My tank is starting to look better, I think

[zhenya]

Thanks Martin!

Your cube is looking beautiful as well, I was checking out your thread the other day and hopefully you can take more and better pix with your new camera because I want to see better details of some of the corals and rockwork. ;)

[zhenya]

Here's fun picture of my large turbo snail licking some seagrass off of algae that grows on it now and then.

"Finger licking good..."


but first you have to get there...


And travel some great distances, too, and beat some competition as well...(check out the bristleworms under the snail)


Who knew snails could be so much fun... :eek3:

[Poseidon]

That is a fun series Gene!

[zhenya]

That is a fun series Gene!

Thanks Mike! I thought you may like it... I need to find way to entertain myself at times and taking pictures of snails, or other little critters make it worth while. ;;

Let's switch a bit and go to some close ups? I'll start with some and you guys can add any shots that quilify to this thread, as long as it is close up.
Deal?

Here we go...

That's just a teaser, here are some closer ones...





Let the fun begin...

[Poseidon]

Wow! That last one is REALLY REALLY Close! Great work!

I may have to get some extension tubes soon, I don't know how much longer I can hold out!?!?

[charlie]

OK, these are old shots, and we have seen them before!! Hope that's OK with you folks.

[zhenya]

Wow! That last one is REALLY REALLY Close! Great work!

I may have to get some extension tubes soon, I don't know how much longer I can hold out!?!?

Thanks Mike!

The DOF gets really tight when you get this close, plus I had to shoot holding camera with 105mm lens attached to it in my hands...My knee been giving me hell lately, so I can;t really bend it much. So I sit in the chair real close to the tank and hold camera in my hands...
I think you can get away without the tubes and just use your 500D diopter.
Just get a shorter lens and go to town..

Hey Charlie, those are nice images. How's things progressing with your tank?

[zhenya]

Couple of my fishes posed for me while I was sitting close to the front glass, hope you like this shots.







And sometimes I wish I could reach further with this 105mm lens but no sigar.
Here's what I mean...

This stubble of A.formosa promising to be a gorgeous coral some day and I would love to get a closer shot of those blue coralites, but...I can't get close enough. I mean I can with the extension tubes but the DOF is going to be down to almost nothing, single polyp at best.

[charlie]

Thanx Gene, oldies but goodies.

I think I am going to tear the 300 down and do a total rebuild after I get back from the Nascar race in March. I have been throwing around some ideas to my buddies around here, and it looks like a whole weekend is gonna get used up. Gonna have to get the BBQ warmed up!!!!!
I can't decide whether I want to go barebottom or not tho. I was thinking of doing maybe a 2" sand bed, that way I can maybe do a little bit better job of maintaining the sandbed itself.
If you have looked at Kevin's display in his store, his sand bed is really only in front of the tank. I really like the idea of a sandbed because of the different fish that you can have.
I know when I start this up, I will have to get a thread going so I can get a little more input.


Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

[charlie]

Love the coral beauty!!!!!

[charlie]

Well, I couldn't resist, had to take some more new pics

[zhenya]

Those are real nice, Charlie.

I got some new stuff today and couple of the frags I really like.

I'm not sure what species this are but I do know they are Acroporids...




I also got decent sized colony of A.yongei but not green color this time. ;)


And here's a new full tank shot I took today.


Ooops, missed one new frag.

[charlie]

That cream colored yongei is gonna be nice Gene, and you are right, they are acroporids!!!!
I also like the little blue polyped guy. Your tank is really looking nice Gene, what is the last one supposed to be.

[zhenya]

I also took a shot of my clownfish getting the cleaning service for the first time, all my other fish visit cleaning station regularly but not her.., until today that is.

[zhenya]

That cream colored yongei is gonna be nice Gene, and you are right, they are acroporids!!!!
I also like the little blue polyped guy. Your tank is really looking nice Gene, what is the last one supposed to be.

Thanks Charlie!

I'm not sure about the last one, it was a bonus frag that Chris sent me and I am totally oblivious to what it is supposed to be. I don't even care...

I have a diferent picture of it, perhaps it will be easier to tell what it may be.
It's not the one in the front but the one tot he right of it. Kind of blurry but it wasn't focus object in this shot if you know what I mean.

[charlie]

May I ask where you got these??

[zhenya]

May I ask where you got these??

Of course, I got this from reefermadness. I got few things from them in the past so I check on them now and then to see if I like anything from their own tank that they grew out. I think I remember now Chris calling that last one A.pulchra, although it does not look anything like the A.pulchra that I used to have.

[zhenya]

OK, time to update this thread with some more fun images.

Who said Strombus alatus can't climb and get to the tasty morsels on the glass? They can;t if they don't have helpers but mine certainly does...



This silly fish can sit in this position for 15 minutes at the time, looking at something no one else can see. :eek3:



Here's an image of the sea urchin I discovered in my sump/refugium.


And a closer look.

[charlie]

Great stuff Gene!!! Do you ever get the feeling that Watchman Gobies dance to a little different drummer than most fish. When I had mine in the 80, I used to watch him all the time, and he ended up doin some of the same things your does. They sure are neat fish!!!!!!

[zhenya]

Well, I got some live sand in today and was able to drop in about 5lbs of it, so far... Tank was cloudy for good three hours but has clear up nicely. Tomorrow I plan on adding the other 5 pounds and this should help me in repopulating some worms and other creepy-crawlie things in my sand bed.
I also managed to take some macro shots of some critters in my tank, hope you like this shots.

A miniature star...



Some blue polyped plating Montipora.


And some more macro shots of corals.