Tom's Bucket O' Mud (semi self-sustaining aquarium)

BigTom · 02-25-2013, 09:34 AM

Put together a quick video yesterday showing the nightlight and the halide coming on and a few creature shots.

Recently moved the Brachygobius across from their nano as I changed my mind on their ID from soft water aggregatus to more brackish doriae/sabanus, so figured they'd enjoy the hard water. They've settled in nicely and quickly kicked usurped the 10 times larger peacock gobies from their favorite spot!

Forgive the messy emersed section and the still to be panted intake sponge, they're on the to do list.

http://vimeo.com/60408947

toksyn · 02-25-2013, 09:37 PM

Beautiful video! You have some excellent shots in there, and that aquarium is top notch!

Saxtonhill · 02-25-2013, 10:28 PM

wow---stunning tank! Enjoyed the video very much

Jnad · 02-26-2013, 04:25 PM

This is my favorite tank, so natural.

**Big O** · 02-26-2013, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jnad

This is my favorite tank, so natural.

+1
love your tank

tomfromstlouis · 03-01-2013, 04:46 AM

I also enjoyed the video Tom. Loved the dawn sequence and the closeups are very nice.

BigTom · 03-01-2013, 11:18 AM

Thanks for the comments all, glad people like the video.

I do like the way the halides slowly ramp up, I just wish they did a similar thing when turning off. Programmable LEDs would be a lot of fun.

BigTom · 03-13-2013, 03:05 PM

Well I've suspected for a while that my cherry shrimp population is pretty mongrel... have had a few really dark red, almost black looking females, and now today I spotted my first completely blue 'cherry'. Any shrimp experts fancy a guess as to what they've hybridised with?

hisxlency · 03-13-2013, 05:34 PM

One of the best vids I have seen in a long time sir, well done indeed

Zorfox · 03-13-2013, 07:27 PM

Gorgeous!

Finally, a video done properly without constant panning, zooming and auto focus off!!! You obviously have experience with video. Nice job.

vee · 03-13-2013, 10:48 PM

Love your tank! It's nice to see a tank from the beginning. I would love to try this one day. Your photos and videos are inspiring!!

etane · 03-28-2013, 08:05 PM

My heart literally aches when watching your video.

BigTom · 03-29-2013, 08:09 PM

One or two of you may recall that some time back in June last year I bought a Kessil a150 'Amazon Sun' from a guy in Australia. Well, thanks to the combined incompetence of both the Australian and British postal systems (ParcelFarce, I'm looking at you), it arrived yesterday! It's been around the world at least 4 times, and in the end we had to resort to having the guy's Mum bring it back to the UK in her luggage.

Anyway, I know a few people are interested in these lights so thought I'd do a quick comparison with my trusty 70w metal halide. Both lights were suspended 50cm above the water, camera was on a tripod and in manual mode, with white balance set to 4150K which best matched my perception of the room without either tank light on. I think the results give a fairly good idea of the rendition of the two units, but make sure you're viewing them in a colour managed browser (ie, not Chrome or IE) if you want an accurate view.

Impressions so far after 2 days with it.... overall I like it. It's very small and means I'll be able to retire my somewhat ugly lighting frame and get a more minimalist fitting of some sort. The colour rendition is pretty good (I tried one of those cheap ebay floodlight LEDs once and it was ghastly, this is much better and nicely contrasty without giving harsh shadows).

The one major issue I have with it is the noise of the little 40mm fan - it's louder than my quite powerful PC and you can hear it over pretty much anything else in the room. Definitely enough to be annoying in a bedroom. I've opened the can up and it looks like its a standard PC northbridge style fan, so I've ordered a supposedly quiet replacement fan and I'm hoping it'll be pretty straightforward to swap out.

So... 70w halide with (I think) a 6000k bulb in -

And the Kessil a150 (rated as 6700K) -

So, not actually much different!

Afraid I don't have a par meter to check that, but visually it looks similarly bright to my 70w halide. Photoshop reckons the cropped underwater section of the image is about 20% brighter with the Kessil, which seems believable.

hunterlook · 03-31-2013, 05:05 AM

1) Love the video, great music.
2) I need to get a macro lense

Amazing tank!

Jordin · 03-31-2013, 05:17 AM

I love your tank. It is very natural and beautiful.

You've done an amazing job!

02-25-2013, 09:34 AM	#211
BigTom Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: UK Posts: 175	Put together a quick video yesterday showing the nightlight and the halide coming on and a few creature shots. Recently moved the Brachygobius across from their nano as I changed my mind on their ID from soft water aggregatus to more brackish doriae/sabanus, so figured they'd enjoy the hard water. They've settled in nicely and quickly kicked usurped the 10 times larger peacock gobies from their favorite spot! Forgive the messy emersed section and the still to be panted intake sponge, they're on the to do list. http://vimeo.com/60408947 Last edited by BigTom; 02-25-2013 at 02:38 PM.. Reason: typos

02-25-2013, 09:37 PM	#212
toksyn Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (10/100%) Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Gainesville, FL Posts: 194	Beautiful video! You have some excellent shots in there, and that aquarium is top notch! __________________ I like creepy things, vines included. Hypoptopoma Haven

02-25-2013, 10:28 PM	#213
Saxtonhill Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: New England Posts: 177	wow---stunning tank! Enjoyed the video very much __________________ 20G tropical tank (re-learning about live plants & lighting conditions) 30G tropical tank (also re-learning plants here) 40G goldfish tank (natural rock hardscape, just a java fern here) 60G (has plants now...more education going on here also) 10G (live plants and a betta) "Adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience." Ralph Waldo Emerson

03-01-2013, 04:46 AM	#216
tomfromstlouis Planted Tank Obsessed (View User Tanks) PTrader: (13/100%) Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Saint Louis Posts: 444	I also enjoyed the video Tom. Loved the dawn sequence and the closeups are very nice. __________________ RAOK Club #76 220g altum, 75g high tech, 6g shrimp: one office, three tanks http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=183658

03-28-2013, 08:05 PM	#222
etane Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (4/83%) Join Date: May 2012 Location: Irvine CA Posts: 171	My heart literally aches when watching your video. __________________ My journals: 60F - 60P

02-26-2013, 04:25 PM	#214
Jnad Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Norway Posts: 190	This is my favorite tank, so natural.

03-01-2013, 11:18 AM	#217
BigTom Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: UK Posts: 175	Thanks for the comments all, glad people like the video. I do like the way the halides slowly ramp up, I just wish they did a similar thing when turning off. Programmable LEDs would be a lot of fun.

03-13-2013, 03:05 PM	#218
BigTom Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: UK Posts: 175	Well I've suspected for a while that my cherry shrimp population is pretty mongrel... have had a few really dark red, almost black looking females, and now today I spotted my first completely blue 'cherry'. Any shrimp experts fancy a guess as to what they've hybridised with?

03-13-2013, 05:34 PM	#219
hisxlency Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Centreville, VA Posts: 209	One of the best vids I have seen in a long time sir, well done indeed

03-13-2013, 07:27 PM	#220
Zorfox Planted Tank Obsessed (View User Tanks) PTrader: (4/100%) Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 397	Gorgeous! Finally, a video done properly without constant panning, zooming and auto focus off!!! You obviously have experience with video. Nice job.

03-13-2013, 10:48 PM	#221
vee Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: May 2011 Location: Minnesota Posts: 49	Love your tank! It's nice to see a tank from the beginning. I would love to try this one day. Your photos and videos are inspiring!!

03-29-2013, 08:09 PM	#223
BigTom Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: UK Posts: 175	One or two of you may recall that some time back in June last year I bought a Kessil a150 'Amazon Sun' from a guy in Australia. Well, thanks to the combined incompetence of both the Australian and British postal systems (ParcelFarce, I'm looking at you), it arrived yesterday! It's been around the world at least 4 times, and in the end we had to resort to having the guy's Mum bring it back to the UK in her luggage. Anyway, I know a few people are interested in these lights so thought I'd do a quick comparison with my trusty 70w metal halide. Both lights were suspended 50cm above the water, camera was on a tripod and in manual mode, with white balance set to 4150K which best matched my perception of the room without either tank light on. I think the results give a fairly good idea of the rendition of the two units, but make sure you're viewing them in a colour managed browser (ie, not Chrome or IE) if you want an accurate view. Impressions so far after 2 days with it.... overall I like it. It's very small and means I'll be able to retire my somewhat ugly lighting frame and get a more minimalist fitting of some sort. The colour rendition is pretty good (I tried one of those cheap ebay floodlight LEDs once and it was ghastly, this is much better and nicely contrasty without giving harsh shadows). The one major issue I have with it is the noise of the little 40mm fan - it's louder than my quite powerful PC and you can hear it over pretty much anything else in the room. Definitely enough to be annoying in a bedroom. I've opened the can up and it looks like its a standard PC northbridge style fan, so I've ordered a supposedly quiet replacement fan and I'm hoping it'll be pretty straightforward to swap out. So... 70w halide with (I think) a 6000k bulb in - And the Kessil a150 (rated as 6700K) - So, not actually much different! Afraid I don't have a par meter to check that, but visually it looks similarly bright to my 70w halide. Photoshop reckons the cropped underwater section of the image is about 20% brighter with the Kessil, which seems believable.

03-31-2013, 05:05 AM	#224
hunterlook Planted Tank Obsessed (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Fort Collins, CO Posts: 426	1) Love the video, great music. 2) I need to get a macro lense Amazing tank! __________________ 40 Breeder\|36" FugeRay\|Aquaclear 110 Oto\|Guppy\|Danio\|Kuhli\|Swordtail My 40B Work In Progress "Creation of a World"-Tank Video

03-31-2013, 05:17 AM	#225
Jordin Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Stoney Creek Posts: 7	I love your tank. It is very natural and beautiful. You've done an amazing job!

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode