Stenopus Hispidus

Close up taken with flash. Note that there is no reflected flash light this time cos its taken at an angle of 45 degrees. The light has bounced off away from the camera. The colour in this picture is more true to the colour of the coral without actinic on - Natural. Note also the surrounding area is lit, eg LR, shaded area, etc.

Same shot but taken without flash. Shutter speed is slower to compensate for lack of flash. Got to hold camera really steady.

Norvin, This is what I think could have been the reason for your ghost image problem (subject to the fact that your camera is in good working order):- · out-of-focus due to not setting your focus properly before taking the shot and/or · hardware limitation preventing focusing at that focal length (macro) and/or · even if the shot was in proper focus, there was movement in your camera handling at that given shutter and aperture setting resulting in overall blurness of the pic. The tell tale sign is that the blurness affects even stationary objects like your LR and the even the coral base, both of which are not even moving. To rectify the situation, hold your camera more firmly when taking the shot. You might want to use a tripod to assist you in this respect. Otherwise, you can improvise by leaning your hand or the camera against something stable. Finally, if that still won't do, short of enlisting Piper's help, you might want to set flash on instead of suppressing it. That added light will not save the pic from a severe shake but with additional light, the shutter speed can increase a few steps thereby allowing you room for some hand shake. Always note that the higher your shutter speed the clearer it can capture moving objects or tolerate minor hand shakes. A shutter speed of 1/11000th of a sec can actually capture a spinning helicopter blade in the still. However, taking pics with flash is a bit trickier because of the bouncing back of the light creating a less than desirable reflected light in your picture. When doing flash photography on water surface or through the glass of the tank, try to take the shot at a 45 degree angle so that the reflected rays of the flash can bounce away from the camera and not directed back at the camera. Taking with flash will normally result in a more natural colour rendition of your picture and also illuminates the surrounding shaded areas. Personally, I like to take shots without flash, preferring to use the slower shutter speed to soak in the blue hue of the actinics & 20K MH giving the pic that nostalgic feeling. Moreover, without using flash I can take pictures of corals in any direction I want without worries of reflected light bouncing back. But to do that, you got to hold and sometimes even control your breathing properly in the same way you are taking a shot with your M16 rifle. Here are some tips on taking pictures of your corals without flash. · Make sure the aperture is set at the largest to allow as much light to enter the lens as possible. Depth of field is not important when you are taking close ups such as your branch coral. · Use ISO 100 or lower if you can help it. Higher ISO rating results in graininess which may not be desirable. But note that in some situations, you may want to have higher ISO setting so that you can set higher shutter speeds to settle the shot expeditiously at the expense of quality. · Turn on all the lights in your tank. The brighter your tank is, the more you can increase your shutter speed to compensate for shake or subject movement. · Turn off current generating powerheads to keep movement to the minimum so that you can get crisp and sharper images of your subjects. · It is more difficult to take pictures of fish than corals because they are constantly moving and your shutter speed is too slow to handle that kind of movement. There is no way out of this except patience. Good thing about going digital is that you can take again and again without worrying about wasting rolls of films and you can pick and choose so as to settle for only the best and delete the rest. Your trial and error can literally be unlimited. Photo editing software also allows you the flexibility to manipulate your photos that may be slightly off-colour or off-focus but they are no magical cure all for shots that were badly taken to begin with. Experimenting is the only way to learn. Cheerio and Happy snapping. The next few posts are pics taken with and without flash for you to see the effect and which you prefer. This pic was taken with flash. Note the reflected light. If you insist on using flash to get the more natural colour, take it from an angle instead of directly. Flash light photography in aquarium context requires you to take shots always at an angle.

Yeah, AT is right. Not dying. Just shedding its skin which is a very normal renewing process for leathers. Can last anywhere from a few days to about 2.5 weeks. In addition to showing unhappiness with the water, I notice this process also happen more often when the leather is smothered by diatoms or when fishes are nipping on its polyps keeping it from extending for long periods.

AT, Ok, I'll post when I see anything funny. I like your software joke...Boyfriend/Girlfriend/Wife...so darn farnie man! ROFLOL...Tears... Tanzy, I notice you use a Sony DSC S75 and Nikon Coolpix 5000. From your pix, I seem more impress with the performance of your Sony but then again, there wasn't any outdoor shots for the Coolpix 5K. IYO, which do you prefer actually? Is the focusing for the Nikon fast and sure? I heard its quite slow to get a lock on but I guess at 5 mega pixels and jammed packed with features, who cares. I like the picture entitled "The Tube". Think is kinda unique. It would look much better without the blurred person standing there though. When I look at the pix, I was like drawn to both almost instantenously. Its as though the person and train were competing for attention. Nevertheless, very original piece indeed. Did you attach some wide angle lens to your d.cam when taking the Museum Library? The coverage seems quite good. How long did you spend on that helicopter doing the night scene of New York? Saw your tank too. Your ETSS Skimmer is impressive. What's driving it...the IWAKI? Are your VHO tubes really so reddish or is it just the picture? Boy, 2X400watt Blueline + 3X110watt VHOs...you have a lot of lights going for a 4 footer. Must be a sucker for electricity... Theres a bright red coral in your tank. Sure doesn't look like a chilli. What's that? Also noticed you have very little fishes. I can count 2 clowns and I PT! Any others around? Cool tank you've got there, Tanzy.

Phew, what a day its been. Thats a cute stress reliever from Tanzy. This Kopi Tiam is a good place to retreat from the technicalities and seriousness of life! AT, u gotta have some hidden counselling traits to even plan to have this Kopi Tiam here. ....just toking cok

Hi AT, Would you like to share with us what kind of fishes you are planning on putting into your new tank? Any dream fish that you are aiming for? Have your Purple tangs found new owner? Why let them go? They were so healthy and beautiful. Furthermore, its not easy to have them get along like that. You may not be so lucky next time. I am thinking of keeping 5 anthias in my tank but only right after I remove my 2 angels. Yours seem to shoal very peacefully in your tank and its quite an inspiration I must say.

Tanzy, I think those are Microcosm Publications. Yup…those make good reads too. TFH are those with so called 5-10 years binding problem free books that comes with fancy glazed pictures for preservation. Limpc, Criteria for travel? Hmm…That’s something new. But really, for the book to buy, you should consider contents as the most critical criteria more than attributes like compactness, lightness and picturistique…Should start off with C.Delbeek & J.Sprung. A bit thick though but has a lot of immediately useful info. for reefers and hey…quite a lot of good pics too. Tullock’s makes for an easier read and more compact to carry about. If you want pictures, go for E.Borneman’s Practical Guide on Corals or Veron’s. Veron has pictures of all the SPS corals that you can possibly imagine (with info on location, depth..blah, blah…where they are found and they do it one coral at a time…not just generally speaking) but of course its not very travel friendly. But at twice the size of C.Delbeek & J.Sprung it makes for a good travel pillow with orthopaedic support!! Hey, I can’t believe I am doing this…judging books by their physical characteristics. Don’t make me do it again. I look silly!!! Nonetheless, do enjoy your read.

Hon, Yup, Sam = Sealife at Balestier. Conductivity meter should be quite lasting though. I have one that’s as old as my ORP and its still working! Anyway the conductivity calibration fluid comes in a white bottle unlike the PH Calibration fluids (in packet form). If no one sells it anymore, what you can do is to test the Conductivity meter on deionized water with new unused resin. It should give you a reading of 0 then you will know that there’s a high chance its working. My home tap water in the Western part of Singapore gives a reading of 230. How impure!… Can't wait to test out Newater!! As to where to get Redox solution? Erm…this thread somehow got entangled in Ozone discussion. Thank goodness AT stepped in to redirect the discussion to Phang’s thread…but really…this thread was started by me supposedly to weed out anyone who have a Redox meter and might have some inkling about where to get that all elusive Redox calibration solution because I am looking high and low for it too. Any takers?…Help us both…pleazzze… <_<

Hello Hon, PH Calibration liquid can be gotten from Patrick & Sam. Conductivity - Sam You have a conductivity monitor? U use DI water?

If you really need to get reading material, get serious reference books instead of magazines. Its more worth it; Marine Reef Aquarium Handbook (Robert J. Goldstein) The Reef Aquarium Vol. 1 & 2 (C.Delbeek & J.Sprung) The Conscientious Marine Aquarist (R.M Fenner) Modern Coral Reef Aquarium 1,2,3 & 4 (Nielsen & Fossa) Natural Reef Aquariums (Tullock) Marine Aquarium Reference (Martin A Moe) Reef Notes Vol 1,2,3 (J. Sprung) Marine Aquarium (Nick Dakin) Corals of Australia and The Indo-Pacific (J.E.N. Veron) Marine Invertebrates - Organ Pipe, Leather & Gorgonians (Peter Wilkens) Marine Invertebrates - Stony Corals, Mushroom & Colonial Anemones (Peter Wilkens) A practical guide to Corals for the Reef Aquarium - (Ed Puterbaugh & Eric Borneman) Managed to get all the above in Singapore. Warning: Some are real heavy stuff and can make reading quite an experience as they bring up a lot of moot points to make you really, I mean really...think. If you like challenge, read them otherwise you will sleep on it... As for magazines off the shelves in Singapore, I personally think FAMA is the best around just to keep updated on new developments and any new school of thoughts...although admittedly, its flooded with ads just like any other fish mag. For some reasons, I don't really like TFH publications. Be it their hardbacks or magazines, somehow they all seem superficial. Well, just my opinion only. PS: There's an article in FAMA Nov 02 issue concerning an occurence in someone's tank which I find particularly interesting. Its about the asexual reproductive strategy of T.Geoffroyi (Open Brain) through decalcification to produce daughter colonies much in the same way as the Fungia species. So to all of you whose open brain is dead, please leave your open brain skeleton in your tank and not throw it out cos you will never know that it may come back from the dead one day! Accompanied by pictures showing daughter satellites. Interesting.

AT, Great job in compiling that passage. Very thorough and answers most questions. Can't believe they have rental arrangements for ORP monitors? But must admit its quite a cut throat price to buy the monitor here and the price do not even include a controller...just plain monitor. Oh well... Phang, Maybe you can check with Sam. I bought my Coralife from him last time. Can't really recall the price now. Think its in the region of $200-$300. Dunno whether he has ex-stock cos he doesn't hold Coralife brand anymore. Maybe he has a Kent Marine version but then again Kent Marine may not have an ozoniser. I am curious about AT's very own Sanders. I don't see it around and may wanna try that brand. Waiting for him to post a pic when he gets his d.cam back.

Robe, Yeah, got to agree with AT. It is actually a very straight forward procedure. Do not be discouraged because of the bad things about ozone usage. No doubt that there are inherent risks in using ozone but when you thoroughly understand its applications, these risks become insignificant. In fact, you will eventually find it indispensable and become one of the most useful things in your aquarium that you can't do without. Its better than UV steriliser, better than carbon fitration, acts as a phosphate sponge and serves as a good protein skimmer by itself in oxidising organic waste quickly through chemical reaction while at the same time increasing the efficiency of the skimmer through increased froth...and all contained in just a tiny little box that spurts only one thing...O3! Furthermore, using it in conjuction with an ORP monitor to control the ozone dosage, you can see how good or bad the condition of your tank is...literally because the numbers are there and there is no escaping it. It prompts you to answer the question why your water oxidizing potential have fallen or risen and to take note of your bad or good water management practices that lead to it. It gives you information allowing you to take preemptive steps in averting a potentially damaging situation for example locating and removing a decomposing corspe that may be well hidden from your eyes and the stop the strain on the oxidizing potential of your water and stir a review of your current water management practices as to what can be done to increase the redox. Without it, you only can do what you can see with your own eyes which may be sufficient but not optimal. Try it, you will be hooked

Hi Tanzy, sorry a bit off topic here but did you just take that picture of the ferris wheel using a d.cam. I was wondering how you took in the dark and yet appear correctly exposed and sharp cos the flashlights cannot illuminate landscape shots like that. You must be using a camera stand with slow shutter setting right? Normal Dcam shutter speeds are quite limited compared to film cam and needs lots of adjustment for night landscape shots. What's that you are using - a Nikon D1? Good shot anyway.. BTW, how is the standard of LFS in London. Are they cleaner, bigger, stocks more high end stuff (instead of bubble driven filters still prevalent in local LFS)? Are the staff knowledgeable and pass sound advise compared to local LFS some of whom may not even know what they are saying?

AT, Mine is a Coralife. By the way, where did you get your Sanders? I need a replacement for my dead unit. Er...AT, you mean you are using ozone without a redox probe? Then I think the ORP probe should be in your “Want-to-get priority list”. Seems quite dangerous cos without the probe you don’t know when is enough. Everything is so invisible… IMO, ORP probe is a must for ozone users otherwise its all a guessing game. You can have the probe without the ozonizer but the ozonizer must come with an ORP probe or best…with electronic controller. Everyone want their money’s worth and too little O3 may not be significant enough to see the full beneficial impact exerted in the tank (under utilised) and too much can kill inhabitants. It is recommended that the water leaving the skimmer be channeled to a layer of activated carbon to remove residual O3. No free floating O3 should be in your main tank. This makes the sump a practical necessity for ozone application. By the time the water gets pumped back into the main tank, what is left of the O3 would be gone when it discharges its unstable atom that is ever hungry to break free. Anyway, the ORP probe is good instument in itself by letting you know at a glance how much more tolerance for waste your tank can handle. It’s a good investment with or without an ozonizer… if you are a gadget geek, go get it! But then if you are a ozone user then all the more you should get it and yes…you sure won’t regret it when you know that you are maximising the potential of your O3 generator. It’s a good satisfying feeling, you know. BTW, AT is your skimmer ozone proof? Hon, I am afraid that there are no suggested amount of O3 for different tank size. It is not calculated in that way. That's where the ORP probe comes in. Best to keep the ORP reading between 300-390 milliVolt regardless of tank size. Anything higher than 400mV will result in the slow “oxidation” of your pets. Coral tissue will burn (blacken spots) and for fishes, their eyes (cloudy) will be the first thing to go. The tissue there is the most sensitive and softest part of the fish. IMO, O3 usage has drastic consequences and its best not to guess or assume anything if you can help it.

Yep, use ozone before but not anymore since it gave up on me. Not easy to find a good one around nowadays. Used to pump the ozone directly into my RSB skimmer. It's the only time where I used the attachment chamber (filled with activated carbon) placed on top of the collection cup. When I was using it, my ORP went up to 350 mV. Without the ozonizer, its impossible for me to reach that level again now. The highest I could get to now is 250 mV, which is 50 mV short from the ideal but that's OK. Nothing disastrous. However, I did observe that the brown diatomic algae hardly ever grew on the glass surface, LR and gravel bed when I was using ozone. The tank was crystal clean! I think one of the reason for this is that the unstable O3 (Ozone) eagerly dissociate itself to organic phosphate (PO3) by changing its state to inorganic phosphate (PO4). Theoretically speaking, by eliminating one growth factor would be enough to retard the multiplication of those nuisance diatoms. Alas, now I have to scrape the glass once a week. At the moment, I am just using my ORP probe on its own minus the ozoniser. The probe is still useful to me in the sense that based on the regular ORP signature, I can tell if there is something decomposing Someone did an unauthorise feeding to my tank When its time to change water When its time to change the activated carbon, polyfilter & resins The ORP probe is my daily reassurance that everything with the tank is "certified" OK before I leave for work. Cool gadget indeed

What you can do is to use a tube (small diameter type) and siphon the slime out neat and clean. That way, there is no chance of the old slime settling somewhere else.

What kind of games? Do you play Diablo 2, Baldour's gate, Sudden strike...

I have been using a Pinpoint redox meter for 6 years now. Was wondering if there is a need to change the probe because LFS tells me there isn't a need to. So far, the reading seems alright to me as it is not giving me "off" readings. I maintain it by cleaning the sensor bulb and scrape the tiny tube worms that have nestled there but I am a bit paranoid. It cannot be that good, right? Afterall, the PH probe needs to be changed regularly when it starts giving suspicious readings and no amount of calibration will get it back into line. Or maybe the redox is just like the conductivity meter...buy it once and it will last you eons. It may be more worthwhile than I thought. Also is there any calibration fluid for redox meters? Anyone seen them around? Its the only way I know if there is still life to my redox probe.

Hi BarraCuda, I have a couple of orange ###### black legged type and a red leg type. Both doesn't eat red slime in my tank. They will just walk off to somewhere with green hair or brush algae and pick from there. Think there's something distasteful about red slime to all sea creatures (snails, starfish, crabs, etc). Best solution...just get your hands wet and dispose of it.

HQX, Yup, that's a fox.

Phang, How is the condition of yours? Mine is damaged quite badly when I first got it early this month especially all along the edges where some tissue were being scraped off due to poor shipment. The other pieces were smaller and in worse condition. I bought it because I think it should be able to recover and thankfully, it did. Hopefully it will last from here on. Sorta pity those smaller pieces though. Nobody with a practical mind will get them considering the cost as well as the damage already done. So they will just have to sit there and bleach itself out of the tank. I asked LFS to sell it to me or to others at a "sympathy" price but sadly this is not the practice in the industry. Damaged, however bad, a montipora is still a montipora. If it has to die in the tank, then so be it. Sometimes I feel quite disillusion with this state of events but ultimately this is business concern I guess.

Hey, this is interesting. I mean I have seen sea squirts of all sizes from 2mm to 1.5" but they all occur and exist indendently. In your pic, I can see a runner giving way to new offsprings much in the same way as Caulerpa. So these animals actually propagate like plants! How long have they been in the tank in order to multiply this much? What a squirt of an eye opener for me! Heh after a second look, they do bear some semblance of a cluster of Mickey Mouse heads Cute stuff!

At, That was a quickie. Now I can sleep in peace. Thanks.