Time for an Update!
Sorry guys, I have not been posting as much as I should: 30 hours a week at work plus 15 units at SJSU has a monopoly on my time. We did have a nice relaxing weekend though, and I had some time to work on the tank with Denzil's help.
I have come to the conclusion that the filter socks on my sump have been part of my nitrate problem; I did not know how much upkeep they required until looking into it a bit more and talking with some of the guys at the Swap. So, I decided that I would order 25lbs of 'fuge rubble off of Liveaquaria and put them in the sock spot. I also have not seen any pods in my tank at all, so after searching ebay (Jim, I couldn't find the woman you mentioned) I broke down and got the tisbe pods off LA also. It was nice because I had some credit from a DOA, so I didn't have to pay much at all. Any-who, last Thursday, after curing the rock, I put the rock in the sock part of the 'fuge, and some in the sand bed and waited a bit. Also was able to dump the pods in the tank. In order to help with flow, I got a nano koralia in the 'fuge itself, and another one providing additional flow where all the rock is. After checking today, I see pods EVERYWHERE! It's a relief. Now I am one step closer to getting to getting my mandarins.
Denzil and I also noticed the little male clown "shivering" tonight. I have seen him do it before, but never as much as he was doing it tonight. I have also seen the female get very territorial all of the sudden:chasing fish that last week, she never bothered. Then I saw both clowns nipping and rubbing on a particular spot on the rock. After flipping out a bit, worrying about ich, I did a quick search and was relieved to see that others have experienced this as well, and it was a precursor to spawning behavior. I hope that means that they are comfortable in the tank enough to start spawning. They are eating every time food is put in there and very personable to boot.
Well, hope this update finds you all well. I am definitely looking forward to the next meeting! It's little things like that that get me through the week LoL. Quick question on the zoas we got from the swap: every time I google the names of the ones we got, they are colorful and pretty to look at, but after a while, mine are showing some color, but are still mostly brown in color. Is this normal? Is there anything that I can do to bring some color back to them? Thanks!