pods n plankton

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My new tanks been up for about a week now, its 40g w/20g sump/refuge. LR have been in an established tank for about a year. LS in the refuge (about 5lbs) also a year old. The sand in the tank is 20lbs agranite and 10lbs new live sand. I can see lots of small bristle worms in the rocks but no copods or any other small plankton in my tank or refuge. I want to start puting in some hardy coral such as some shrooms and a few others but id like to wait till i start seeing some pods and plankton. Should i put some in out of the bottle and let them reproduce? or how long will it take if i just let things happen el-naturel?

 

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I'd wait a little while to make sure that any cycle you're going to get from transferring all that stuff (espcially the sand) is over before I added anything to the tank.

Once you're sure, you can add mushrooms without fear of any effect on your growing pod population.

I would say over the next 2-3 weeks with no fish or other pod-eating critters, you'll start seeing a pod "bloom."