Mechanical filtration and copepods

TWYOUNG · Aug 5, 2022

I’m trying to establish a pod population in a new tank. I only have eight small fish in 150 gallons of water. There are 100 lbs of Caribsea LifeRock and 80 lbs AragAlive sand in the tank. Phosphates are still unmeasurable so my fuge only has Marinepure blocks. Both the rock, and the blocks have been seeded, (unfortunately my Waterbox sump has the skimmer immediately AFTER the fuge). Although I’ve been told by Algae Barn that pods will not be removed by filter socks I found an article on their own site stating otherwise. Looking for some advice from those who have been successful seeding their tanks with pods.

rsumner · Aug 5, 2022

Socks will definitely trap the larger pods and nearly all amphipods. Adult pods are usually larger than 300 micron and your filter sock is probably 200 to 250 micron. Baby pods are usually less than 60 micron, so they'll make their way though.

Today, I run my socks downstream of my fuge and have to shake them out into a bucket when I rotate them to try and keep all the critters they've collected. I drop everything I was able to scavenge back into the display for fish snacks. My new build will have the socks upstream of the fuge and then have a course sponge (probably from Lifegard Aquatics) between the fuge and remaining sump chambers to catch any lose chaeto.

Dinkins Aquatic Gardens · Aug 26, 2022

rsumner said:
Socks will definitely trap the larger pods and nearly all amphipods. Adult pods are usually larger than 300 micron and your filter sock is probably 200 to 250 micron. Baby pods are usually less than 60 micron, so they'll make their way though.

Today, I run my socks downstream of my fuge and have to shake them out into a bucket when I rotate them to try and keep all the critters they've collected. I drop everything I was able to scavenge back into the display for fish snacks. My new build will have the socks upstream of the fuge and then have a course sponge (probably from Lifegard Aquatics) between the fuge and remaining sump chambers to catch any lose chaeto.

Agreed, filter socks will definitely catch copepods.

But one seeded, not many pods will be running through your filter socks. The pods will likely live in your sump (in any chaeto, rubble, etc.) and in your display tank (sand, rocks, glass). They are well-adapted to staying on substrates despite the normal currents of a reef tank. That makes it relatively unlikely for a Tisbe pod, for instance, that's crawling along the sand to get pulled out of your overflow and into your filter socks.

I would definitely remove filter socks during the initial copepod dosing, but for the most part once they're established in the tank (and fuge) they have a tendency to stay there, avoiding filter socks altogether.