Here is my AGA entry for this year's contest. I'm sure that it's going to be blown away from the competetion, and ripped apart by the judges, but to know that Mr. Amano will be judging and commenting on the tank in my living room, is pretty darn cool. Please let me know what you guys think. Any suggestions for what would look good in the foreground would be appreciated. Glosso was shaded too much by the wood/pennywart, so I ripped it out. Maybe a dwarf hairgrass?
<strong>Plants:</strong>
<em>Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus), Anubias Nana, Anubias barteri, Anubias barteri 'coffeefolia',
Crypt. wentii, Pennywort, Hygrophilia polysperma, Sagittaria subulata?, Nymphaea lotus 'zenkeri', Narrow Leaf Ludwigia (Ludwigia repens x arcuata), Broadleaf Ludwigia (Ludwigia repens), Limnophila aquatica </em>
<strong>Fish:</strong>
<em>Melanotaenia boesemani, Melanotaenia trifasciata, Melanotaenia praecox, Glossolepis incisus,
Corydoras sodalis, Botia sidthimunki, Crossocheilus siamensis</em>
<strong>Decorative Materials:</strong>
Onyx Sand, Slate, Bog Wood (lots).
<strong>Tank Background:</strong>
Black posterboard
<strong>Lighting:</strong>
JBJ Formosa DX-JG3 strip (2x65Watt).
<strong>Filter:</strong>
Hagen Fluval 404
<img src="uploads/krisw/BZD_front.jpg" border="0">
<em>Front View</em>
<img src="uploads/krisw/BD7_left.jpg" border="0">
<em>Left Side</em>
<img src="uploads/krisw/9CD_right.jpg" border="0">
<em>Right Side</em>
My 54G Rainbow Tank
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Ghazanfar Ghori
- Site Admin
- Posts: 3258
- Joined: Sun Nov 23, 2003 5:26 am
- Location: United States
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Cristy Keister
- Posts: 2215
- Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2003 6:52 am
- Location: MD
Thanks for the comments so far!
[QUOTE=Ghazanfar Ghori] How did you manage to keep the
pennywort under control?![/QUOTE]
Really, it hasn't been that big of an issue. It grows like crazy, but I still only trim it twice a month. When I trim, I just make sure that I take out a ton of it!
[QUOTE=Cristy Keister] That can't be sagitaria subulata, can it? [/QUOTE]
You know, I haven't a clue what this is. I got a whole bucket of "sagitaria subulata" from Sean awhile back, and most of it stays short (4" - 8") in my 75gal. However, there seem to be strains of it mixed in that refuse to stay short. I have purposely pulled all of the tall ones from my 75gal, moving them into this tank. It's been 3-4 months and they're all still the same height, flowering regularly. Sean suggested that he might have had crypt. spiralis mixed in. SO, long and short, I haven't a clue! <img border="0" src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0">
<a href="http://www.gwapa.org/forum/forum_posts. ... W=subulata" target="_blank">Previous thread about tall sag subulata.</a>
[QUOTE=Ghazanfar Ghori] How did you manage to keep the
pennywort under control?![/QUOTE]
Really, it hasn't been that big of an issue. It grows like crazy, but I still only trim it twice a month. When I trim, I just make sure that I take out a ton of it!
[QUOTE=Cristy Keister] That can't be sagitaria subulata, can it? [/QUOTE]
You know, I haven't a clue what this is. I got a whole bucket of "sagitaria subulata" from Sean awhile back, and most of it stays short (4" - 8") in my 75gal. However, there seem to be strains of it mixed in that refuse to stay short. I have purposely pulled all of the tall ones from my 75gal, moving them into this tank. It's been 3-4 months and they're all still the same height, flowering regularly. Sean suggested that he might have had crypt. spiralis mixed in. SO, long and short, I haven't a clue! <img border="0" src="smileys/smiley2.gif" border="0">
<a href="http://www.gwapa.org/forum/forum_posts. ... W=subulata" target="_blank">Previous thread about tall sag subulata.</a>
Kris,
Tank looks excellent. Although not easy to work with or clean, bow tank is something I want to have in the future. Well done. I enjoy that slope effect.
In future work on your picture a little to improve contrast and brightness. If pictures are not taken with correct manual white balance they will appear off-color. Also try to get rid of that green/yellowish haze by correcting Color Balance.
You can have a winner tank but with "poor" quality photo you might lose that #1 spot. It would be a shame to lose just b/c the picture didn't look good enough to judges. I'm sure that this year Amano will pay attention to picture quality as well.
Here is a little snap shot of what I'm talking about. I did that quickly at work so its not perfect.
<img src="http://www.greenstouch.com/various/sample.jpg" border="0">
Tank looks excellent. Although not easy to work with or clean, bow tank is something I want to have in the future. Well done. I enjoy that slope effect.
In future work on your picture a little to improve contrast and brightness. If pictures are not taken with correct manual white balance they will appear off-color. Also try to get rid of that green/yellowish haze by correcting Color Balance.
You can have a winner tank but with "poor" quality photo you might lose that #1 spot. It would be a shame to lose just b/c the picture didn't look good enough to judges. I'm sure that this year Amano will pay attention to picture quality as well.
Here is a little snap shot of what I'm talking about. I did that quickly at work so its not perfect.
<img src="http://www.greenstouch.com/various/sample.jpg" border="0">
[QUOTE=Jay Luto]
In future work on your picture a little to improve contrast and brightness. If pictures are not taken with correct manual white balance they will appear off-color. Also try to get rid of that green/yellowish haze by correcting Color Balance.
[/QUOTE]
Believe it or not, I did spend a good deal of time in photoshop tweaking brightness/contrast/color. It looks like you took down the brightness and balanced it to make the dark sections, truly black. Is that correct?
I guess I was trying to make the brightness of the plants themselves as bright as they appear to my eye in the tank. In doing so, I ignored the darkness... I could certainly benefit from a Intro to Photography 101 class, and after that an "Implementing basic photo editing techniques in photoshop" class. I agree that the quality of the photo itself can certainly differentiate one entry from another to the judges.
Thanks for the comments, I appreciate them!
In future work on your picture a little to improve contrast and brightness. If pictures are not taken with correct manual white balance they will appear off-color. Also try to get rid of that green/yellowish haze by correcting Color Balance.
[/QUOTE]
Believe it or not, I did spend a good deal of time in photoshop tweaking brightness/contrast/color. It looks like you took down the brightness and balanced it to make the dark sections, truly black. Is that correct?
I guess I was trying to make the brightness of the plants themselves as bright as they appear to my eye in the tank. In doing so, I ignored the darkness... I could certainly benefit from a Intro to Photography 101 class, and after that an "Implementing basic photo editing techniques in photoshop" class. I agree that the quality of the photo itself can certainly differentiate one entry from another to the judges.
Thanks for the comments, I appreciate them!
