Any tips for boosting pod population?

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Thanks mdbannister, that's exactly what I was picturing. Is there any concern associated with putting one of those in your aquarium? Are there any that are infused with soaps or perfumes? Seems like a great habitat!

None that I know of. My plan is to buy the cheapest one I can find. I figure they won't be adding any special stuff to those. I've seen guys use these as pod hotels for a while. Basically, they leave it in the sump and then every once in a while they'll shake it out in the display.

 

[mrsaltwaterguy]

Yep. Something like this.

I might have to give this a try. I don't have the room for a fuge in my sump either but this would make a great habitat. I'm currently using a breeder box with chaeto in it and they seem to be thriving with that as well, it takes minimal room.

 

[nervousmonkey]

They like Phytoplankton and marco/algae to live in.

+1 to Tahoe and 143MPCo and SaltyFilm. Since your fish are in QT and not the DT, now is the time to get 'em growing. Phyto, Phyto, Phyto. You'll see a pod explosion. Keep adding more pods from Algae Barn as well, as long as they have somewhere to hide out, they'll grow and proliferate.

 

[Leslie Tabor]

I love Algae Barn...they give great deals to forum members every month and now they have a subscription service. My mandarin pair, and 3 scooters are FAT and happy. My refugium is crawling with pods. I get the phyto combos so I always have food for the pods. Been going on 6 months with the mandarins, no worries...knock on wood!

 

[Paul B]

A reversed undergravel filter is the single best thing I've ever done for pod population growth. Thank you PaulB!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Don't tell anyone or everybody will have a tank forever with no problems and these forums will have nothing to post.

 

[clowner]

Hey fellow no room for a fuge reefer here what i did was use a hob media reactor as a fuge just wrapped a strip of cheapo leds around to add light its a way to have a pod population in a fuge all at the sam time keeping it small ...shure you might not have all the phosphate removal benefits off a big fuge but i does help keep population of pods up...mine is crawling with them ...also its great because it doesnt necessarily have to hang on it works kind like a canister filter

Since its in my room i also put it back in th box and cut some holes out for the pipes so that the reverse light cycle doesnt bother me

 

[saltyhog]

Great suggestions above. One thing I would add is to leave one pane of your glass uncleaned...rotate everytime time you clean the glass. I just restarted my tank up about 3 1/2 weeks ago and I have never seen so many copepods as I have in the tank now despite an aggressive pod eating leopard wrasse. They swarm the film algae on the uncleaned glass. I never had this many pods during the 4 years the tank was up previously.

As soon as I can get some chaeto I'll put it in my sump and probably stop the dirty glass rotation.

 

[ebushrow]

I've also uses some of the scrub pads that you use for dishes from the dollar store thT have worked great...also, you can use it to catch bristle worms if you have toooo many...add some food to the center and wait a bit...

 

[CastAway]

I'm becoming increasingly convinced (not saying I'm correct) that maintaining a population of "pods" in my display, at least in the numbers I think I want, is just not practical - too much phyto/food; too many nutrients, too many collateral issues.

Working around large commercial systems of phyto for some time now, and large commercial systems of various forms of "pods", i'm just beginning to wonder about the effectiveness and practicality of sustained cultures in a display.

In a separate system, where nutrients are not a concern, "pods" can be grown in incredible numbers!

 

[Russell Chang]

Thanks guys! I know a fuge would help, but unfortunately I've not got any room for a fuge on this tank. I'm planning to add one of those shower sponge things to work as a pod hotel in the sump. I'll feed the tank a little to give them something to eat on while population grows. I'm not planning any pod-dependent fish at present, so pods will just be help as CC and providing additional food for the fish and corals.

I recommend getting a marina hang on the back breeder box, it’s a slow flowing HOB filter than you can store some Live rock or macro algae for the pods to live and reproduce in. Also very cheap