The copepod population appears to be doing fine, despite the Mandarin munching on them all day. He is maintaining his weight from when I brought him home... there are thousands of copepods that have made homes on the algae on the sides of the glass. He's still feeding off the rocks and on the glass, so he is definitely eating. I'm going to pick up a copepod culture and help by adding....
I picked up another 12 hermits and 3 snails, I only wanted 10 hermits but the LFS tossed in a few extras for free.
It's funny watching the larger hermits go crazy when I toss in some pellets, they can't get to the bottom quick enough, they let go and roll to the bottom, crashing and tumbling til they get on the gravel. It's entertaining to watch...
Rescaped the tank a little bit because I couldn't find a place for the green torch to be happy, it's doing much better in the position I have it in now, but I think better placement would show it's full size better than right now...
I told myself a couple weeks ago that I was going to settle down with rescaping and sticking my arms in the tank - but I find myself messing with it a couple times a week. I'm trying to make the LR as functonal and possible to hold as much coral without looking like it was put together.
The yellow tang is now unphased with my arm in the tank, the mandarin appears used to all the activity too. I always thought I was stressing them out, but I remembered the Tang came out of the Not For Sale display tank where they keep SPS, everytime I went there the LR was re-arranged...so the Tang must be used to it already. The mandarin will feed half an inch from my moving hand, or even stay on top of a rock I pick up. The goby freaks out...but as soon as I'm done, he's back out begging.
Itching to setup the new tank...but still taking it slow. I bought a basic test kit, I'm used to testing for ammonia/nitrite/nitrates/ph from my freshwater.. in a couple weeks I'll get a reef test kit and start testing the other parameters that my LFS does for me, start collecting trace elements and learning how to dose. Once I get that under control, then I will consider taking on the bigger tank... I'm sticking with my plan and figuring June will be when I setup the new tank!!