Copepods For Refugium.

TexasReefer_NHouston · Feb 1, 2023

Hey y'all, This is my first thread on R2R but I've been a user since I officially got into the hobby. Growing up my parents turned a 55 gallon lobster tank into just a normal saltwater tank, but if you don't know lobster tanks tend to be closed systems so getting deeper into true filtration and health is not my stong suit. My current tank is a 5 gallon nano reef that is very healthy surprisingly, other than some scorching due to a bad light. Anyways, I'm currently building a 30 gallon reef tank as a show tank (I'm a broke kid fresh out of college) so I understand that a 30 isn't really a show tank but I'm working with what I got. The filter is a 10 gallon sump setup drawing water from overflow across a sock, biomedia, and a true filter. In between the filter and the outflow tank I'm going to install a refugium for copepods. I am wondering what copepods should I get to stock the refugium with. I can post pics of my tank if y'all want as well.

Lavey29 · Feb 1, 2023

You can add a variety. It won't hurt anything. My favorite are Tigger by reef nutrition. Algaebarn.com has the 5280 bottle which is several different types too.

USCfan · Feb 1, 2023

Best thing to do if you want to have great pod population is the dose live phytoplankton.

Check with your LFS to see what they pods they sell first. You want pods fresh.

kevgib67 · Feb 1, 2023

Dinkins aquatics has a nice mixture of pods and sells an affordable live phyto and pod package. They have incredibly good customer service.

TexasReefer_NHouston · Feb 2, 2023

Awesome! Anyone know what specific species I should be looking for. I need to best type for a zoa or leather dominated tank.

kevgib67 · Feb 2, 2023

I prefer variety to cover all the bases, good luck!

BR260354 · Feb 2, 2023

Check out PodYourReef out of College Station also.

PotatoPig · Feb 2, 2023

Tip: Set up a culture station and put half the bottle of pods in the tank and the other half in the culture so you have a steady supply of pods.

Culturing them is pretty easy. You need a container in the range of 1 to 3 gallons (I use 2 gallon cookie jars from Target/Walmart). Fill 1/2 to 3/4 with water to match salinity, add a little phyto or spirulina (powdered algae, you can buy it Whole Foods or Amazon), and set up an airline bubbling 1-2 times a second. Periodically add a little phyto/spirulina and in about 2 weeks you’ll have masses of pods you can draw from and add to the tank.

Spare time · Feb 2, 2023

The pods will live wherever. The only common hobby ones that don't so well long term in a tank are tigrio. You don't need a special place for them, but a refugium has lots of benefits if you wanted to do that.

dstockwell · Feb 2, 2023

Lots of good info given about pods.

Welcome to the Reef

TexasReefer_NHouston · Feb 2, 2023

Spare time said:
The pods will live wherever. The only common hobby ones that don't so well long term in a tank are tigrio. You don't need a special place for them, but a refugium has lots of benefits if you wanted to do that.

Yeah, so I am doing a refugium in between the sump and out-going motor. Total gallons of the sump/refuge will be 10 gallons minus the volume of the filter pads and biomedia.

TexasReefer_NHouston · Feb 2, 2023

BR260354 said:
Check out PodYourReef out of College Station also.

Yooooo, This is awesome. I'm located in Magnolia but a place specifically for pods relatively close is going to be a life saver.

Jay'sReefBugs · Feb 3, 2023

TexasReefer_NHouston said:
Awesome! Anyone know what specific species I should be looking for. I need to best type for a zoa or leather dominated tank.

Tisbe and cyclops variants are a common favorite that do pretty well in most reef systems. There's also a few other's that have decent track records as well

Super Fly · Feb 3, 2023

TexasReefer_NHouston said:
Hey y'all, This is my first thread on R2R but I've been a user since I officially got into the hobby. Growing up my parents turned a 55 gallon lobster tank into just a normal saltwater tank, but if you don't know lobster tanks tend to be closed systems so getting deeper into true filtration and health is not my stong suit. My current tank is a 5 gallon nano reef that is very healthy surprisingly, other than some scorching due to a bad light. Anyways, I'm currently building a 30 gallon reef tank as a show tank (I'm a broke kid fresh out of college) so I understand that a 30 isn't really a show tank but I'm working with what I got. The filter is a 10 gallon sump setup drawing water from overflow across a sock, biomedia, and a true filter. In between the filter and the outflow tank I'm going to install a refugium for copepods. I am wondering what copepods should I get to stock the refugium with. I can post pics of my tank if y'all want as well.

@hollback sells very good quality pods at reasonable price. u can get on wait list here unless he has them in stock https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/copepods-fs-15.380272/page-62#post-11005126