The Rock Goes In After the system was up and running, and the salinity and temperature were right, we picked up our first batch of live rock. It was 20 lbs of beautiful corraline rock from the downtown Sunnyvale LFS, straight from someone's tank they had broken down. It was expensive, but well worth it, in my opinion. We got 3 great pieces, covered in mushrooms, fan worms, and brittle stars. I remember seeing a copepod or two around this time, just a taste of what was to come.

Five days after adding the rock, two amazing things happened. One, we got the bloom - the diatom bloom! In a matter of two days, the rock and sand went from beautifully sparkly clean to brown and gross. There was a silver lining though; this was the first indicator that the tank had finished its cycle (or was at least close to doing so), and there was life, even if in the form of diatoms. The next amazing thing was the discovery of REAL life, in the form of a blue-legged hitchiker - Hermie! Hermie the hermit crab somehow survived during the cycle and emerged 5 days later busily cleaning his rock. By his rock, I mean there he stayed, on the same branch even, for almost two weeks. He cleaned up and down his little area, near the big purple mushroom, and he didn't venture far. During this time, if Lawrence and I ventured near the tank, Hermie withdrew into the safety of his shell until he thought we were gone. He sure was timid back in those days.  ¶ 10:39 PM