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Roots Dyed Dark - Low Tech Blackwater (updated 08-04-14)

Mine is looking a little worse for ware in my lowteck but I may have jumped the gun as its only 2 weeks in. Anyway added co2 now :confused:

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Hi Lee

I've been asking around and it seems a lot of shops are struggling to get them in the country at the moment. Would love to get something like P. harveyi or nagyi.
 
ourmanflint said:
Hi Lee

I've been asking around and it seems a lot of shops are struggling to get them in the country at the moment. Would love to get something like P. harveyi or nagyi.
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Flint if you're struggling to find any locally a few of us are hopefully getting a small shipment in sometime in March. Several species available, although minimum order for most of them is 10. If you think you might be interested just shout and I'll add you to the conversation.
 
BigTom said:
Flint if you're struggling to find any locally a few of us are hopefully getting a small shipment in sometime in March. Several species available, although minimum order for most of them is 10. If you think you might be interested just shout and I'll add you to the conversation.
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some lovely pictures of yours on seriously fish , tom

Just reading about P. Alfredi , its pretty depressing something so beautiful is about to be wiped out.
 
ourmanflint said:
Hi Lee

I've been asking around and it seems a lot of shops are struggling to get them in the country at the moment. Would love to get something like P. harveyi or nagyi.
Click to expand...


Yeah i know mate, i've found it almost impossible to find any, and believe me i have rang every aquatics shop in an 80 mile radius of York, haha! Big Tom is the man you need to talk to if you want some mate.
 
aliclarke86 said:
Mine is looking a little worse for ware in my lowteck but I may have jumped the gun as its only 2 weeks in. Anyway added co2 now :confused:

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As Tom said he's had some success low tech and i know Alastair had some growing quite well in the chocolate puddle i think. Hopefully it will do ok in my tank.
 
The paro's have landed :). I've managed to pick some p filamentosus up today which i was very happy about. They had a very long acclimatisation period and are now in the tank. They seem to be settling rather well, and i'm fairly surprised to see them out in the front of the tank. They have been actively hunting the little ostracod's living in my substrate :), and they have also taken some banana worm.

I'll update the journal a little later on and try to get some shots of the tank and the paro's.

Tom / Ed i know you guys are good photographers any tips for getting good tank/fish shots? I have a Canon 450d but i really am a novice, i have been trying to get some decent shots in manual mode, but haven't come up with anything worth showing.

Any advice would be great :)
 
Im no expert but here goes... Room needs to be dark and any aditional lighting needs to be from above, a remote flash is handy if you have one. A tripod is a must and try keep the camera pointed so the lens is parallel to the glass. Shoot at the highest ISO you can and still get low noise. This will give you faster shutter speeds. For fish use the lowest f stop you can and still get the subject in focus, this will also increase the shutter speed you can use.
What lenses are you using/have available?
 
OllieNZ said:
Im no expert but here goes... Room needs to be dark and any aditional lighting needs to be from above, a remote flash is handy if you have one. A tripod is a must and try keep the camera pointed so the lens is parallel to the glass. Shoot at the highest ISO you can and still get low noise. This will give you faster shutter speeds. For fish use the lowest f stop you can and still get the subject in focus, this will also increase the shutter speed you can use.
What lenses are you using/have available?
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Thanks Ollie, that all makes sense (kind of). I'm using the standard 18-55mm canon lens, this is the only one i have at the minute. Unfortunately i don't have a tripod, this is something i am willing to invest in though. I might be able to fashion something to get me by for now, I think i have something i can use to provide a steady base, and get a good level.

What are the best lenses for getting good tank/fish shots?

I'll wait till it gets a big darker tonight and try to get some more shots, using the methods you mentioned above. Hopefully i will get lucky and come up with something half decent.
 
I only have the same lens. I use f7 for tank shots and as low as it will go for critter shots. A dedicated macro would be best for critters but are expensive. The standard cannon 50mm prime lens is well recommended and cheap I will be picking one of these up for my next lens I also managed some good shots with my friends 75-300 cannon lens ( albeit from the other end of the living room)
 
OllieNZ said:
I only have the same lens. I use f7 for tank shots and as low as it will go for critter shots. A dedicated macro would be best for critters but are expensive. The standard cannon 50mm prime lens is well recommended and cheap I will be picking one of these up for my next lens I also managed some good shots with my friends 75-300 cannon lens ( albeit from the other end of the living room)
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Great! Thanks Ollie. I'll give it a go and let you know how i get on :)
 
Ollie gave good advice about removing any reflections and shooting perpendicular to the glass - this will net you much sharper shots. The challenge then is finding enough light to provide you with a sufficiently fast shutter speed. Easy if you have an off-camera flash that you can set up above the tank, otherwise quite difficult. Adding additional lighting for photoshoots can help, otherwise you'll just have to use the widest possible aperture and keep pushing the ISO up until you get a fast enough shutter speed. Luckily Paros are quite slow moving so if you snap them when they're 'hovering' and your hand holding technique is quite good then something like 1/40s might be sufficient.

You'll probably find they're quite active and shoal a little when young and newly added to the tank. They get grumpier and more secretive as they mature!
 
Lee Sweeting said:
As Tom said he's had some success low tech and i know Alastair had some growing quite well in the chocolate puddle i think. Hopefully it will do ok in my tank.
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Yeah it did great for me in my shallow. Really soft water too

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Untitled by Mr-T-, on Flickr
 

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BigTom said:
Ollie gave good advice about removing any reflections and shooting perpendicular to the glass - this will net you much sharper shots. The challenge then is finding enough light to provide you with a sufficiently fast shutter speed. Easy if you have an off-camera flash that you can set up above the tank, otherwise quite difficult. Adding additional lighting for photoshoots can help, otherwise you'll just have to use the widest possible aperture and keep pushing the ISO up until you get a fast enough shutter speed. Luckily Paros are quite slow moving so if you snap them when they're 'hovering' and your hand holding technique is quite good then something like 1/40s might be sufficient.

You'll probably find they're quite active and shoal a little when young and newly added to the tank. They get grumpier and more secretive as they mature!
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Thanks Tom. Yeah they are quite active at the moment, and seem to be exploring the tank in twos and threes. There a loverly little fish, very nice to watch :)
 
Right update time..

Not a lot has changed really over the last month. The crypts have all melted away and i'm just starting to see some new growth. My hygrophila pinnatifida doesn't seem to be doing so great, It hasn't melted away but has dropped almost all of the leaves.. So I'm hoping its just adjusting to being submerged? The remaining plants seem to have adjusted well and are growing, albeit very slowly. I was also able to remove the rocks weighing down the redmoor , which is nice. I can finally see the scape properly now. :). Theres also been some new additions plant wise. I've added some C. helferi in the back right hand corner. Theres still a lot of filling out to do at the minute, especially in the background. I'm trying to be patient, honest ;)

After searching for the last month or so i have managed to find some paros :) As i have mentioned above i added 7 P. Filamentosus today. They have all settled in well so far, and are currently mooching around the tank. There still looking a little pale at the moment.. So hopefully they will colour up soon.

I've tried to get some decent shots of the tank, and to be honest my photography skills are crap :eek: Anyway i managed to get a tank shot (best i could do), but i haven't got any decent ones of the paros :(. I'll have another go tomorrow, and i'll get a picture posted if i get anything remotely decent.

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Thanks for looking.
 
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