Copepod culture maintenance.

[TWYOUNG]

Started my first copepod cx 7 days ago with a combination of Tisbe/Tigriopus/Apocyclops pods from "Florida Reef". Water is tinted with Nannochloropsis phyto. Do I need to be concerned with ammonia? How long before I need to perform maintenance and can I just add more SW to my jar or do I need to filter out pods and use all fresh water? Any advice would be greatly appreciated and thanks!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I usually harvest around 3-4 weeks, drain and clean everything, and then start over again.

 

[TWYOUNG]

I usually harvest around 3-4 weeks, drain and clean everything, and then start over again.

If I don't have immediate need for the pods will my cx's do better if I return them all to the culture, or should I just put half in my display? If I keep them all in the culture how do I determine how much water they need?

 

[((FORDTECH))]

I usually harvest around 3-4 weeks, drain and clean everything, and then start over again.

If I waited more than eight or 10 days all my pods would be dead and that’s after feeding them 1000 mL of Fido in 2000 mL of water

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

If I don't have immediate need for the pods will my cx's do better if I return them all to the culture, or should I just put half in my display? If I keep them all in the culture how do I determine how much water they need?

the culture will crash at some point due to ammonia build up. I usually harvest, then add most to the tank, and about 10% to start the new culture.

 

[Hitchhik3r]

the culture will crash at some point due to ammonia build up. I usually harvest, then add most to the tank, and about 10% to start the new culture.

Is there a possibility of adding TOO much pods or phyto to a tank or is that a pretty unlikely scenario. I only ask because I have a pretty new tank with just 2 fish and some snails am questioning the utility of adding more than a small handful of pods at this point.

 

[TWYOUNG]

If I waited more than eight or 10 days all my pods would be dead and that’s after feeding them 1000 mL of Fido in 2000 mL of water

That doesn't sound like "culturing pods" at all. I wouldn't think they would have even reproduced in 10 days. Mine are definitely passing the flashlight test, although I must admit they're harder to see in green water than tank water lol.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

If I waited more than eight or 10 days all my pods would be dead and that’s after feeding them 1000 mL of Fido in 2000 mL of water

I use 5 gallon tanks and I add just a few drops of phyto every couple days. I guess more water give me more time

 

[TWYOUNG]

the culture will crash at some point due to ammonia build up. I usually harvest, then add most to the tank, and about 10% to start the new culture.

Do you add them with culture water, fresh sw, or just the pods themselves?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Is there a possibility of adding TOO much pods or phyto to a tank or is that a pretty unlikely scenario. I only ask because I have a pretty new tank with just 2 fish and some snails am questioning the utility of adding more than a small handful of pods at this point.

cannot add too much pods. The population will always balance itself .

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Do you add them with culture water, fresh sw, or just the pods themselves?

always new water

 

[Sleepingtiger]

This is my process. I have a weekly schedule.

I take culture (2 one gallon jugs) and divide that in three parts. The pod culture gets split into two parts. Half of the pod culture is added to the DT.
1/3 of the phyto is added to the DT. 1/3 is added to the pod culture. 1/3 is split into two and used to restart another phyto culture.
By the 7th day, the 2 one gallon jugs turned from light green to dark green. The pod culture went from kinda dark green to almost clear. The population of pods maybe trippled?

I use DT water as additional water for my phyto culture. I then freshly mixed saltwater to replenish my DT. This is kinda of a water change? If the water is good enough for my sps and fish, its dang good enough for phyto.

 

[TokenReefer]

Start with 1 gallon. Add a gallon as they grow til bucket is full. Sieve and repeat. Leave the mulm. Harvest some new culture with the rest. Good luck!

 

[TWYOUNG]

Start with 1 gallon. Add a gallon as they grow til bucket is full. Sieve and repeat. Leave the mulm. Harvest some new culture with the rest. Good luck!

So right now I have a one gallon bottle which is about 1/3 full. I was wondering if at the correct time I could double the volume with more sw? If so, how do I know when to dilute the culture? What pore size sieve do you use for harvesting?

 

[TWYOUNG]

This is my process. I have a weekly schedule.

I take culture (2 one gallon jugs) and divide that in three parts. The pod culture gets split into two parts. Half of the pod culture is added to the DT.
1/3 of the phyto is added to the DT. 1/3 is added to the pod culture. 1/3 is split into two and used to restart another phyto culture.
By the 7th day, the 2 one gallon jugs turned from light green to dark green. The pod culture went from kinda dark green to almost clear. The population of pods maybe trippled?

I use DT water as additional water for my phyto culture. I then freshly mixed saltwater to replenish my DT. This is kinda of a water change? If the water is good enough for my sps and fish, its dang good enough for phyto.

So you're saying you add 1/3 of two one gal jugs of phyto to the display? That's 2/3 of a gal of phyto added to the display at once? Also I've been led to believe you can't contaminate your phyto which tank water surely would. I would think you're adding pods and other creatures which will feast on your cultures.

 

[TokenReefer]

Tbh this article really got me going

Raising Live Rotifers & Copepods

An article describes in depth how to raise rotifers and copepods (Tigriopus Californicus) as a live food source for your reef tank, especially mandarin gobys.

www.brineshrimpdirect.com

 

[TWYOUNG]

cannot add too much pods. The population will always balance itself .

I would think you can add too much phyto though. I mean it is algae, and a nutrient.

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

There's several ways to control ammonia levels which you will definitely need to do on such a small culture. More then likely your culture will mono out to 1 species as well. Each copepod you described has different reproduction times. You need atleast 3 weeks for all 3 you described to have a successful harvest amount .

 

[TWYOUNG]

There's several ways to control ammonia levels which you will definitely need to do on such a small culture. More then likely your culture will mono out to 1 species as well. Each copepod you described has different reproduction times. You need atleast 3 weeks for all 3 you described to have a successful harvest amount .

Can I just double the volume in three weeks? Can I add a few drops of Prime to help with ammonia? If so when?

 

[fryman]

There's several ways to control ammonia levels which you will definitely need to do on such a small culture. More then likely your culture will mono out to 1 species as well. Each copepod you described has different reproduction times. You need atleast 3 weeks for all 3 you described to have a successful harvest amount .

This matches my experience. Takes a few weeks for babies to reach adulthood, although you can sieve/keep adults and just feed the nauplii in shorter timeframes.

Using live phyto basically eliminates the ammonia problem. But with dead phyto it's a big concern, have to carefully monitor feed amount since overfeeding can cause ammonia spike.