Adding a Mandarin

[Zerc]

My tank/refugium has been up and running for approximately 7 months. It is currently a 36 gallon bowfront with a 29 gallon refugium above it. Both tanks are roughly half full of live rock, and the refugium appears to be full of all kinds of critters. I dose Iron weekly, element supplement twice/month, phytogold-M every other day, and 5 gallon water change weekly. I want to add a Mandarin to my setup, but first I plan to upgrade the tank size (the stand is almost done, and the tank is drilled and sitting by my door) to a 75g DT with a 55g refugium. I will be adding probably another 20 lbs of live rock during this upgrade. My question is, I have given my pod population ~7 months to build in my current setup, how much time should the population need to recover after being moved to the larger setup to be sufficient enough to support 1 Mandarin goby?
Refugium also has a football sized chuck of chaeto in it, 20 hours per day of light.

other livestock
RBTA x1
2" maroon clown x1
firefish goby x1
zoa frag (2 heads)
green star polyps (about 3"x3")
3" purple tang x1

 

[pandora32]

Why do you dose iron? I completely broke my system down and moved cross town. I had a mandarin. The pod population i had suffered for sure, but it rebounded real quickly.

 

[Zerc]

I could not get my chaeto to grow in my refugium, it just sat there and did nothing for a few months. I went to barrier reef and they suggested adding some iron, it has been growing slowly since I started that. My only other nutrient export is my skimmer, so I wanted give the chaeto any boost I could.

I just don't want to add a mandarin that my system can't support, which is why I am waiting until the 75 is running. Thanks for the clarification on the pod population resilience though!

 

[pandora32]

Just remember copepods are canabilistic. They will eat the young. But as long as they have someplace to hide. I wish just one time i could say my cheato wasnt getting enough nutriants!...lol

 

[Zerc]

Yea I am removing all sand from my refugium when i move it to the 55, will contain only live rock and rubble.

 

[Gazbo]

I think you will be ok you might get a mini cycle with the upgrade so it may be a good idea to wait 4-6 weeks to make sure everything is ok. I am all about supporting LFS but reefs2go has a good deal on them and you can get pods with the deal I think about $20 and and 500 or a 1000 live pods. Thats what I did he arrived fat and healthy and is doing great and been a few months now. I still order pods from them time to time don't want to take the chance of him and the scooter blenny starving and my wife would be upset if she lost her little scooter.

 

[NanaReefer]

You can always reseed pods I do monthly for my Scooter.

 

[Derbird]

+1 with NanaReefer, I try to add more pods about once a month for my Mandarin

I have a 125 display, 40 fuge, 15 sump. I would say when you have a stable population of pods you will be alright. I would also suggest trying to get one that will except some prepared foods to help supliment its diet (mine will eat cyclopeez). You will be amazed how fast these little fish will decimate your pod population. But with the regular addition of pods and some supliment feeding you should be fine These little beauties are worth the extra effort.

Do you have a test kit for Iron? I would never recomend adding anything unless you can test for it. A little can be a great help. But too much can get you in trouble fast. And you can't tell without a test. I belive that Red Sea makes a Iron test and I'm sure there are others as well.

 

[Chichas01]

I think I hear the Tang Police... :spy:eep:

 

[totem420]

I got my scooter to eat fish food. If you get your mandarin t o eat fish food you won't have to worry about pods

 

[Zerc]

Yea that would be ideal, but from what I've read that is really hit or miss. Here's hoping though


Tang police... :violin:

 

[Zerc]

I have read that certain corals also will consume lots of pods, is there any I should avoid entirely? ( I heard this about brain coral)

 

[NC2WA]

your tank typically should be setup at least one year with LOTS of live rock so that pod population can support the diet of a mandarin.

might want to read the follow article:

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f15/pod-eaters-mama-dont-feed-me-no-balogna-30207/#post325308

 

[Zerc]

Lots is a very ambiguous term. Like I said both of my tanks are approximately half full of rock and have been up since the middle of May. I don't anticipate my new tank will even be running until January, where I will be adding ~20 more lbs of rock. What constitutes "lots" of rock?

 

[NC2WA]

75g DT? I would say 150lbs to start with..and let the tank mature at least a year to build a good pod population..keep in my you need to sustain pod creation..you will be amazed how quickly it is depleted...99% of all mandarin deaths are due to starvation, unless you are fortunate enough to get it to eat prepared food (ie, mysis shrimp)

 

[Zerc]

So once i transfer all my rock to the new setup I need to start the 1 yr timer over? yes a 75 DT, with a 55 refugium.

 

[Zerc]

maybe a dumb question, but how do I accurately measure how many pounds of live rock without taking it out of the tank? Does the quality of rock affect how much weight you need? I know poor quality rock weighs a lot more than good quality rock.

 

[NC2WA]

not really a good way to know how much rock you have unless it is weighed..yes, the more porous (lighter) the rock, the more you will need..I like porous rock than dense as it typically has more holes for corals and better for aquascaping.

yes, you need time for the rock in the tank to mature and the pod population multiply..if memory serves correctly, it takes pods 30 days to reproduce..providing the pods in the tank are saltwater, not freshwater, and can multiply and not just food for the tank.

I believe there is a thread about types of pods to use in a tank in the General Discussion forum.

 

[mwebber28]

I dont know if this helps but I put in new wood floors 8 months ago which required breaking down my tank. I had a healthy copepod population at the time and my mandarin was very healthy. In preperation I set up a similar tank with new rock one month in advance. To that I added 3 bottles of pods two days after I set it up.

After my floors were done(3 days total) I set up my old tank with the new rock and let it run for one day. During that time I put in one bottle of pods and then one bottle per month for 4 months. My mandarin is very healthy and happy... I think... well he is fat anyway... I dont know about the happy part... lol...

Best of luck