Lets talk culturing copepods

[canadianeh]

I harvested at around 40 days. Took some and added to my tank. The rest got new water and phyto to start a new generation.

Do you culture your own pythoplankton? If not, do you use phyto feast live from reef nutrition? If you do, how often and how much you dose it to the pods culture?

 

[Aqua Man]

Yes I culture the Nanno species of phyto. I add some when needed. Make the water light green and when I see that it starting to clear up I add more.

can kinda see the color difference. This round I’m going a little darker green.

 

[canadianeh]

Yes I culture the Nanno species of phyto. I add some when needed. Make the water light green and when I see that it starting to clear up I add more.

can kinda see the color difference. This round I’m going a little darker green.

On the second picture, what's that black spot on the bottom of the bucket? Are they Apex pods?

 

[Aqua Man]

Tiger pods from reef nutrition. The black stuff is Detritus and Napulii. Mostly napluli I almost threw it out! Then I saw the little guys swimming around!

 

[hawkbait]

following for later.

 

[infinite0180]

Hey guys. I know this is old but its a great read. Im thinking of starting a culture. Which pod should i do? Id like to use the RN Phyto Feast as the primary source of food because i dont want to do a phyto culture yet.

 

[Aqua Man]

@infinite0180
The tiger pods did ok with just Phyto for food. Was able to split it once. Then they dwindled away. Not sure, maybe took too many adults away when I split.

 

[infinite0180]

@infinite0180
The tiger pods did ok with just Phyto for food. Was able to split it once. Then they dwindled away. Not sure, maybe took too many adults away when I split.

Did you switch to a different kind after that?

 

[Reef Nutrition]

Hey guys. I know this is old but its a great read. Im thinking of starting a culture. Which pod should i do? Id like to use the RN Phyto Feast as the primary source of food because i dont want to do a phyto culture yet.

You could always culture our Apex-Pods (Apocyclops panamensis) if you want to try another species. They are great to work with and reproduce faster than Tigger-Pods (Tigriopus californicus).

Good choice using our Phyto-Feast as a food source. That is a fantastic blend of phytoplankton species and is very dense.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

Best,
Chad

 

[infinite0180]

You could always culture our Apex-Pods (Apocyclops panamensis) if you want to try another species. They are great to work with and reproduce faster than Tigger-Pods (Tigriopus californicus).

Good choice using our Phyto-Feast as a food source. That is a fantastic blend of phytoplankton species and is very dense.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out.

Best,
Chad

Thanks. Maybe ill start out with the Apex pods and see how it goes. Now i see there are two versions of Phyto Feast. A live and a normal. Which one should i go with?

 

[reinbrew]

I’ve read through this thread, searched google, watched YouTube videos —and I still have questions. Background: decided my 40g mixed reef needed more biodiversity. And algae barn’s phyto/pod combo hit me in the middle of this thought with a good sale. Now I like them as a company. But this as an ongoing expense doesn’t fit the budget and TBH, I haven’t seen one pod since but overall tank clearer and corals flourishing in the 6 months of algae barns subscription. To me, adding pods/phyto is achieving my goals of a better looking tank. So I want to culture both

1) is it easier to run a pod and phyto culture side by side?
2) no posts or videos talk about how much they put in their tanks. So how much phyto is too much? I’ve been using 1oz of the oceanmagik a day and everything is stable. I don’t test phosphate. No hair algae in display, some in sump but no snails in there. Chaeto is growing much faster than before. Nitrates same as before between 10-20 (what? I don’t get to water changes sometimes—like you’ve never missed one lol)
3) can I use a mix of pod species or will one outcompete the others?
4) I assume it would be smart to have a culture of pods AND a phyto and not do both together, right?
5) I’ve seen people use coffee filters to filter out pods to harvest them. So do you just plop the filter into the tank/sump and let them swim away?

 

[taricha]

Phyto cultures need to be done carefully and cleanly. Pod cultures not as much.
Phyto needs to be separate.

 

[ThRoewer]

1) is it easier to run a pod and phyto culture side by side?
2) no posts or videos talk about how much they put in their tanks. So how much phyto is too much? I’ve been using 1oz of the oceanmagik a day and everything is stable. I don’t test phosphate. No hair algae in display, some in sump but no snails in there. Chaeto is growing much faster than before. Nitrates same as before between 10-20 (what? I don’t get to water changes sometimes—like you’ve never missed one lol)
3) can I use a mix of pod species or will one outcompete the others?
4) I assume it would be smart to have a culture of pods AND a phyto and not do both together, right?
5) I’ve seen people use coffee filters to filter out pods to harvest them. So do you just plop the filter into the tank/sump and let them swim away?

1) Depends on the pods and the desired culture productivity.
Some pods (Tigriopus in particular) can be cultured together with micro algae but in most cases one gets the upper hand and the other suffers. So it is generally better to run pure cultures of pods and micro algae.

2) Ideally no more than can be consumed within 24h.

3) Mixed cultures will ultimately turn into monocultures. That's why I consider copepod blends a deliberate scam. They don't do this to make it easier for you but to prevent you from setting up your own cultures so that you have to keep buying them. Same goes for micro algae - blends are only good as direct feeds, not as culture starters.

4) Yes

5) Get a 40 µm strainer. Reed Mariculture has a nice one:

Zooplankton Harvest Sieve

Zooplankton Harvest Sieve, 41 Micron

reedmariculture.com

A 53 µm strainer will work as well.
If you only want to get the adults get a strainer with a larger mesh width.
If you only want the nauplii or juveniles you will have to build a nauplii harvester like this one:

FA188/FA188: Using Airlifts to Collect and Concentrate Copepod Nauplii

Airlifts are simple and inexpensive and not new to aquaculture. The buoyancy of rising bubbles within a pipe or tube generates an upward flow of water that are often used as part of water treatment design in recirculating aquaculture systems, but can also be used to collect and concentrate live...

edis.ifas.ufl.edu

 

[rueric]

I'm trying to culture some apex pods..
I have some questions, hoping someone can help answer.

What is the purpose of straining out the adults/juveniles?
Once strained, which do I keep to continue using for future cultures?
Is the 100 micron sieve what I would use to filter out the adults?

Would it be a bad idea to just pour half my culture with the water into my tank?

 

[jason24365]

I completely forgot hahah sorry!

Good morning! I have been researching the idea of culturing pods for 2 reasons

1)I’m dealing with algae problems and I need to add biodiversity.
2)My dream is to have a mandarin dragonet.

So one of the first conclusions I made is you need to culture your own phytoplankton if you want to culture pod because you will need a healthy supply of it. The rule of thump is fill a container half way with saltwater, add pods, add phyto to make all that water lime color. When the water turns clear again then your pods ate all the phyto and are likely to be harvested.

I should be starting my cultures next month.

So how did it go? im about to start one and need advice and tips