[randymon]

I have had a mandarin for about 2 months now and hes constantly picking at the rocks and sand in my 55 w/ cpr hob refugium. I always want to do whats right for the fish , so my question is, altho I dont see many larger copepods running around ,my glass always has the small ones running around on it.Do mandarins eat these small copepods and does this mean there is enough food for him as long as I continue to see these on the glass?
Also is ther a good submersable pump that can handle 10 feet of head room?

[Reefland]

Hi randymon,

I think it's a good bet that if you an see lots of pods on your glass that there is even more on the rocks and the fish has some food available. I haven't kept a Mandarin Dragonette in a long time; they are wonderful fish if they can be provided enough food.

On the second question, I guess a MAG could push that far and as far as I'm concerned it is one of the best submersible pumps. The question is how much would the pump lose with that much head. Any reason why you need a submersible? An external pump like Iwaki, Sequence or Dolphin would be much, much better for this application.

[randymon]

I will be upgrading to a 125 later this summer and will put my 55 in the basement as sump and refugium, and I am worried about drilling the tank.

[Reefland]

Worried about drilling the 125 of worried about drilling the 55 for use with an external sump?

[philip711]

Try getting your mandarin on frozen food i got mine off pods, and a catalinapumps are good, that's what i use, good luck.

[randymon]

Well Ive been back and forth on the drilling thing. For peace of mind I would like to drill both but would have to drill the backs and that gives me more 90 degree elbows, which means more head....I really am not to sure which way to go...how dependable are the lifereef products?

[Reefland]

Probably the most dependable but if you can drill, do it.