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Ohko Ocean, now 'Peaks'

A forum friend on the other side of the country (Australia) has built me a reactor. This is the first bit of aquarium equipment I've purchased this year, I'm real excited about it. From what I understand he has spent months perfecting the design and it works unbelievably well. It's almost 2ft tall. I should receive it in the post next week. So no more gurgling gas build up in the little sera 500 for me. :p

image_zpskoyp3drt.jpg

Yes, it's ridiculously big for a 2ft tank .... but ... things are afoot! I have the green light with my wife to get a new tank :D All I know at this stage is that it will probably be 4ft (at least 3ft). Maybe 120x40x35. 2x2ft Ikea stands, custom tank and the rest I'll work out later.
 
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A forum friend on the other side of the country (Australia) has built me a reactor. This is the first bit of aquarium equipment I've purchased this year, I'm real excited about it. From what I understand he has spent months perfecting the design and it works unbelievably well. It's almost 2ft tall. I should receive it in the post next week. So no more gurgling gas build up in the little sera 500 for me. :p

image_zpskoyp3drt.jpg

Yes, it's ridiculously big for a 2ft tank .... but ... things are afoot! I have the green light with my wife to get a new tank :D All I know at this stage is that it will probably be 4ft (at least 3ft). Maybe 120x40x35. 2x2ft Ikea stands, custom tank and the rest I'll work out later.

Can't wait to see what you do with a bigger tank mate.
 
here's some info about the reactor written by the guy who made it:

'Design thoughts focussed on making a reactor that would meet the brief of a 3000 lph pump, plus also ensuring it was future proofed should the owner wish to upsize in the future (or downsize). So, what I came up with was to make the reactor as per usual out of DWV piping for strength, 500mm high, 25mm tank fittings, netta 25mm male to 25mm female elbow to make it easy to change out the barbed directors to different sizes in the future. It also uses a 25mm threaded riser tube inside same as the first version I did to maximise flow. All future units sold will be built like this to give the owner maximum flexibility and comes supplied with injector nozzle and all clamps required for installation, plus a detailed diagram and step by step instructions on installation. New special paint that adheres to plastic has been used as well. '

and there a little later:

'Found another improvement. Stopped using the Neta fittings from Mitre 10 after a few elbows were found to be cracked when pressure tested. Now using Guycol elbows from Reece. They are much more robust. Also moved the 4mm injector spike straight onto the inlet, making the whole installation neater and taking up less space. This is fitted with a 4mm tap on the end of a short length of co2 line. To bleed, simply remove the co2 feed line (from the regulator side) from the tap and open the tap to bleed air out. This is the final production model.'
 
An issue i thought might come up, has come up.

A friend (who really really knows what he's talking about) has commented on the the 'massive colour contrast' between the sp green and the mosses on the rocks.

Any thoughts? is the sp Green too bright for the rest of the scape?

I don't want to pull the sp green out (not yet anyway). So to blend the light green sp green with the rest of the scape I've started to drape it down the sides of the peaks. I've used hm and tiny bits of hc at the back to do this also. I'll get a pic up tonight.

Thanks for your help!

In other news, the reactor arrived today. I'll hook it up later in the week.
 
Any opinions regarding my colour contrast question? (detailed above)

For now I've decided to keep the sp green, but limit the height of the dome. In fact, with the height I have in mind you may not even see a dome shape in a fts. We'll see.

I'm also thinking of angling the wallichii more (this will require removing some sp green and replacing it with wallichii. then, perhaps the wallichii can be domed to greater effect (i have a preoccupation with domes!)

like this:

IMG_8161_zpsamq9qtdq.jpg
 
Looking good dantrasy. Based on your inspiration i think the contrast is what you want. My 2 cents is to go for it with the wallichii maybe even interweaving the two just a bit along those lines. The gaps between you upper rocks showing the sp green from the side may be what is bothering you. Try filling in with some more rock and moss in the gaps.
 
Mosses gives more natural look with their deep green colors. The vivid green plants sometimes mess up the overall look and push the shot to the unnatural kind of way.
Sp Green is somewhere in the middle, but looks brighter for sure.

Still this can work out nicely.

I may would do a gradient filter on top 1/3 of the tank to reduce exposure with .5-1.
This usually helps on plants which reflect the light too much and appear very bright.

Darker colors appear aging, ancient, meanwhile brighter looks young, fresh. So it is up to you what you would like to achieve with the final look. :)
 
Thanks the advice. But how do I apply a gradient filter? In Photoshop? (I have no knowledge of Photoshop). Or is the filter attached to the camera lens? I have a canon 600d and used the 18-55mm lens.

The reactor will be fitted tomorrow.

image_zpssjudrcil.jpg

And here's a pic taken the other day.

image_zpsmlk5vois.jpg
 
Or is the filter attached to the camera lens?
At least the ones I used are pieces of tinted plastic to be mounted in a frame before your lens. The filter has a very smooth transition (the most common is a neutral tinted one, there are of several colors but the final effect is not very natural of course) from dark to transparent. When putting the tinted part against the sky and adjusting the transition at the horizon, it allows you to compensate areas that have a very different level of light, which are very difficult to balance in the final shot. In other words, it gives uniformity and allows you to better control all the areas of the picture. I'm pretty sure there is something than can be done with Photoshop, but these filters are quite cheap compared to other pieces of equipment and work very well for landscape photography (and probably also very tanks!)

The reactor will be fitted tomorrow.

image_zpssjudrcil.jpg

Oh man, didn't notice the size until you posted this picture! Looking forward to seeing the results

Jordi
 
Just been reading about Circular Polarising (CPL) filters. I'll give it a try.

I had to Google sp. 610. To me that's rose moss, and yes, by chance, I have a little of it.

As for the reactor, the size is ridiculous, I know. The guy who made it asked what filter I have and cabinet dimensions etc... So flow rate was taken into consideration. I have a Fluval 406.

Tomorrow I'll clean the filter and re-plumb everything with new hose (and remove the inline heater which is broken). I don't think I need a heater, it never gets below 18 degrees c.
 
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