What_The_Frag Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 (edited) I really haven't shared much on the forum showing my 200 gallon journey. Most of this has been documented on my Instagram page under What_the_Frag. I thought it would be nice to share a few of my videos highlighting my tank. This was a video showing my 90 Gal tank before I upgraded to the 200 Gal Edited February 23, 2019 by What_The_Frag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derbird Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Your system is beautiful, love the mix of corals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What_The_Frag Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 Here is my 200 gallon tank after the move. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What_The_Frag Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 2 minutes ago, Derbird said: Your system is beautiful, love the mix of corals Thank you! It's been a long journey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What_The_Frag Posted February 28, 2019 Author Share Posted February 28, 2019 I'll be using this thread to document my 200 gallon tank build as well as sharing some of my DIY projects and macro photography. The tank was started in Aug of 2018 using rock and some components from my 90 gallon which was about 5 years old. Here's a quick overview of my system, I'll be posting periodic updates. You can also follow me on Instagram and YouTube . The Tank 200 Gallon Marineland deep dimension tank: 4' x 3' x 2' Custom covers made by Safe Top Lids In The Sump Bubble Magnus Filter Roller (aka roller mat) Reef Octopus Skimmer DIY Algae Turf Scrubber Dual 40 gallon Sumps Refugium with Miracle Mud and Caulerpa lit 24/7 Neptune COR 20 return pump Neptune Apex (2016) Flow monitoring kit PAR monitoring kit Leak detection kit WXM module Neptune Apex DOS (for 2 part dosing) Finnex Titanium Heater BRS dual reactor with GFO and carbon Coralife UV sterilizer Flow & Powerheads 2 x Maxpect Gyre XF230 2 x Ecotech Marine Vortech MP40 Dual 1" durso overflows, 1 safety pipe and 1 return line split into 2 random flow nozzles Lighting Modified Aquatic Life T5 Hybrid 48" with 24" extenders 2 x ATI Blue Plus bulbs 2 x ATI Coral Plus Bulbs 2 x Ecotech Marine Radion Gen3 running modified AB+ 1 x Auqua Illumination Prime HD Livestock - Fish Blonde Naso Tang Chevron Tang Barbonius Anthias Hawaiian Golden Dwarf Eel Marine Betta aka Comet Grouper (12 years old) Red Tail Triggerfish aka Sargassum Triggerfish Mystery Wrasse Six Line Wrasse Livestock - Coral (over 160 corals in the tank, these are just some of them) Acroporas JF Homewrecker Matt V Rainbow Envy Matt V Psycho Asylum Matt V Armageddon Cornbred Flaming Unicorn Cornbred Atomic Fireball Cornbred Wet Dreams Cornbred OMG Oregon Blue Tort Tierra Del Fuego SC Orange Passion Forest Fire Digitata Bubble Gum Digitata Superman Digitata RRC Pink Cadillac Walt Disney Zoas and Palys GB Ring of Fire Krakatoa Cornbred Bloodshot Krakatoa WWC Buttkisser GB Buttkisser JF As krak Cornbred Flaming Oompa Loompa White zombies Speckled Krakatoas GB Cosmic Dust GB Hawaiian God Solar Flares JF Rainbow Incinerator WWC Pinky and the Brain Green Bay Packers Mushrooms Sunkist Bounce OG Bounce Jawbreaker Intersteller Kryptonite St Thomas Ragnarok Bounce Misc and LPS Space Invader Pectinia Torch corals (4 different colors) 2 x Trachyphyllia Lobophyllia Red Glitter Goniopora Red and Green Goniopora 7 x Acan Colonies (rainbow and other colors) WWC Vodoo Child Chalice GB Lava Rain Chalice Bubble Gum Chalice Dragon Soul Favia Ultra Dragon Soul Favia Ultra Pink/Yellow rock flower anemone Toxic Green Hammer Gold Hammer Purple Hammer Orange Frogspawn Mr. Bret's Unicorn Poop Chalice 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 Awesome setup! What camera & lens are you shooting the macro videos with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 That is quite the coral list - congrats on the awesome collection! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What_The_Frag Posted March 1, 2019 Author Share Posted March 1, 2019 22 hours ago, SuncrestReef said: Awesome setup! What camera & lens are you shooting the macro videos with? I use either my Sony a7rII with Sony 90mm macro or my Canon 5D Mark IV with EF 100mm lens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 33 minutes ago, What_The_Frag said: I use either my Sony a7rII with Sony 90mm macro or my Canon 5D Mark IV with EF 100mm lens. I have a Nikon D610 with a Nikon 200mm macro. I've mostly done still shots, but haven't had much luck with video yet. I need to experiment with it some more. Your macro video clarity is great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What_The_Frag Posted March 1, 2019 Author Share Posted March 1, 2019 5 minutes ago, SuncrestReef said: I have a Nikon D610 with a Nikon 200mm macro. I've mostly done still shots, but haven't had much luck with video yet. I need to experiment with it some more. Your macro video clarity is great! Thanks! Yeah one trick that I do is shoot with the lens hood on and put it flat against the glass so I can make sure that there is no distortion created by being at a slight angle. It takes a little creativity with the tripod legs but I find its the easiest way for me to get a nice crisp shot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuncrestReef Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 4 minutes ago, What_The_Frag said: Thanks! Yeah one trick that I do is shoot with the lens hood on and put it flat against the glass so I can make sure that there is no distortion created by being at a slight angle. It takes a little creativity with the tripod legs but I find its the easiest way for me to get a nice crisp shot. Yes, I've had to be creative with my tripod legs, especially when doing top-down shots. My issue seems to be that I tend to shoot macro shots with a really small aperture (f/32) to get depth of field, but that doesn't work for video due to low light. My 200mm requires about 10" of distance from the front of the lens to be in focus, which is another limitation in some situations. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What_The_Frag Posted March 1, 2019 Author Share Posted March 1, 2019 6 minutes ago, SuncrestReef said: Yes, I've had to be creative with my tripod legs, especially when doing top-down shots. My issue seems to be that I tend to shoot macro shots with a really small aperture (f/32) to get depth of field, but that doesn't work for video due to low light. My 200mm requires about 10" of distance from the front of the lens to be in focus, which is another limitation in some situations. Out of curiosity, are you dropping your shutter speed when you do video? I typically shoot video in 30 fps so I also drop my shutter speed to 1/30 and then bump my ISO up to 250 or 300. As for aperture I rarely go above f8. Going with a small f stop you tend to get more noise and artifacts. I might also suggest using a lens with a shorter focal length so you don't have such a shallow depth of field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterKenka Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 Quote "I might also suggest using a lens with a shorter focal length so you don't have such a shallow depth of field." Better take note of that. Great advice right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted March 4, 2019 Share Posted March 4, 2019 On 2/28/2019 at 9:18 PM, What_The_Frag said: I might also suggest using a lens with a shorter focal length so you don't have such a shallow depth of field. While technically true, practically speaking this probably doesn't help so much as the gain in depth of field from the shorter focal length will be given back by having to move closer to the subject (if even possible) to retain the same framing (magnification). Both factors happen to affect the DOF (in opposite directions) in proportion to the square of their value (from the equations I have seen). There are a few interesting demos of this phenomenon on line which, while appearing somewhat flawed in their descriptions/execution, do make the point. If you keep the distance from the subject and aperture the same then absolutely you will have a larger DOF with the shorter focal length - but you will also have the subject be a much smaller portion of your field of view - and hence lower resolution. No magic bullet here and really just a matter of finding your own "sweet spot" between an acceptable DOF and resolution/magnification for what you are trying to do. On a side note, one thing that does change noticeably between short and long focal length lens using the same subject framing (e.g. different distances to subject) is the "quality" of the out of focus material - you get a much "softer" look with the longer lens... at least from the demos I have run across. This is despite the observation that the DOF (as defined by the in focus distance) remained essentially unchanged. Sorry for the sidetrack but I have been digging into this lately since several people started posting great macro shots on here 🤗 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What_The_Frag Posted March 5, 2019 Author Share Posted March 5, 2019 5 hours ago, albertareef said: While technically true, practically speaking this probably doesn't help so much as the gain in depth of field from the shorter focal length will be given back by having to move closer to the subject (if even possible) to retain the same framing (magnification). Both factors happen to affect the DOF (in opposite directions) in proportion to the square of their value (from the equations I have seen). There are a few interesting demos of this phenomenon on line which, while appearing somewhat flawed in their descriptions/execution, do make the point. If you keep the distance from the subject and aperture the same then absolutely you will have a larger DOF with the shorter focal length - but you will also have the subject be a much smaller portion of your field of view - and hence lower resolution. No magic bullet here and really just a matter of finding your own "sweet spot" between an acceptable DOF and resolution/magnification for what you are trying to do. On a side note, one thing that does change noticeably between short and long focal length lens using the same subject framing (e.g. different distances to subject) is the "quality" of the out of focus material - you get a much "softer" look with the longer lens... at least from the demos I have run across. This is despite the observation that the DOF (as defined by the in focus distance) remained essentially unchanged. Sorry for the sidetrack but I have been digging into this lately since several people started posting great macro shots on here 🤗 Yeah it can definitely be a bit tricky. I've been a professional photographer for going on 15 years and it takes a bit of work to really get your setup dialed in. With macro photography you typically don't need a long lens unless your trying to shoot a coral in the back of a tank or your camera has a low megapixel count. For that reason I typically use my 90mm lens. I typically just crop in on my macro photos which still provides a good photo so long as you're not planning to blow it up to a poster or large print. Most of my finished photo sizes are in the neighborhood of 1500 - 2500px on the long edge which is still substantially bigger than I really need them to be. Another tip I'd have for reefers is to think about coral placement for photography. I strategically position my more photogenic corals towards the front of the tank so I can get great macro shots as they grow and color up. I'm happy to help anyone in the group that wants to get a handle on macro photography for their reef tank. here's a few examples: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 1 hour ago, What_The_Frag said: Yeah it can definitely be a bit tricky. I've been a professional photographer for going on 15 years and it takes a bit of work to really get your setup dialed in. With macro photography you typically don't need a long lens unless your trying to shoot a coral in the back of a tank or your camera has a low megapixel count. For that reason I typically use my 90mm lens. I typically just crop in on my macro photos which still provides a good photo so long as you're not planning to blow it up to a poster or large print. Most of my finished photo sizes are in the neighborhood of 1500 - 2500px on the long edge which is still substantially bigger than I really need them to be. Another tip I'd have for reefers is to think about coral placement for photography. I strategically position my more photogenic corals towards the front of the tank so I can get great macro shots as they grow and color up. I'm happy to help anyone in the group that wants to get a handle on macro photography for their reef tank. here's a few examples: Hard to argue with the results that's for sure! Whatever that chalice is in the second pic I want a piece 😃 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
What_The_Frag Posted March 5, 2019 Author Share Posted March 5, 2019 The second one is an Ultra Dragon Soul Favia. Will let you know once it grows out enough to frag. 😀 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 33 minutes ago, What_The_Frag said: The second one is an Ultra Dragon Soul Favia. Will let you know once it grows out enough to frag. 😀 Very cool. I never seem to learn my lesson about trying to ID coral from pics on my phone - always getting it wrong! Then again, I am not very good at in person either 😞. That is one killer favia regardless! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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