Mike and Terry's 300g Reef

[Mike&Terry]

Hunter shared this news with me as I've been away from the forums for awhile. Very very sorry to hear this but sounds like, and the later pictures confirm, you've got things dialed back in. I have two sand-sifting cucumbers in my tank at the moment and I guess I'm in "fingers-crossed" mode. Was there any warning?

Your pictures are really stunning! You've gotten that new camera dialed in, for sure. I love your guys' reef and the photographs do a great job at bringing out the character of your fish.

Looking forward to seeing more!

Thank You Z! As far as warnings go, in hindsight, yes... Sometime in the wee hours of that morning, I happened to wake up and check the system (bad habit since our 2010 catastrophic tank failure) and found both skimmers flooding. It was unusual, but has happened on a couple of occasions over the years when something has spawned in the tank. Once the skimmers were dialed back in, I checked both the frag tank and the display with a flashlight. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary, but the lights were off and the majority of our fish were tucked away in the rock structures and sand bed sleeping. Our Kaudern's Cardinalfish and Tinker's Butterfly were out and acting normal, so I didn't think more of it at the time.

Looking back now, it makes sense that the toxin release triggered the skimmer flood and had we realized this and acted sooner, perhaps we could have saved the (3) fish that were lost.

Gorgeous!!!

Pure awesomeness as always!

M&T absolutely stunning tank, pictures, colors and everything that any reefer could dream for

+1 to what Zibba said, could've said it better myself! ....when I want inspiration I love to come to this thread

Thank You Krista, Paul, Tusi and Jackie for the awesome compliments - We truly are appreciative!

an amazing last picture !! Great SPS, super colors !!

Thank You Kris! That is one of our favorite acropora corals.

Excelentes bichos, felicidades, saludos

Mi espanol es muy basico... Gracias por sus amables palabras, saludos!

-Terry

 

[Kris Belgium]

witch camera did you use for these amazing pictures ?

kr,
Kris

 

[Mike&Terry]

witch camera did you use for these amazing pictures ?

kr,
Kris

Good question Kris! :bigsmile:

I used the D810 and experimented with different lenses. Pictures 1 and 2 were taken using the Nikkor 105mm micro (macro) FX lens. Pictures 3 and 4 were taken using the Nikkor 18-200mm DX zoom lens using the full FX frame, and the last was taken using the Nikkor 40mm micro (macro) DX lens using full FX frame.

 

[Kris Belgium]

I thought you were using an underwater camera... .
Great camera !!
It's amazing how clear you pictures are. There is no floating dirt al all !!

Do you have an overall picture ?

kr
Kris

 

[Mike&Terry]

I thought you were using an underwater camera... .
Great camera !!
It's amazing how clear you pictures are. There is no floating dirt al all !!

Do you have an overall p
Kris

Thank you Kris! We do have a waterproof camera that I use for underwater video and for some top down shots. It's a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3. It's about 4 years old, but still works great.

The shot of the Pearlberry Acro was taken top down using an acrylic camera box, so technically it is an underwater shot. :smile:

I turn the pumps off when taking pics to try and keep the images as clean as possible. It doesn't always work, as our leopard wrasses are notorious for stirring up the sand when I am trying to take pics, LOL. :wink:

This is the most recent FTS (taken on 4/9):



I should have some updated video footage and pics by the middle of next week.

 

[Kris Belgium]

WOW, you can be very proud of that !! I am gone try also take pics with the pomps off, hope to get the same result as you .

 

[Saltwaterwill]

Congratulations on your success, u guys have a dream reef

 

[Mike&Terry]

WOW, you can be very proud of that !! I am gone try also take pics with the pomps off, hope to get the same result as you .

Thank You Kris!

Congratulations on your success, u guys have a dream reef

Thank You so much!

 

[prsnlty]

Beautiful FTS guys!

 

[Mike&Terry]

Beautiful FTS guys!

Thank You Jackie!

 

[Mike&Terry]

teaser pic update...
DSC_4782_051115 by Terry Lauderdale, on Flickr

DSC_4836_051115 by Terry Lauderdale, on Flickr

DSC_4592_051115 by Terry Lauderdale, on Flickr

 

[underwaterfirefighter]

Just WOW! I am blown away every time I visit this thread! It is such an inspiration that we recently purchased a 300 DD. We have long way to go gathering equipment for the build. We have been doing a LOT of research. Hopefully soon we will be starting a build thread for it. Thanks to both of you for sharing your build and experiences!

 

[Mike&Terry]

Just WOW! I am blown away every time I visit this thread! It is such an inspiration that we recently purchased a 300 DD. We have long way to go gathering equipment for the build. We have been doing a LOT of research. Hopefully soon we will be starting a build thread for it. Thanks to both of you for sharing your build and experiences!

Dave, Thank you so much for the kind words! Congrats on the new 300 - you are gonna love the dimensions - and we're looking forward to following your journey!

 

[Aquaph8]

What is the green coral to the left of the setosa?

 

[Aquaph8]

Sorry for the lock, big fat thumb!

 

[MrDJeep123]

lol


Anyways, I can't wait to see more!

 

[Mike&Terry]

What is the green coral to the left of the setosa?

The ginormous encrusting monti? I don't know the species, but it's aquaculture name is Chili Pepper.

Sorry for the lock, big fat thumb!

So that was you, LMBO!!!

lol


Anyways, I can't wait to see more!

When I saw your PM, I was like WHAT? LOCKED? Did I miss something?, LOL! :tongue:
We'll be posting more pics soon!

 

[Aquaph8]

I was so jelious of the Choati that I decided to shut you down.

 

[Tek]

Just read your article about the blue star leopard. I finally got a pair of females after months of waiting. The first sight of a male blue star was enough to get me hooked on this species.

 

[Mike&Terry]

I was so jealous of the Choati that I decided to shut you down.

LOL!

Just read your article about the blue star leopard. I finally got a pair of females after months of waiting. The first sight of a male blue star was enough to get me hooked on this species.

Congratulations on your new additions! The female captured our hearts several years ago. Collection back then was not so good and it took 3 attempts over nearly a year to finally locate a healthy female. It took her about 2.5 years to mature and make the transition to male and we had no idea what was happening when the change began - that in-between stage is rather ugly - but once complete she morphed into a beautiful terminal phase male.