Pod Farm Tigger Boom

Liquid360 · Mar 10, 2017

With my most recent reef tank iteration I began a small pod farm. I stocked it a few weeks ago and last night had my first visible payoff... tigger pods everywhere [emoji4]

Tig...tig... Boom

Wiz · Mar 10, 2017

Awesome!

Liquid360 · Mar 10, 2017

Now that the sun is shining through, holy carp is there a lot of pods!! And these are just the adults!

kdino1 · Mar 10, 2017

Care to go into detail of what the fame consists of?

Liquid360 · Mar 10, 2017

It's a small 5g tank with live rock. There are bioballs in the tiny overflow area. I filled it wil clean R/O saltwater. I added tisbe pods, tigger pods, and isopods, all but the isopods from AlgaeBarn and the isopods from Aquaculturenurseryfarms. I've fed the tank zooplankton almost every night and a few mornings, one pump of a turkey baster. I'll remove live rock from the pod farm and add it to sump, replacing the live rock with rock from sump thereby constantly adding pods to sump/display tank.

Liquid360 · Mar 10, 2017

Oh yeah and a small ball of chaeto. I began this tank about a month ago. I was going through the motions, but since you can't see them I had no idea of what I was doing was working. I awoke this morning and saw movement. Today was the first day I've seen anything like this. I'm thrilled I've yielded such good results [emoji4]

Reef Nutrition · Mar 10, 2017

Liquid360 said:
Oh yeah and a small ball of chaeto. I began this tank about a month ago. I was going through the motions, but since you can't see them I had no idea of what I was doing was working. I awoke this morning and saw movement. Today was the first day I've seen anything like this. I'm thrilled I've yielded such good results [emoji4]

Do you happen be hatching brine shrimp nearby? Or have brine shrimp eggs on hand? I hate to say this, but those look like Artemia nauplii. Their swimming pattern and body form is very indicative of brine shrimp nauplii and not copepods. I could be wrong. I look forward to seeing how they progress. If they begin to get larger and molt more and more, than you will be able to determine if they are indeed copepods or brine shrimp.

Chad

laga77 · Mar 10, 2017

Reef Nutrition said:
Do you happen be hatching brine shrimp nearby? Or have brine shrimp eggs on hand? I hate to say this, but those look like Artemia nauplii. Their swimming pattern and body form is very indicative of brine shrimp nauplii and not copepods. I could be wrong. I look forward to seeing how they progress. If they begin to get larger and molt more and more, than you will be able to determine if they are indeed copepods or brine shrimp.

Chad

+1 on the BBS. Copepods swim in a darting direction.

Liquid360 · Mar 12, 2017

I believe you guys are correct. I've taken the tank apart and I'm starting again

what a huge letdown. The new tank will be in a separate room away from the brine hatchery. Still no idea how this could've happened but won't again. What a drag! A months work/money for nothing. dang.

Liquid360 · Mar 16, 2017

1) sterilize the aquarium
2) added new rock
3) new water
4) add Tigger Pods from ReefNutrition

Check.

These are without a doubt TIGGER PODS [emoji4]

Reef Nutrition · Mar 16, 2017

Tigriopus californicus, indeed! Without fish predation, they stand a chance! What temperature are you going to run this tank at? I noticed that it's near a window. Will it get some direct sunlight during the day? I look forward to following this.

Chad

Liquid360 · Mar 16, 2017

Reef Nutrition said:
Tigriopus californicus, indeed! Without fish predation, they stand a chance! What temperature are you going to run this tank at? I noticed that it's near a window. Will it get some direct sunlight during the day? I look forward to following this.

Chad

It sits on my chiller next to the window which receives early morning/afternoon sun. Is this a problem? I keep it at the same as my reeftank, 76deg. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. They are now and will remain the sole organisms in the tank except the algae i'll feed them.

Reef Nutrition · Mar 16, 2017

Liquid360 said:
It sits on my chiller next to the window which receives early morning/afternoon sun. Is this a problem? I keep it at the same as my reeftank, 76deg. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. They are now and will remain the sole organisms in the tank except the algae i'll feed them.

Not a problem. The sunlight might get them to store more carotenoids making them more red! One problem with Tigriopus californicus is that the tend to lose their color (red carotenoids) if they aren't exposed to UV from the sun. They get the carotenoids from the diet (algae) but they won't store them if they don't need to. The loss of color is ONE reason why people don't see them in the tank, assuming they are all dead.

I look forward to following this.

Chad

Liquid360 · Mar 16, 2017

Reef Nutrition said:
Not a problem. The sunlight might get them to store more carotenoids making them more red! One problem with Tigriopus californicus is that the tend to lose their color (red carotenoids) if they aren't exposed to UV from the sun. They get the carotenoids from the diet (algae) but they won't store them if they don't need to. The loss of color is ONE reason why people don't see them in the tank, assuming they are all dead.

I look forward to following this.

Chad

You're a virtual wealth of tigger knowledge! Thats very interesting and I'll see it gets good sunlight. I VERY much appreciate all of your assistance!! Having Tigger Tech Support is an absolute luxury that a truly appreciate!
Thanks so much! I'll keep posting updates.

0202chunky · Mar 23, 2017

I started my own culture too. I started them on a one gallon clear jug but I'm thinking of upgrading if I feel everything is doing good. Nice comment on the reason they loose color. I will place one by the window

Liquid360 · Mar 23, 2017

Well, I've attempted to count the pods, but proved a futile exercise [emoji4] regardless, by eyeballing it, it appears all is progressing well.

Reef Nutrition · Mar 29, 2017

Liquid360 said:
Well, I've attempted to count the pods, but proved a futile exercise [emoji4] regardless, by eyeballing it, it appears all is progressing well.

Check this out! Joe Faszl with Seascape Studio cycles tanks with Tigger-Pods. Here is what he says about the copepods in the video below, "This was a 120 gallon system. Started with one near expired bottle of Tigger-Pods and fed Phyto-Feast and Oyster-Feast every night a couple of hours after lights out. Makes for a robust start to a reef. Funny though. Add a fish and they disappear within minutes into the rocks and sand. We have been cycling this way for 3 plus years." He calls this the "bug bomb method".

Joe also told me that his systems run in the 78F to 80F range. More proof that Tigger-Pods can tolerate our tropical reef systems, and they do quite well on our Phyto-Feast and Oyster-Feast.