does a refugium need phytoplankton?

Fishbird · Mar 3, 2020

I'm thinking about setting up a refugium in a HOB filter for my 20 gallon nano reef. The main purpose would be to provide a supply of pods to my tank inhabitants. From what I've read copepods and amphipods are nutritious because of the food (phytoplankton) that they have consumed. When I find instructions on setting up a separate pod culture for raising fry or feeding mandarins there are also always instructions on culturing phytoplankton. But, when I read instructions on setting up refugia phytoplankton doesn't seem to be used. If I put phytoplankton, pods, and chaeto into a HOB and attached a small plant growth light would I not need to worry about culturing phytoplankton to grow nutritious pods?

C_mo97 · Mar 3, 2020

From my understanding pods eat chaeto but, phyto helps there population explode. Considering you need a lot of pods for a Mandarin fish this makes since why you would dose phyto.

Also I wouldn't put a Mandarin in a 20 gallon unless you have already established a healthy pod populations with many pod lodges otherwise the Mandarin will die.....

theMeat · Mar 3, 2020

Would not put a mandarin in a 20 gal, unless it can and will eat other foods.
in my tank my mandarins eat other foods, but won’t get enough because other , quicker fish do the gorging

Sump Crab · Mar 3, 2020

Unless you dont have any pods in your tank already just throw some chaeto and a light on that thing and go. Everything else will just come with time.

Fishbird · Mar 3, 2020

When you say "throw some chaeto and a light on that thing" do you mean on a HOB refugium? My tank? I don't have any kind of refugium now. I'm not getting a mandarin. I was just thinking that I'd like my fish to have healthy live food to catch. I will be feeding frozen as well, but I'd prefer for them to be able to hunt/catch at least some of their own food, and, I'd hate for them to get full on pods that weren't very nutritious.

C_mo97 · Mar 3, 2020

Fishbird said:
When you say "throw some chaeto and a light on that thing" do you mean on a HOB refugium? My tank? I don't have any kind of refugium now. I'm not getting a mandarin. I was just thinking that I'd like my fish to have healthy live food to catch. I will be feeding frozen as well, but I'd prefer for them to be able to hunt/catch at least some of their own food, and, I'd hate for them to get full on pods that weren't very nutritious.

He means the HOB

Fourstars · Mar 3, 2020

The mandarin can’t wait for the pod population to grow. And with that small of a tank you won’t be able to support feeding. I would hatch baby brine to supplement.

Fishbird · Mar 3, 2020

As I said, I’m not getting a mandarin. To be clear, I don’t want one and I will never have one in a 20 gallon tank.

what I do want, is to be able to supply my other fish (goby and tankmate tbd) and corals with live foods. I will feed frozen foods as well. I’d just like my fish to have access to live as well as frozen. I only mentioned mandarins because those are the fish that are always mentioned when people talk about culturing pods, and it’s in those discussions that people talk about using phytoplankton to make the pods nutritious.

Does anybody happen to know how the nutritional profile of chaeto compares to that of phytoplankton?

theMeat · Mar 3, 2020

Can’t say I know pods eat cheato.
Have seen great, long lived pod populations in tanks with no macro of any kind, and no phytoplankton dosing

jeffchapok · Mar 3, 2020

Why not make your own phyto? It's simple and cheap. A plastic soda bottle, lightbulb, airstone, F2 and a starter culture is all it takes. I got a 16 oz bottle of F2 on Amazon for $18 and that'll make at least 100 gals of phyto.

I was making it faster than I could use it, so I started giving it away. I've halted production temporarily until I can use up what I have stored.

BurgerFish · Mar 3, 2020

jeffchapok said:
Why not make your own phyto? It's simple and cheap. A plastic soda bottle, lightbulb, airstone, F2 and a starter culture is all it takes. I got a 16 oz bottle of F2 on Amazon for $18 and that'll make at least 100 gals of phyto.

I was making it faster than I could use it, so I started giving it away. I've halted production temporarily until I can use up what I have stored.

Sorry, but what is F2?