Update for today.
Made a "feeding station" out of a spice jar. Several days later every single fish in the tank knows how to get in and steal all the food so I put in a second one. I see the mandarin in there every once in a while when the blenny isn't making a pig out of himself. I have small NLS and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs I bought off of e-bay.
Siphoned a bit of sand out today...I now realize this is going to be a
very long task.
Ammonia is lower than it was at 0.1-0.3, nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 15
Cleaned out the diatom filter completely and put in new powder as it was full of %^&*. Rinsed out the sponges in the rena as best I could in sw. Considered throwing them out and ended up only throwing out one as I feared a spike. They are completely filthy but also covered in "things" which I am guessing are beneficial. I am hoping I didn't leave them in air too long causing die off on the bacteria population.
my mandarin investigates the spice jar I have put out for him with pellets and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs, his fins tend to fan the sand and whatnot all over
mr. L. blenny checks out his new digs beneath "Ghagsp Rock" :P
clowns that came with the tank. I may have to sell one or both of them to avoid overstocking though, as I intend to add my royal gramma and my pretty black/orange oscellaris once I think the tank is stable enough for the addition.
mandarin fighting with his reflection
one of the clowns that came with the bowfront
the whole tank, dirty glass and all ...water looks clear though
I cannot believe it but I think the 2 corals that came with the tank might just make it! Looking at the gsp I see more polyps are out than ever before and there is less GHA on it as well. The candycane is much more inflated than it was when it arrived (I thought it a goner for sure), and it looks like something has cleaned off much of the GHA from it as well (somethng besides me, I picked off as much as I was able). I think it is either a snail or the blenny.
GHA is growing on the powerhead to the skimmer as well as some other things. I am hoping to try and combat it with the snails (I need more), blenny and WC's, as well as the addition of ALGONE in the rena.
I am absolutely kicking myself for not having the forsight ot have cleaned the back glass before putting the tank where it is! I cannot reach back there and as you can see there are lots of salt drips all down the back of it from when we moved the tank.
Ah well...hopefully when the coralline comes back no one will notice.
*impatience* I can't wait until I the tank is stable so I can get my coral back and rescape!
Probably going to be another month or several months
Just have to wait and see and keep on the water quality as best I can.
Does anyone think I should go BB, or should I go buy some new sand once I get rid of most of the old stuff? I am tempted to go BB for the cleanliness of it, but I am worried about the mandarin on the off chance he benefits from the sand bed (creatures) at all as well as I kinda like having the option of being able to put things on the "ground" -it is more stable for the rockwork.