Buying Copepods online

[vipete1985]

Soooo I have been looking to restock my tank with a Pod population but not sure where to order pods to get the most bang for my buck...I’m looking to start a thread with as many pics and good information for us reefers as possible...My intention is for us to be able to get the best product out there for the most reasonable price....so far I have ordered pods from a few different sites during my reefing career...This time around I ordered from Algaebarn with pics to be coming soon upon delivery...With being a new customer I got the 5280 pods and a 16 oz bottle of phytoplankton buy one get one free for 60$.
They offer that-one time deal to all new customers... Also bought a bag of 3000 Tisbe pod for 30$....let’s start with this particular vendor and see how happy I am with purchase when they arrive....PICS TO FOLLOW

 

[vipete1985]

I previously received a batch of Tisbe and Tigrus Californicus from coralreefing.com and although they were alive it seemed that the bottle was just a bit shabby...they state to have 500 Tisbe and 600 Tigrus pods per bottle and that could have been true but for $18.99 it seems that you can get more for your money elsewhere...shipping is reasonable with free shipping with a 40 dollar purchase and over...but was disappointed with the amount...especially the Tisbe looked to be a bottle of water with barely nothing in it. Although No pics for this one it’s just my honest opinion and review.

 

[vipete1985]

Aquariumdepot.com is the only place I know that sells fully grown live pods in the adult stage....I waited for the buy one get one free deal they randomly put out...buy 1000 pods get 1000 pods free...$29.99 for 2000 Adult pods is a great deal....the problem is you can’t get free 2 day shipping unless u purchase 120$ worth of goods....I bought a bunch of snails and other inverts to get the free shipping deal but boy was I happy when I saw the pods....They were massive and chunky and all alive....packaged 1000 per bag with a bunch of what looked to be layers of cut up filter pad....No pics on this particular one either but again just an honest buyer review. They usually sell 1000 pods for $29.99 on a daily basis but is it worth the $40 dollar shipping charge? If you need inverts and need to restock your cleanup crew than by all means this has been my best experience so far...I Can not stress enough how big these pods were and they were all mixed up variations of species. I was picking pods out of my filter socks for at least a month...

 

[Hitman]

So how did you like your AlaeBarn order? I’ve been looking at there pods just haven’t hit the buy button yet.

 

[7hogwarts]

Aquariumdepot.com is the only place I know that sells fully grown live pods in the adult stage....I waited for the buy one get one free deal they randomly put out...buy 1000 pods get 1000 pods free...$29.99 for 2000 Adult pods is a great deal....the problem is you can’t get free 2 day shipping unless u purchase 120$ worth of goods....I bought a bunch of snails and other inverts to get the free shipping deal but boy was I happy when I saw the pods....They were massive and chunky and all alive....packaged 1000 per bag with a bunch of what looked to be layers of cut up filter pad....No pics on this particular one either but again just an honest buyer review. They usually sell 1000 pods for $29.99 on a daily basis but is it worth the $40 dollar shipping charge? If you need inverts and need to restock your cleanup crew than by all means this has been my best experience so far...I Can not stress enough how big these pods were and they were all mixed up variations of species. I was picking pods out of my filter socks for at least a month...

The last BOGO pods sale was $24.99/1000. To get the free shipping you do have to bump up your order. So I get a few of my fellow reefers to do a group buy. In the notes I have them package them in several packs. It works out well.

 

[Seminoles76]

I had the same experience with AquariumDepot Pods. If the weather is mild you can do there standard two to four day shipping and the pods should be alright.

 

[Adele]

How do you get the pods into the Fuge? I mean.... just dump the bag and fluid in? Is this a risk for adding something you don’t want in your tank? Since starting this hobby even with freshwater, it’s always been a cardinal sin to add store water to your own system. Love to hear thoughts on this. I would like to add some pods to my Fuge.

 

[Seminoles76]

If you get the pods from Algaebarn or pods in a bag from algagen or something similar you just add the contents of bag directly into sump or display. If your getting amphipods from aquarium depot or somewhere similar, they come on a little piece of filter media and you just toss that in your sump or display and they will come off. I would turn the skimmer off for a bit to let them settle in. Wait until light out if you add the pods to the display as they will have a better survival rate this way. Cheers.

 

[vipete1985]

Sorry for the late reply back to the party....So as for my Algae barn order....I have to say that the pods were veryyyyy veryyyyy smalll as you can barely see them in the bag.....The 5280 pods were more visible than the Tisbe pods....how they can actually put a number to the pods your getting is beyond me.....I do have to say that there customer service is top notch....the first bag I ordered came with a leak and mostly dead pods and they quickly sent me a replacement along with a bonus gift of live brine shrimp babies just hatched on the journey through the mail....Overall from a scale of 1-10 I’d rate them a 6.....The customer service really stood out and the pods were mostly alive but they were just so small.... I would have liked to see a little bit more densely packed bags...here are the pics

 

[vipete1985]

......These are pics of the Tisbe pods....although there was activity in the bag it was dang near microscopic

 

[vipete1985]

......5280 pods in this pic did have some die off in the bottom of the bag but there was definitely a decent amount of visible movement going on as well.....the larger clumps you see are a bunch of the dead ones altogether at the bottom of the bag

 

[vipete1985]

How do you get the pods into the Fuge? I mean.... just dump the bag and fluid in? Is this a risk for adding something you don’t want in your tank? Since starting this hobby even with freshwater, it’s always been a cardinal sin to add store water to your own system. Love to hear thoughts on this. I would like to add some pods to my Fuge.

I usually just cut a decent size hole in the bag and place it in the bottom of the tank with a rock on it so it doesn’t blow away overnight.....be careful of just pouring them into your tank at night as they will become coral food very quickly.....I made the mistake of pouring them in like that and probably throwing half the bag to my large LPS Lobo, Welso and Acan families so that was a dumb move as I watched the sweepers devour everything.....also a good idea is to take a few rocks out of your display for a few hours and pour the bags into a bucket with the rocks and then put them back into your display after you feel the pods have seeded the rocks...just pour the remainder in the tank.....Having a refugium to put them into is the best bet though

 

[savetheocean]

I never bought pods - one day they just showed up. My mandarin loves them.

 

[vipete1985]

I never bought pods - one day they just showed up. My mandarin loves them.

Yea to be honest you can get them in your tank so many diff ways...live rock carries them as do pieces of coral you may put into your tank as well....depending on what will eat them in your tank is how well the population will stay alive....I have 3 leopard wrasse that pick
At the rocks all day and a pipefish that won’t eat anything but pods....the pipefish I’m really trying to keep alive until i get him to eat some
Brine shrimp to start out....I want to get a mandarin too but I need more biodiversity...all my fish are fighting for the same piece of meat which is not good.

 

[40B Knasty]

Look on the "videography forum." I have been doing Algagen Tisbe pods & Reef Nutrition Tigger pods. Chad who I believe is the owner of Reef Nutrition has been talking with me. Both my 5 gallon tanks are blowing up with pods and I am showing everyone my mistakes and the things I have done right. There is pics, videos, and a great discussion going on.

 

[alton]

I have ordered from Algae Barn several times. Great products although I mostly order Tisbe/Ocean Magic combo to get the free shipping. You can never have too many pods in your tank. On there website they have a pull down menu called learn, and they let you know about each type of pod they sell. Tisbe are short lived but go from just hatched to egg sacs in 7 days. Also they are not as easy to be seen by larger fish so have a better survival rate then the tiger's that are eaten immediately.

 

[don_chuwish]

Royalreefs.com was great for amphipods. Weeks later they are still everywhere in the tank and sump.

 

[GreshamH]

Look on the "videography forum." I have been doing Algagen Tisbe pods & Reef Nutrition Tigger pods. Chad who I believe is the owner of Reef Nutrition has been talking with me. Both my 5 gallon tanks are blowing up with pods and I am showing everyone my mistakes and the things I have done right. There is pics, videos, and a great discussion going on.

Chad is the live feed supervisor....

 

[Reef Nutrition]

Look on the "videography forum." I have been doing Algagen Tisbe pods & Reef Nutrition Tigger pods. Chad who I believe is the owner of Reef Nutrition has been talking with me. Both my 5 gallon tanks are blowing up with pods and I am showing everyone my mistakes and the things I have done right. There is pics, videos, and a great discussion going on.

GreshamH is correct. I'm not the owner, just a highly motivated employee! I have been with Reed Mariculture, we make Reef Nutrition, for 9 years now. I mainly do copepod research and social media. Trade show and speaking engagements are fun too.

Chad

 

[40B Knasty]

GreshamH is correct. I'm not the owner, just a highly motivated employee! I have been with Reed Mariculture, we make Reef Nutrition, for 9 years now. I mainly do copepod research and social media. Trade show and speaking engagements are fun too.

Chad

Either way man. You are good people. Always a pleasure talking to you.