In need of tips for Refugium copepods?

[pureconcept]

I have had a 125 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sumo for about half a year now with 15 fish and a shrimp. I have tried seeding my refugium with copepods 3 times and cant get a colony going.my first time my chaeto and copepods all died and dino or something started growibg in my refugium and the water/sand started to smell like rotten eggs. This was after about 4 months. Ithink i didnt have enough flow in the chamber. I added a small pump and an air pump to agitate the water in the chamber and tried to reseed with chaeto and copepods . The chaeto in the first chamber with my skimmer looks to be surviving but the copepods are gone and the chaeto seems to be thinning in the refugium. Any tips or ideas will be appreciated. I would like to eventually have a mandarin

 

[PeterC99]

What light are you using with your refugium?

 

[BeltedCoyote]

I don’t remember who makes it, but someone sells a little acrylic pod “house” which provides a safe place for pods to grow and multiply. So that might help if someone can chime in with where to find it. Also, rocks and macro algae’s are good homes as well

 

[pureconcept]

Well i had the chaeto and the first time i had a rock in there. I am using a grow light from home depot

 

[PeterC99]

Well i had the chaeto and the first time i had a rock in there. I am using a grow light from home depot

I used the same thing - grow light from HD and my chaeto did not grow very well either. Switched to a Neptune GRO refugium light and now my chaeto is growing significantly better. Chaeto is now full, thick, and vibrant green. PO4 .05 and NO3 5.

 

[pureconcept]

Interesting. I wonder if a light change is worthwhile. Ive heard of people growing chaeto with regular bulbs. Does it matter that much?

 

[Mikedawg]

Interesting. I wonder if a light change is worthwhile. Ive heard of people growing chaeto with regular bulbs. Does it matter that much?

The light spectrum to optimally grow chateo is different than that provided by a regular bulb. I use Tunze's Eco and get really good results - worth researching: https://www.tunze.com/US/en/details/8831.000-led-eco-chic-refugium.html

 

[Staghorn]

The right light spectrum and internists will make a difference when growing macro. Also how are your nutrients? Btw take a good look at your fuge. i’ve had pods multiply in sumps with no substrate and no algae even in the skimmer chamber. They usually do good as long as somethings not eating them constantly. They are very small. Whip out a magnifying glass and get a good look.

 

[mdb_talon]

There very well may be some spectrums better than others for growing cheato, but I personally doubt that is the cause of it fading away. We been growing cheato using daylight or plant grow bulbs for decades before the manufacturers tried to convince us a specialty light was needed. Again though it very may well be a better spectrum and improve growth, but you should see good growth either way unless there is a different issue going on.

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

Having issues with my cheato as well but I believe its lack of iron in the system I just upgraded my lighting so we shall see . As far a copepods go I breed them as a side hobby and they will normally get taking out of the refugium when they go in pelagic mode . Your probaly going to always have to boost your population at some point depending on live stock . What really matters is how many are inside your live rock hard to tell tho because they are impossible to see in the rock work normally only can visually see them when the go onto the glass

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

How are you supporting your pods in the fuge? Do you have sand, live rock, a pod hotel?

Are you feeding phyto?


Any time I stop seeing pods line the glass, dosing for a week with phyto will create a huge boom in my tank.