Snow's 10G Critters of Chaos (TOTM)

[Snow_Phoenix]

20 minutes ago, kimdawg said:

Congrats!  You have a beautiful and famous reef.  I always enjoy reading about it.

Thanks, Kimdawg! Wouldn't have been able to get this far with this reef if it weren't for all of you on NR. 🌺

[Snow_Phoenix]

Pics are a bit dark and grainy - sorry for that! 😅

 

But now that the glass is clean, I can finally look into the tank. 👀

 

Yuma pile:

 

 

Puffy red lobo:

 

 

Mushroom Mountain:

 

 

Geralt:

 

 

 

(Not sure why the acro looks poop-brown from a sideview shot. In RL, it's still green and purple, as evidenced by a front shot. 🤷‍♀️)

 

Pickle:

 

[debbeach13]

4 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

this nanoreef has been featured in the latest issue of Reef Hobbyist Magazine (RHM) : 

Congratulations! I am not surprised. I am delighted that you and your tank are now world famous! All your hard work and dedication being recognized is well deserved. I think that this article shows just how exciting and beautiful a Nano tank can be. I predict that there will be some new tanks set up hoping to copy your tank. 

[Snow_Phoenix]

34 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Congratulations! I am not surprised. I am delighted that you and your tank are now world famous! All your hard work and dedication being recognized is well deserved. I think that this article shows just how exciting and beautiful a Nano tank can be. I predict that there will be some new tanks set up hoping to copy your tank. 

Thanks, Deb! 🌺

[mitten_reef]

Congrats @Snow_Phoenix!  It’s always nice to see a familiar reef from NR making it to the RHM.  The recent pics are stellar!! 🎉

[Snow_Phoenix]

21 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Congrats @Snow_Phoenix!  It’s always nice to see a familiar reef from NR making it to the RHM.  The recent pics are stellar!! 🎉

Thank you so much! Never thought this reef would be featured beyond the boundaries of this forum. It was certainly a learning experience, getting published.

 

I'm still trying to improve the quality and crispness of my pics. On one hand, I'm limited by my S9's camera (it's not bad, but it's no DSLR either) so I'm still trying to pick up a few tips and tricks on how to take close-ups. I love, love macro-shots of PEs, but can't truly do them justice. At least I'm getting the colors *almost spot-on though! Everything is much more vivid in RL. Quite happy to have a tiny piece of the ocean in my room. 

[WV Reefer]

5 hours ago, Snow_Phoenix said:

On another note, this nanoreef has been featured in the latest issue of Reef Hobbyist Magazine (RHM) : 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pics might be a tad old, but I'm glad both Pickle & Harvey - especially Harvey!!! - was featured. Given how saron shrimp are notoriously labeled as 'non-reefsafe' by multiple websites online, I'm hoping this would shed a *bit more light on this particular species (S. marmoratus) and its suitability in reeftanks. 😊👍

 

Remember, not *all species of Sarons are reefsafe, and LFSes tend to mislabel these shrimp. So *if any of you are interested in one, make sure it is the *correct species. 

 

(Also, I'm not accountable if any future saron shrimp purchases by anyone decides to get the munchies for corals. These shrimp are cryptic, but they need to be well-fed. And they do enjoy bits of macro, including chaeto, so I wouldn't recommend them for macro-dominant tanks. 👍)

Yay!!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[Snow_Phoenix]

1 hour ago, WV Reefer said:

Yay!!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[Tamberav]

Congrats again!!! Also that Yuma pile is amazing… I need a Yuma pile! 

[Snow_Phoenix]

6 hours ago, Tamberav said:

Congrats again!!! Also that Yuma pile is amazing… I need a Yuma pile! 

Thanks! I absolutely love the fact that you can put them next to each other without worrying about coral warfare. If only I had more space on the sandbed, I'd pile up more yumas of different colors. 😅

[DevilDuck]

Wow congrats on the feature! It was well deserved!

[Deputy_Pooh]

On 4/6/2022 at 6:39 AM, Snow_Phoenix said:

Corals are still grumpy after WC, so not everything is fully open. Here are a few FTSes:

 

 

 

 

Baby rainbow yuma is more defined and has stronger colors now. 🥰

 

 

Bubbly. 😊

 

 

Duncan. 

 

 

Beautiful tank!

[Snow_Phoenix]

49 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

Wow congrats on the feature! It was well deserved!

 

30 minutes ago, Deputy_Pooh said:

Beautiful tank!

Thank you both! 😊👍

[Snow_Phoenix]

Performed an 8G WC this afternoon. Some corals are still grumpy, as usual. Geralt's shell was covered in algae, so I gave him a gentle scrub using some tissues. (No, he was not thrilled over being manhandled! 😅)

 

He's now sulking on my duncan: 

 

 

 

Speaking of the duncan, it detached from the tiny LR it was on (at the base) during the WC - I *think it's because I accidently knocked it over with my gravel vac. 

 

Luckily the coral is fine (albeit a bit retracted from its tumble to the sandbed) and I managed to re-attach it to the tiny base rock using coral glue. I also *buried the base in the sand to limit the chances of it falling over again - especially now that my hermit likes to sit on it. 

 

Pickle was cheerful as ever. She was a bit feisty when I had to siphon dirt around her coral, but calmed down significantly once I had moved away:

 

 

 

 

 Favites with Kedd Reds in the background:

 

 

Bicolor lobo looking happy after the WC:

 

 

I'll try to take proper pics once the tank has settled down. 😊👍

 

Also starting to keep an eye out at the LFS for a tiny percher as the last fish. 👀

[Snow_Phoenix]

Zoa Ledge from above (not all polyps fully open) :

 

 

 

 

Sunny Ds cluster:

 

 

Weeping willow:

 

 

Geralt on the duncan: 🦀

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Yuma pile from above:

 

 

^Also, that's not a part of the leptastrea skeleton. It's just a tiny LR that I shoved between the leptastrea and yumas to prevent them from stinging each other. 😊

 

Discosoma & rhodactis side-by-side: 

 

 

Forest fire rhodactis:

 

 

Can you spot the tiny superman discosoma among the pile? 👀

 

 

Parent shroom of the superman discosoma:

 

 

Rhodactis pile:

 

 

🥰

[A.m.P]

Wow, congratulations on being featured, that's awesome!

[FISHnChix]

Nice! Congrats on the feature. That's next level stuff! Well deserved this tank is special 👏 

[Snow_Phoenix]

50 minutes ago, A.m.P said:

Wow, congratulations on being featured, that's awesome!

 

4 minutes ago, FISHnChix said:

Nice! Congrats on the feature. That's next level stuff! Well deserved this tank is special 👏 

Thank you both! 🌺

[Snow_Phoenix]

Rainbows in the reef. 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Shrooms! 🥰

 

Yumas, discosomas & rhodactises. 😊

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

A few FTSes today. 🥰

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Just flicked the lights on. Most polyps are still on the verge of opening up. I just noticed I actually have 2 (!!!) baby rainbow yumas - I'm not sure if there always was a second one, and I simply missed it, or if it's a new guy: 😅

 

 

The other slightly older baby yuma is much larger and more colorful:

 

 

And the even larger one is fully colored:

 

 

Yellow yuma is as bubbly as ever:

 

 

Also, the ironman discosoma actually has 6 baby shrooms! 🥰

 

 

 

^One super tiny one is not visible in the pic. 

 

GSP clump when it is fully retracted:

 

[Snow_Phoenix]

Forest fire digi garden:

 

 

 

^Dosing has been increased to accomodate the increasing growth rate of the sps. 

 

My hornets are now more visible when the larger polyps are still retracted and in the process of *waking up.

 

Blue & purple hornets:

 

 

Red hornets:

 

 

Firestorms & Midas! 🥰

 

 

 

Hungry acans:

 

 

After taking these pics, my camera settings went haywire a little. I tried restarting my phone, but it looks like it went back to the original settings, so I have to manually adjust everything again. Hopefully the coral colors won't be too wonky in any upcoming pics. 😕

[Snow_Phoenix]

Okay, tried my best to re-adjust my camera settings. I can't recall the exact setting that I had earlier, so I took a few test shots and here are a few of them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Based on what I can see, the yellows and oranges are dulled out - greens are a tad brighter, reds are a bit lighter and other colors appear the same. Feeling a bit discouraged because my previous settings were exactly where I needed them to be in Pro-Mode. 😕

 

My only consolation is that the AF feature has magically improved itself. Pics may not be DSLR-crisp, but at least they're a *bit sharper than before. 🤷‍♀️

 

I'll keep trying. I used the same shutter speed & ISO, but it's the other ones that need to be tweaked. Adjustments in lightroom can help a little, but I'll need to tweak the settings a few more times before I can relocate the right range. 😕

 

So relieved I managed to take a few FTSes yesterday without issue!