T5 Lighting May Be For You

[rjwilson37]

Originally posted by orlenz
I had t-5 lighting for a couple months, and it looked like the tank pictured, no offence, but it just looks so dark in there, I like a well lit tank, is there a combination of T-5 lamps that will really light a tank up nice?

My tank is a bit brighter than the picture, but I have to increase the shutter speed for a full tank shot by about 1.5, or the stuff down in the sand get's washed out as well as some of the corals. It is kind of an art to take pictures of our tanks and capture the real beauty, it is just not an easy task. Sometimes when I walk downstairs and see the tank I am just amazed at how clear things are and the beauty of it. The acrylic tanks with the sea through clairity make it look like the inhabitants and corals are just floating in the air, a definate great look and very cool.

Thanks for the compliments CaneinBatonRouge!

[FastUno]

I would have to agree with rjwilson37, because I feel EXACTLY the same way. When I look at my tank I notice so much color, clarity & beauty & yet it becomes SOOO hard to capture this in a picture. I think it's the blue colors that throw off the white balance.

I am always after that perfect pic (see below for some of my better shots), but the tank pic remains the most elusive. I can honestly say that I am not satisfied with any of my tank shots. The shots you see of my tank are only with 4 bulbs & the left side of the tank shaded, because it's toooo much light. I also shoot darker to get shutter speed as fast as possible, so I can get better clarity of the tank.

rj did a phenomenal job in capturing his tank & I can only imagine how awesome it must look in person.

[img]//www.pbase.com/fastuno/image/25622931.jpg[/img]

[Obi-dad]

Uno, nice shots, what camera did you use for these photos?

[FastUno]

Thanks. Most of the shots were taken with a Canon 10D. It also happens that I sold mine to get the next upgraded model. Just like me- never happy with what I have.

I was just trying to make the point that you can think you know what you are doing camera/shot wise & when it comes to reef photography it's a whole other beast. Hope I did not go over the edge though? Many of the images we see on RC, may not necessarily reflect exactly what we have at home, but we do our best to capture the essence of what we are trying to get across.

This is why I have always been fascinated with RJ's sys. Not only is it impressive content wise, but he is able to translate this to us with his photo captures.

[The Grim Reefer]

Every once in a while I can get a really good picture, just don't know how I think I've gotten better shots off the video camera's still mode than the Cannon F85. That's just wrong.

[rjwilson37]

The nice thing about digital photography is that I take about 30-40 pictures for each one I keep and discard the rest. I have at times, taken about 100 pictures of the tank just to keep 1 picture. There were alot to choose from the 100 shots after the first glance through them, to get the 10 best. Then I narrow it down to like the 3-4 best of the 10 and then narrow it down to 1.

Man.. what we have to do for a nice picture! Outside shots, I take a bunch of pictures at parties or a parade and such, they pretty much all turn out great. I take pictures of my tank, well it takes quite a few shots just to get a few good ones that come close to presenting you with a shot that is close to what I see.

[scottd34]

I know what you mean about pics. I took about 15 to get the 2 shots I posted below. I am using a sony cybershot DSC-S75. Not a great camers but it takes some nice shots.

Ignore the nice green algae coloring on the rocks. I got a nice algae bloom yesterday when I came home from work. I think i overfed the day before and of course all the sunlight in the room = nice green algae.



Branching Monti. This one started out with some nice green polyps, but under the PC's from my old tank it browned out. It is taking on a nice lime green color now. Its amazing how quickly the sps I have are coloring up!



My psycho clown near the monti. He moves too fast to get a great shot of him.

[cabbagehead]

RJ
Great thread! I was wondering if it would be possible to light a 150 gallon reef using only T5's and still be able to keep some SPS. The measurements of the tank are 60 x 24 x 25. I currently have 440 watts
of VHO and was planning to get twin 250 Watt MH. This is going to be for a completely new setup so I still have time to get it right. Thanks

[brentp]

Originally posted by cabbagehead
RJ
Great thread! I was wondering if it would be possible to light a 150 gallon reef using only T5's and still be able to keep some SPS. The measurements of the tank are 60 x 24 x 25. I currently have 440 watts
of VHO and was planning to get twin 250 Watt MH. This is going to be for a completely new setup so I still have time to get it right. Thanks

My tank is the same dimensions. I'm running 8, 5' bulbs. 6 on IC 660's and 2 on Triad. Here are some pictures from this morning:

[cabbagehead]

brentp
Great pics Where did you get those T5's. Do you know any online retailers who sell them?

[brentp]

Originally posted by cabbagehead
brentp
Great pics Where did you get those T5's. Do you know any online retailers who sell them?

I got them at reefgeek.com. I initially bought the 6 lamp retro with 2 of each, sun, 11k, and blue. I added two more blues running on triad ballasts that I picked up locally.

[rjwilson37]

Very nice pictures Brentp, those look very healthy.

For your water current, how much are you pushing an hour, or how many times are you pushing compared to your tank volume. I am pushing 17 times my tank volume an hour and probably should be pushing 23 times if I want to put more Acro's in my tank.

[brentp]

Thanks RJ, I need some practice with the camera though. I'm pushing about 40-50 times.

[rjwilson37]

That is some great current!

I think I am definately going to put another MaxiJet 900 in my tank, so I will be pusing 23 times and hour around my tank.

[The Grim Reefer]

I just added up my flow, 40 times at least. My fiji yellow leather has never looked so happy. I thought I would need to find a lower flow area for it but I was obviously wrong.

[The Grim Reefer]

SEEING DOUBLE!

[rjwilson37]

I don't think I want to see a double Grim Reefer on Friday the 13th! Scarry!

[cabbagehead]

Do you think three maxi jet 1200 is too much flow for a standard 55gallon?

[rjwilson37]

3 MJ 1200's x 295gph = 885gph. That is about the minimum I would think you want to push, if you don't have a return pump pushing an additional 350-500gph through your tank. If you have a hang on the back skimmer, they usually only push like 150gph or something like that.

In my 55g tank, I have 2 MJ 900's which push 230gph each, and a Mag 7 return pushing 480gph. So, I am pushing like 960gph through my tank which is 17 times the tanks size and I am wanting another MJ 900 to push another 230gph which will give me around 23 times.

[brentp]

Originally posted by cabbagehead
Do you think three maxi jet 1200 is too much flow for a standard 55gallon?

That is not enough if you are planning on adding SPS. It's pretty easy to add a closed loop, and there are quite a few reasonably priced pumps in the under 1000 gph range that you could use.

[cabbagehead]

The reason I asked is that since I replaced my powersweeps with maxi jets my bubble coral is not expanding like it use to. No brown jelly yet but I am scared. I also have a mag 7 return. I also installed a Red Sea wavemaker pro to alternate current. Hopefully when I get My 150 (or 125 haven't decided yet) I can find a better place for my bubble.

[Obi-dad]

Some LPS like bubbles don't like the 'beam' like flow of a powerhead (and I think SPS don't always like it either). That is one of the reasons why the more diffuse flow of the Tunzes and Seios is preferred by many.

[rjwilson37]

I don't think BTA's or anemones like that like to be in direct flow area's so I have heard. Hopefully it get's back into the swing and starts opening up.

[Obi-dad]

When I read cabbagehead's 'bubble coral', I thought he was talking about the LPS bubble coral, but RJ is correct, my BTA's don't like being blasted either.

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by rjwilson37
I don't think I want to see a double Grim Reefer on Friday the 13th! Scarry!

Should have been my 666th post

It's Friday the 13th, do you know if your pumps are all running?