Copepod Questions - Need Answers

[Dark_Knightt]

Not really and yes. Phyto doesn't really survive in a tank.

Oh ok. Ive decided to postpone my dragonet mission till i save up more funds. I have like $300 to spend rn. Decided to order a new hydrometer, pulsing xenia, meteor shower cyphastrea, and a $5 blowpop zoa. Thoughts on my order?

 

[living_tribunal]

Oh ok. Ive decided to postpone my dragonet mission till i save up more funds. I have like $300 to spend rn. Decided to order a new hydrometer, pulsing xenia, meteor shower cyphastrea, and a $5 blowpop zoa. Thoughts on my order?

A pod culture only really costs about $25-$50 to setup. You should be more than fine with $300.

 

[Dark_Knightt]

A pod culture only really costs about $25-$50 to setup. You should be more than fine with $300.

Im 15 going back to school so im not gonna be working too much. Plus im a coral addict sooooo. we know the vibes here XD

 

[living_tribunal]

Im 15 going back to school so im not gonna be working too much. Plus im a coral addict sooooo. we know the vibes here XD

I appreciate your patience at such a young age.

 

[BrandonS]

Phyto culturing and pod culturing are best done outside a tank and separately. It's a process. Which is why not everyone does it. There are many good articles on how to do either. Pods in a phyto culture would eat all the phyto. Pods in the tank can and will be consumed by stuff in the tank.

 

[living_tribunal]

If you do decide to start a pod culture, I did a little write up on how i culture Tigre, tisbe, and apex pods here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/so-mandarins-their-pod-consumption-is-no-joke.735224/page-4

 

[Dark_Knightt]

If you do decide to start a pod culture, I did a little write up on how i culture Tigre, tisbe, and apex pods here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/so-mandarins-their-pod-consumption-is-no-joke.735224/page-4

Thanks a lot dude!! Will definetly be keeping onto this

 

[wolfthefallen]

Myself I have gone with a monthly subscription from @AlgaeBarn I get Eco pods and their blended Phytoplankton OceanMagik.

For Dosing Phytoplankton they recommend 5ml per 20 gallons of water volume for two weeks. Then slowly increase as needed. For myself I have around 50g of water volume and dos around 20ml a day.. I found this by slowly increasing by a couple of ml a week until I started to see an increase in biofilm/algae in the tank, then back down a little. I kept no pod eating fish in my tank for about 4 months of adding pods and adjusting phytoplankton.. Now my tank is crawling with pods and my picky eating coral have colored up nicely. I have put in a wrasse, which went nuts with all the pods at first, have balanced out the population in the display.. My refgium in my sump is full of Macro Algae (I went with sea lettuce due to low flow) it gives pods a safe place to reproduce and always make their way back into the display part. For a manderain I recommend getting an aqua cultured one that will already eat mysis shrimp, This way you have a better chance of keeping it alive. Then you won't have to stress if you loose one of your cultures

Culturing your own pods really depend on the type of pods you are focusing on, but there are many many blogs and youtube videos to cover that process. But generally speaking you put in Phytoplankton until the water is slightly green something for the pods to live in. Top off water and Phytoplankton weeklyish, Then screen the pods out from time to time to add to your tank. This process will very depending on type of pods and how involved you want to get.

 

[Reef GE]

These are great comments above and provoked some questions:

I inherited a tank with a couple different kinds of pods. I have no idea which. My sump / refugium / and DT are crawling with very tiny pods all over the glass at night. There are some bigger guys in the rocks/macro algae. The question is whether I need to do anything more to sustain this. I don't dose phyto because where I live overseas, phyto is no where to be found. Will the pod population continue to survive on its own? Will they eat up any existing plankton types in tank and then crash? Or do they just eat algae? Should I order in via mail some phyto/zoo plankton?

 

[ichthyogeek]

These are great comments above and provoked some questions:

I inherited a tank with a couple different kinds of pods. I have no idea which. My sump / refugium / and DT are crawling with very tiny pods all over the glass at night. There are some bigger guys in the rocks/macro algae. The question is whether I need to do anything more to sustain this. I don't dose phyto because where I live overseas, phyto is no where to be found. Will the pod population continue to survive on its own? Will they eat up any existing plankton types in tank and then crash? Or do they just eat algae? Should I order in via mail some phyto/zoo plankton?

Well, if you have pods, and they're not disappearing, it sounds to me like you're feeding enough to sustain the podulation. Pods will eat detritus and algae, but if you're culturing them for podivores/other things (like fish breeding), then phyto's usually the way to go.

You can always try to add dried phytoplankton/algae depending on what the pods are. For the benthic kind, I think you might be able to get away with dosing spirulina powder. One of the members on here doses I think 2 tsp spirulina powder/125 gallons.