Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread

[poppin_fresh]

we were teased with the mention of one, but it has never come to be. Maybe santa will come through on this one?

[Kentanner11]

lol. Hope melev 2.0 works out better than 1.0

[melev]

Originally posted by CW from the OC
Maybe Marc can take some pics of Ali's store! LOL!

Where is it located in relation to that event's location? I was thinking the exact same thing.

[ReefMeister2]

Originally posted by melev
Where is it located in relation to that event's location? I was thinking the exact same thing.

Ali's store is only 15 minutes away from MAX (Orange County Fair Grounds)
but the real question is: Can you wait three months?

[melev]

Good point. When we have a new store open in our area, I'm there with my camera, and pictures get posted:

http://www.dfwmas.org/Forums/viewtopic.php?t=39951

[Hop]

That's great Marc, but it appears that you had to take the store clerk out behind the counter before she would let you take pics... That would be pic #2...

It looks like a great store.

[jnarowe]

great pics over there Marc. I didn't know eels had balls! That is a nice clean looking store with cool tanks.

[Kentanner11]

They do that at my LFS too. I think it is easier to get them out of the tank. I wonder they want the sand more or less from being put in there with little to no sand?

[melev]

Tanner, what do you mean about the sand?

Last night, my clownfish were swimming in the back of the tank, seemingly intrigued by their reflections. I shot a brief video of them, but to get one of decent quality, the filesize is pretty big at 38 megs. As always, please Right Click and Save As to your harddrive to view the video, rather than streaming it with a single click.

http://www.melevsreef.com/video/clownfish_plus.wmv

You'll see some of the other fish that swim into the frame, including Spock. The True Percula is the lighter colored clown, and she is over 10 years old. The False perc is a tank raised one from a DFWMAS member in Dallas. They've been paired up since they were in the 29g. Here's a picture.



Btw, in the video I stated they've been together for 5 years, but I just discovered it has only been 4 years.

Often people mention the size of my Six Line Wrasse. It is almost the size of the True Percula, as you'll see in the video.

[Kentanner11]

My experience with eels is that they really love the sand, burrowing in it, and come out every so often. At my LFS they have like a sprinkle of sand in the ball, not sure if yours does. I wonder if this made the eel crave lots and lots of sand and never come out of it or if they were used to being out and the open wo/sand.

[FroMan]

Originally posted by melev
It'll be all about sumps and working with acrylic.

You should post your presentation when your done. I'm sure everyone would love to listen your talk.

[spleen93]

Yeah, it'd be great if someone video'ed the presentation. I'd love to see it - would be totally cool to see you in April, Marc, but I think my other half would kill me if I flew up and went on my own to a pet/reef expo

Spleen

[melev]

Where are you located Spleen?

[ReefMeister2]

[violation]

[Lordhelmet]

Marc. I have this crazy hitchhike that i have started seeing on the glass late at night. It looks pretty cool when i shine even the dimmest light on it is speeds to rock cover. granted thats not very fast for something like this. What is it.

[Lordhelmet]

sorry double post.

[melev]

It is hard to see in your images, but my first impression would be a Stomatella. The second option would be some type of cowrie or limpet.

[jnarowe]

stomatella: they are very quick and broadcast breed. If you see unexplained puffs in the water column, it is them breeding. They will breed in your tank and they love to clean the rock. They will also separate from their shells fairly easily. If you try to capture one and its shell comes off, put it in a small bowl of tank water with the shell, and sometimes they will reunite.

These are considered very reef safe and good hitch-hikers to get.

[Lordhelmet]

thanks guys. i tried to touch it once and it was very fleshy except for the small shell. very cool.

i also got a snail that i'm worried might be preditory or even a cone snail. it got banished to the sump and i see it from time to time.

love this hobby for all the new things we find.

[jnarowe]

if you find a snail that you can confirm is predatory, get rid of it entirely.

[Kentanner11]

Hey marc, with your photography skills I thought I would ask you:
What do you think about the Fuji Finepix S5000? There is an ad in my local craigslist and I am contemplating buying it.

[melev]

What you want to do is check the specs on that camera. My mother has a Fuji as well, but it might be the s7000. Amazingly, it wasn't as good as my own (s702z), but had many similar features.

The most important feature for me is macro mode. Dpreview gave it average in their conclusion page:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fuji...000/page15.asp

I'll read more in that write-up, and post more in a second.

[melev]

Just finished looking over the specs. It looks like it is very similar to mine, but one key thing you would probably miss is the ability to set the White Balance. That is something we do often when taking pictures of tanks with excessive blue hue. So those 12,000K, 15,000K and 20,000K tanks would be tough to photograph.

However, it does allow you to shoot in RAW mode, which is what every digital photographer recommends because then you can make color corrections during post-processing.

My camera doesn't have RAW, only TIFF which I never use.

Both cameras have excellent Macro mode, allowing you to shoot within .3" of the object. Mine has Super Macro, but the s5000 doesn't seem to have it.

Overall, I think it would be a good camera, as long as the WB doesn't bother you.

[poppin_fresh]

1...dang too late.

[melev]

Originally posted by poppin_fresh
1...dang too late.

LOL!