out"

The other 2 frags given (the one at bottom left was told is some Rhotahids or smthg, given by a nice bro here)

More later la...

[mecedesfish]

Yes, very nice coral and pictures. Lovely

[jxlex]

bro lemon, how come must place on the sand huh? Just curious... i stupidly epoxy it down somemore

Yup, will try to get it to open up with tlc... lol... the other frag doing alot better but cos at left side of tank harder to take photo...

Also, how to feed the red lobophyllia properly huh?

[jxlex]

wow....really great looking photos..!

Yes, very nice coral and pictures. Lovely

Thanks bros.

[jxlex]

Some updates before my multiple flights in and out this week... YAWN!!

After being with me for a week:

Is this sun opening better now?

Some new additions:

another plate

yellow polyps

whats the actual name for this specimen?

Nice green zoa + close up

bronze/goldish zoa This piece actually abit bronzy/goldish but some how i cannot replicate the colors in this photo

Deep green zoa with lumi yellow centre (reminds my of bonsai)

Yellowish zoa

[jxlex]

getting into a very bad habit of implusive purchase.... 8/10 times come back buay gam.....

[peacemaker]

My my... your tank is also super clean as well, to be able to take such crystal clear shots.

[jackywongto]

really outstanding photos...

the colours are pretty naturally and the images are very sharp.....

[jackywongto]

getting into a very bad habit of implusive purchase.... 8/10 times come back buay gam.....

happens to all of us in the beginning... rather buy wrongly than not buy,.... haha.....

but your mentality will change later.....

[yikai]

long tentacle plate coral is very sensitive, more so than the normal ones. infact they are quite challenging. place on sand because they are found there in nature and the sand helps to cushion their delicate tissue.

normal plate corals put on rocks is fine. they are more forgiving. Long tentacle ones usually get themself cut by the rocks and die from the bottom up. don't epoxy them there. it's worse. they are free living by nature and will bloat up and move around the sand.

same goes for plate corals. they break off after awhile and live freely on the sand.

[Milch_Tan]

getting into a very bad habit of implusive purchase.... 8/10 times come back buay gam.....

haha hey bro! yeah was kinda like tt initially too, like the endless possibilities of having a piece of nature in our very own tank, but seriously, looking at your micro shots feels like i'm flipping the pages of national geographic magazine pages, super nice!!! haha.

are the crabs n serpent star still with u?

[jxlex]

My my... your tank is also super clean as well, to be able to take such crystal clear shots.

macro lens tend to ignore particles between the lens and object especially if it a close up so its not my tank super clean la bro

really outstanding photos...

the colours are pretty naturally and the images are very sharp.....

Thanks bro i try my best to replicate the colors as accurately to the actual specimen as possible. No matter how good a camera it will not be able to replicate natural colors 100% unless maybe i can get a iso 50 and below camera... ahahaha

[jxlex]

happens to all of us in the beginning... rather buy wrongly than not buy,.... haha.....

but your mentality will change later.....

yup slowly slowly im starting to understand this theory

[jxlex]

long tentacle plate coral is very sensitive, more so than the normal ones. infact they are quite challenging. place on sand because they are found there in nature and the sand helps to cushion their delicate tissue.

normal plate corals put on rocks is fine. they are more forgiving. Long tentacle ones usually get themself cut by the rocks and die from the bottom up. don't epoxy them there. it's worse. they are free living by nature and will bloat up and move around the sand.

same goes for plate corals. they break off after awhile and live freely on the sand.

Understand! Thanks for replying bro will try to dislodge it and place it on the sand bed later today

[jxlex]

haha hey bro! yeah was kinda like tt initially too, like the endless possibilities of having a piece of nature in our very own tank, but seriously, looking at your micro shots feels like i'm flipping the pages of national geographic magazine pages, super nice!!! haha.

are the crabs n serpent star still with u?

Thanks for the kind comments bro NG photographers are WAY up there man... ahahaha...

Yes both are technically still in the tank... i've seen the star but have not seen the crabs in a long while though...

[jxlex]

WOW! just came to realise its been almost a month since my last update.

Busy busy busy with work.... clocking miles like no tmr.....

Anyway, nothing much have changed since my last update except for a few new equipments and of course.... livestocks

New equipments and some feedback:

1)2 x 250w 20K MH - Lovely... just pure marvelous..... changing to led soon though... wonder if i shld go for 2 x 160w or 1 x 230w... hmmm... any suggestions?

2)Dosing system (Bubble Magnus) - it took only 2 weeks after installation and i started witnessing a massive growth in coraline. at the same time the corals seems to be doing much much better... never regret this investment man...

3)NP Biopellet - just added it last week to replace my volka dosing due to work schedule, not much comments yet cos i understand that only after 2 weeks then will see result.

4)Repiping - threw all my tubes away and replaced them with PVC pipes instead... all i can say is... it sure makes maintanance much easier for me now

QUESTIONS: how come my corals seems to be doing very well but fishes aren't? every 5 fishes i add in 4 will pass on within 2-3days... anyway to find out the cause?? i prefer having some fishes leh... so far the longest lasting one is my female leopard wrasse, the damsels are doing fine, 1 mandarin enjoying him/herself and a few others... clowns all completely dead together with anthias, tangs & angels

Nothing much changed since then so maybe will just end off this update with some pics of the tank as of 1st July 2010!

Help me if you can to name some of the corals k am hopelessly bad with names:

orangey greyish lobo(correct me if i named it wrongly) - this guy is lovely

lumi Yellow skirt with blue centre gonio (was told this chap would die but smhow it seems to be doing quite well)

pink with blue centre gonio (same comment as above) i think gonios seems to like my tank alot

Bubble bubble - love this fella

some zoa (dunno radioactive or eagle eye) some morph to orange though

red zoa (i almost had to beg for this frag) about 8 - 10 polyps when i got it about 3 weeks back a few more appeared.

Zoa - yellow skirt with red & purple centre ( anyone noes its nickname?)

[jxlex]

will need help naming the rest below:

to end it all off my new clammy:

Thanks all for viewing, comments suggestions welcome

Will try to update more often but lately flying alot so damn lazy... lol

[peacemaker]

QUESTIONS: how come my corals seems to be doing very well but fishes aren't? every 5 fishes i add in 4 will pass on within 2-3days... anyway to find out the cause?? i prefer having some fishes leh... so far the longest lasting one is my female leopard wrasse, the damsels are doing fine, 1 mandarin enjoying him/herself and a few others... clowns all completely dead together with anthias, tangs & angels

I thought you mentioned in the NSW thread that you were using NSW without any issues? Maybe you should just check on your water perimeters for a start.

[jxlex]

Just to clarify, I've not have probs all these while using NSW.

Since day 1 after cycling, my fish survival rate has been hopeless... I bought the wrasse with another 3-4 fishes as my first batch and it's the only 1 that survived and it's around since then even after numerous water changes. Everytime I buy fishes I will have probably only 10% survival and this occurance haven't changed since day one so I don't relate it to "laced" nsw from oil leak.

IMHO, I will say smthg is wrong with the nsw IF livestocks that were already doing well dies after a water change(s). I have recorded 0 deaths till date on my corals and inverts and it's only fishes I have problem keeping alive leh

parameters wise, I do basic testing weekly ph, salinity, nh3, no2, no3, po4, iodine, ca, mg & kh. Nh3 & no2 has constantly been tested at 0ppm since cycling is complete, my ph is 8.2, iodine, ca, mg, kh are maintained within recommended range with the dosing system But the unfortunate part is my no3 n po4 levels which are 5ppm n 1ppm since I started testing about 1mth ago... What I'm confused about is how come my NEW fishes (new corals/inverts addition no casualty) go in 2-3 days die while existing stocks continue to "florish"?

Would be good if sm1 can point me to the right directions else will not have confidence to add fishes

[BFG]

ph or salinity shock maybe? Your 'lobo' looks thin, suggest you feed it.

[cool guy]

nice tank bro.... cool......

add some wrasse wil be nicer....

correct hor bro lemon....