Establishing pods in reef tank

[TJ Merrells]

I have a 55g shallow reef tank with a 27g sump that's been running about 5 months.

I'm looking to add pod Cultures to the system for biodiversity and another source of food for my fish.

I travel alot for work so I cant always be around to dose phyto to feed them.

I'm looking for a species that is best self sustainable and can feed mainly on detrius. Been considering apex or Tigger pods.

Also I have a basic 3 chamber sump. In my refugium area I have marine pure spheres and a brick and in my return chamber a large amount of rubble rock. I know with marine pure your supposed to rinse them all our every few months. I'm worried if I add a healthy population of pods but then go to rinse the marine pure after a water change I'll kill them all. I also don't run any macro algae in my refugium atm as I don't have the excess nutrients to sustain or need the export.

Thx

 

[homer1475]

You don't NEED to feed them, they will survive on their own. If you want to bolster their population then feeding phyto is recommended. If you are buying pods, it would only make sense to feed them for a while, just to help them feed and breed.

I have found over the years, they love marine pure blocks. I never rinsed mine, but also no longer have them in my system. I find they prefer rock rubble over living in macro.

 

[Reef Nutrition]

I have a 55g shallow reef tank with a 27g sump that's been running about 5 months.

I'm looking to add pod Cultures to the system for biodiversity and another source of food for my fish.

I travel alot for work so I cant always be around to dose phyto to feed them.

I'm looking for a species that is best self sustainable and can feed mainly on detrius. Been considering apex or Tigger pods.

Also I have a basic 3 chamber sump. In my refugium area I have marine pure spheres and a brick and in my return chamber a large amount of rubble rock. I know with marine pure your supposed to rinse them all our every few months. I'm worried if I add a healthy population of pods but then go to rinse the marine pure after a water change I'll kill them all. I also don't run any macro algae in my refugium atm as I don't have the excess nutrients to sustain or need the export.

Thx

Our Apex-Pods would be your best bet. According to many hobbyists, and my own personal experience, they tend to do much better at populating than Tigger-Pods and don't really need routine, supplemental feedings of phytoplankton. The algae and detritus in a well-established system seem to keep them going. The only thing that would negatively affect their population would be pod predators like wrasses and mandarins, but in a tank your size even one mandarin would have a problem fully eradicating them.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to start a conversation with me: I'm here to help.

Best,
Chad

 

[AlgaeBarn]

I have a 55g shallow reef tank with a 27g sump that's been running about 5 months.

I'm looking to add pod Cultures to the system for biodiversity and another source of food for my fish.

I travel alot for work so I cant always be around to dose phyto to feed them.

I'm looking for a species that is best self sustainable and can feed mainly on detrius. Been considering apex or Tigger pods.

Also I have a basic 3 chamber sump. In my refugium area I have marine pure spheres and a brick and in my return chamber a large amount of rubble rock. I know with marine pure your supposed to rinse them all our every few months. I'm worried if I add a healthy population of pods but then go to rinse the marine pure after a water change I'll kill them all. I also don't run any macro algae in my refugium atm as I don't have the excess nutrients to sustain or need the export.

Thx

When you rinse the marine pure blocks/spheres you will want to do so with tank water so you aren't killing off the bacteria/pods. Our Ecopods are what we like to recommend for establishing a good pod population so you get a good blend of 4 different species (tig, tisbe, apocalypse, and oithona) apocalypse and oithona are great treats for fish/coral. Our Poseidon's feast does contain just tig and tisbee pods which will both eat detritus

 

[BiggestE222]

Already had copepods. Added 1200 amphipods last night. Morning comes and 99% are hidden in sand and rocks. I did put 20% in my algae reactor. Hope they get along with the growing brittle worm population in the reactor.

 

[darwindiaz]

I find that Pods don't need daily Phyto dosing to grow in population. As long as you don't have a mandarin fish you should be fine. I also have a pods hotel placed in my refugium which, I don't know if this actually works. But I only put because I won it from a raffle. lol

 

[ectoaesthetics]

I do find that pod populations in tanks with added phyto pods bloom. I also notice explosions in my feather duster populations.