I have a 55 gallon tank with a 20 gallon sump. I run a filter sock and protein skimmer. I have no macro algae or a fuge. I looked closely and saw a have a small pod population, they aren’t everywhere, but I looked at my last filter sock and found quite a few dead ones. How do I recover some of these guys? I have a single clown, a BTA and a few soft corals that are all doing well.
How do you recover pods from filter socks?
- Thread starter drcole
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mtfish
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With what you have in your tank I would not bother trying to keep the pods that end up in your filter sock. You do not have anything that eats them and seem to have enough to be part of your clean up crew.
nfrench2100
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I clean my socks once a week and usually only have 5 or so in there. I pluck them out and drop them straight back into the DT. I have a pretty decent population also. I doubt that just dumping them down the drain would make any difference tho. I don’t like killing things like that tho lol. Lately I’ve been pulling out Asterina’s and tossing them, and it hits me in the heart every time I toss one lol
Flippers4pups
Fins up since 1993
I pull bristle worms, snails and amphipods from my socks. Copepods, can't see them.
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Most of the amphipods I have would probably be too large for a mandarin. Like Flippers4pups said, copepods are going to be virtually impossible to see in a filter sock.
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I'm sure they eat some species but the only ones I have are huge.
U
User1
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This is one of the drawbacks of using filter socks...
mtfish
Well-Known Member
Those are amphipods and too big for a mandarin to eat. You will see them peck at things that you cannot see. Get a flashlight and magnifying glass at night and look at your tank glass. You should see tiny little specks running about. This is the food they search for constantly all day. Try running your tank for a few days without the filter socks. If you have good flow and a good skimmer, it may not make that big of a difference on water clarity. If the water looks bad to you, you may put them back on.
If my wife is around she usually likes to take them out with one of those little red sea meauring cups, she puts them in a little cup with water, gets a bunch of them and then she puts them back in the tank, is tedious work but after all the Mandarin is her fish lol he goes crazy when he sees them swimmng to the bottom.
