rock life after dark - video

Mini Coop · Dec 7, 2016

Very cool! Love seeing the stomatellas!! I think I have a billion of them now!

Mmbra · Dec 7, 2016

nice video! I need to check out my reef after dark more often

azbigjohn · Dec 7, 2016

Awesome video!

Thanks for sharing!

Ryengoth · Dec 7, 2016

Thanks! Anyone know what the long sweepers are from? They look like grapes on a rope. I'm not exactly sure what the white nest is from that has the pods roaming around in it.

recess62 · Dec 7, 2016

Terrific. What camera? What light?

Ryengoth · Dec 7, 2016

Galaxy S6 with the built-in light. Flush against the glass. Just have to make sure the focal point is not too close. I have a clip-on macro setup as well but there's quite a bit of distortion. I get better resolution from the built-in digital magnification than the macro lens. I also get better metering on this phone than on my D5300.

recess62 · Dec 8, 2016

Amazing video from a smartphone. It really demonstrates that our tanks are complicated ecosystems not just an "aquarium".

Willz · Dec 8, 2016

Very nice. I'd love if people would comment with minute:second identification of what is on the screen.

Ryengoth · Dec 8, 2016

Willz said:
Very nice. I'd love if people would comment with minute:second identification of what is on the screen.

I can annotate on the video but I just wanted to get it online. I'll edit the video tonight and annotate some of the critters that I can identify. Stomatellas are all over the place and look like miniature Turbo snails with flat shells. The small snails that are dotted are Collonista snails. I'm pretty sure the little black bugs that you see running around are copepods. The amphipods that I have in there don't come out that often and stay in the rockwork. Or they've all been eaten at this point and I need to re-populate. LOL

clowner · Dec 8, 2016

Make shure to post the link

Ryengoth · Dec 12, 2016

Annotations added via YouTube. Same video and link.

Ryengoth · Dec 12, 2016

The yellow boxes don't show text unless you hover your mouse over them. Less intrusive for the smaller stuff.

Maritimer · Dec 13, 2016

The 'pods you noted that "don't look like amphipods" look like munnid isopods to me.

I had a lot of those while my tank was fallow, but now I have wrasses and dragonets, so . . .

Delightful video - thanks for sharing your "night dive" with us!

~Bruce

fightingfish · Dec 13, 2016

Amazing! Have you made an effort to stock you tank as such, or is this the natural process of a well functioning reef tank? I'm new to the game, just doing my Research!

Ryengoth · Dec 13, 2016

fightingfish said:
Amazing! Have you made an effort to stock you tank as such, or is this the natural process of a well functioning reef tank? I'm new to the game, just doing my Research!

The rock life is 100% introduced. I have a mix of dry and live reef saver with a few chunks of Fuji rock. I added live mixed pods, emerald and scarlet crabs as well as various snails but that's all as far as specific species. The rest was introduced from the LFS live rock or live Fuji rock I bought. The asterinas, collonistas and stomatellas hitched a ride in and just multiplied. I also have aiptasia and small yellow polys taking over the rock in a few areas so I'm rotating and rearranging the rock periodically and spot treating stuff that appears to be uncontrolled. If the aiptasia is visible from the peppermint's home they'll eventually eat it. They won't wander out on the "lawn" so to speak to eat the visible stuff. I don't care what the rock looks like as long as the fish and coral are happy. The less I have to maintain manually the better for the eco setup.