Do I need to dose copepods and phytoplankton?

[Miami Reef]

I have a new tank with live sand and dead rocks. Tank is cycled. 300 gallons. Water change with ocean water.

I have an oversized UV sterilizer in the display tank, and I’m going to run 5 micron filter socks full time.

I wanted to eventually keep a mandarin fish. I do have live rock, but I don’t think it’s enough. Especially with my sterile system.

Can I dose phytoplankton? Will I be able to keep a mandarin fish one day?

 

[Jekyl]

I keep a mandarin in a 90 gallon. I only dose pods if I feel like it. I would check out reefcleaners.org they have everything you need there at good prices.

 

[CanuckReefer]

I have a new tank with live sand and dead rocks. Tank is cycled. 300 gallons. Water change with ocean water.

I have an oversized UV sterilizer in the display tank, and I’m going to run 5 micron filter socks full time.

I wanted to eventually keep a mandarin fish. I do have live rock, but I don’t think it’s enough. Especially with my sterile system.

Can I dose phytoplankton? Will I be able to keep a mandarin fish one day?

Why not dose live phyto? It does no real harm, in small doses to start....Mandarin one day, sure, once the system is older/ established....and if doing phyto, turn off the UV at least 6 hours otherwise you burn money in front of your eyes..... If it is oversized I would run it only a few hours a day as well....

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Id give a tank 6 months. Kinda like a nem but diffrent tank needs. Not the water as much as its the pod and critter in the rock needing time. My .02
D

 

[zukihara]

My personal view is start dosing phyto when your ugly phase starts. Developing a good pod population early is fine as far as I am concerned.

I can personally vouch for forum sponsor Tommy's Phyto for phyto that will last a long time in your fridge and some darn big, nice pods.

If you can add a few pieces of nice live rock then all the better. Check out the BRSTV video on tanks similar to yours and bacteria diversity.

Algae Barn has eco packs that include a red bacteria for newer tanks like yours and has pods, but they are invisible nearly. Good second option though.

 

[MaxTremors]

If you used dead/dry rock it’s only ‘live’ bacterially. So yes, you’ll need to dose pods (I’d start dosing them several months in advance of the mandarin to ensure you’ve got a good population of them and that they’re reproducing. I’ve personally never had good look with bottled pods reproducing. I much prefer to seed dead/dry rock with some real live rock (besides for the pods, I like all the hitchhikers), to ensure that you have pods that will reproduce. I’ve read some bottled pods are temperate species and therefore won’t reproduce in our tanks (I don’t know how true that is), and then some bottled pods are just not good at hiding (tiger pods) and so they just get decimated before a population can really establish its self. If you have a productive population of pods, you shouldn’t need to supplement in a 90g for one mandarin. So, if it were me, I’d add a couple lbs of live rock a few months before the mandarin and only use the bottled pods as emergency food should something happen to the population in the tank. You should also start a culture of white worms, mandarins love them and they’re easy to culture and can live for a couple days in saltwater (they’ll just writhe on the substrate, which is what you want).

 

[SeahawkMom]

Get Biota tank-raised Mandarins that are trained to eat fish food, this way you're not dependent on only cocopods to feed your fish. You can keep them fat and healthy by feeding the same foods Biota feeds their Mandarins. All the mandarins I've purchased from them, have done great. They are super tiny when they arrive, and are the cutest things, they eat food and pods and grow pretty quick. Good luck!

 

[MarshallB]

Add pods and does phyto for awhile. I dosed for about a month after adding them. I have not dosed in a few months and they are all over the place. Any time I trim the chaeto they are just crawling all over it. However, I don't run filter socks unless im cleaning. I only removed the socks because they would overflow within a day. I'm guessing the pods are thriving with all the small particles floating around.

I've always wanted a Mandarin since starting the tanks and I think i'm ready for it at this point.

 

[Miami Reef]

Update: copepods are flourishing. I don’t even need to dose anything!

 

[revenant]

Update: copepods are flourishing. I don’t even need to dose anything!

Same.. I add new pods every once in a while but I see their larvae all over the glass all the time without using phyto ever...

 

[ying yang]

I used dry rock/ dry sand and not dosed nothing and nearly every night i get video on phone with torch on and see lots lots small and large and every size inbetween pods ( came in on the 5 coral frags) got 2 wrasses also but still lots lots so same as you in that didnt need to buy pods