Adding Pods as part of a tanks CUC

[New&no clue]

I've always thought of Pods as fish food, and as I have no fish that need to eat them I've never intentional introduced them, some have come in on frags. I've see several threads where people mention them as part of the CUC, however, I am having a hard time finding out information on this. When I try to research I get a great deal of results for feeding, and cultivating your own, but not much on if they are productive members of a CUC. So I guess I have the following questions, besides if they are good;

1. How do you sustain a population of pods in a tank? I have a refugium already with chaeto that is growing like crazy. Do I need to add anything else for them to eat? And if I am then are they being productive members of a CUC if I'm adding food.

2. Without a predator in the tank will they overpopulate and cause other problems?

Thanks for any help or insight.

 

[lapin]

Pods are good.
They mainly eat algae. You dont have to feed them, but can feed them phyto.
They will not over populate. Food is the limiting factor.
My rock nems love the bigger ones.

 

[New&no clue]

Pods are good.
They mainly eat algae. You dont have to feed them, but can feed them phyto.
They will not over populate. Food is the limiting factor.
My rock nems love the bigger ones.

When looking at different sites to buy them they are several different types listed, what is the difference between them?

 

[klimfish]

When looking at different sites to buy them they are several different types listed, what is the difference between them?

I'm a big fan of @AlgaeBarn, they offer mixes of pods, the "5280" and "EcoPods". I really like the EcoPods and OceanMagik Phyto combo. Good value and great starter pods, as you're not getting just the larger pods that are primarily used as fish food, but also the smaller pods that act more as a CUC and biodiversity.

 

[Ziggy10]

When you set up new tank with live rocks I am sure there are some hiding in rocks already.
If you don’t have fish depending on this kind of food source there is no need to buy and add.
In every healthy system at some point hey will appear out of nowhere and I don’t believe they will do any harm to your system.

 

[NS Mike D]

The size and reproductive cycle are the main differences. For example the Tigger pods are larger and thus easier to see for certain fish like mandarin.

I used to subscribe to Algae Barn but switched over to Reef Nutrition, as to my eye, the pods were better, and that my LFS carried them along with the their Phytofeast.

A fuge should sustain a steady culture for the DT, and as noted, food is a limiting factor, thus the dosing of phyto - which also provides benefit to more than just the pods.

We tend to limit our understanding to what we see, however, in a reef tank, Microfauna plays a big role in tank health. The pods won't mow down a clump of hair algae, but at the cell level, keep microscopic algae and bacteria from setting up and they also help break down detritus

 

[New&no clue]

When you set up new tank with live rocks I am sure there are some hiding in rocks already.
If you don’t have fish depending on this kind of food source there is no need to buy and add.
In every healthy system at some point hey will appear out of nowhere and I don’t believe they will do any harm to your system.

Yes, I have definitely seen them in the DT and I use to have them getting suck in my filter socks all the time. However, for the last couple months I don't see them anywhere. I wasn't really concerned with them not being there as I hadn't added in any. Now that I'm looking at it more from a CUC I am wondering where they went to and if it is because there wasn't any food for them. I also just sent up a refugium so possible they didn't have a place to multiple.

 

[Miller535]

this is from algae barn,

 

[Jvalle]

Hi, if you feed your corals they will be fine or they will graze on algae. No need to feed them though. I keep pods in my refugium also inside the chaeto and I also keep some live brine in there as well. they eventually make thier way to the tank and are a good food source for some of my picky eaters. you can dump the pods directly into the chaeto at night and just let them be. The 5280 algaebarn mix is good. thx

 

[Miller535]

I just bought them a few weeks ago for this reason. I bought the pod phyto combo, the phyto is suppsed to help keep them fed.

From what I understand, a lot of corals will eat phyto and pods also.


Pods like tisbe are supposed to be very good detrivores, and being their small size, they get into small areas other CUC members can not.

 

[Ziggy10]

Well if you did see them before and now population decline adding more it doesn’t make sense because obviously there is not enough food for them to thrive.

anyway even if you don’t see them now it doesn’t mean they not there. I am sure you have them but In smaller population.

 

[New&no clue]

Well if you did see them before and now population decline adding more it doesn’t make sense because obviously there is not enough food for them to thrive.

anyway even if you don’t see them now it doesn’t mean they not there. I am sure you have them but In smaller population.

Agreed which is why I was wondering if they need to be fed, and if so then it didn't seem to make sense as a CUC.

 

[sixty_reefer]

I wouldn’t go as low copepods as a cuc, but personally i like amphipods and feeder shrimps as part of cuc in a refugium.

 

[Miller535]

Agreed which is why I was wondering if they need to be fed, and if so then it didn't seem to make sense as a CUC.

I think ones like Tisbe that are detrivores do not require target feeding. And just because you have/had pods, you do not know what kind/kinds you have. They are not all the same and do different things.

Part of the reason Algae barn also recommends feeding them is to make them more nutritious to the animals and fish that consume them, not necessarily because they need it to survive. Like gutloading.

 

[sawdavis]

I put my chaeto in a mesh bag because it was breaking off and getting into my skimmer motor. It hasn't grown much and I was wondering if that was the reason. the walls around my refugium are covered in coralline that I can't get to to scrape off. I am able to keep one wall clean and I keep my light on that wall at night. I do see pods in my DT so I guess my refugium isn't a total disaster. How do others keep their refugium clean? Why isn't my chaeto growing?