Pods from Reef Nutrition vs Dinkins vs Algae Barn vs ???

[tanks2u]

I'd like to start with copepods in my tank and was wondering if anyone had any really great or really bad experiences with any of the companies that sell pods and phytoplankton. For now, I have no immediate plans to culture pods or plankton myself, but it is a possibility down the road. I do not have, nor plan on getting a mandarin, so I don't need to keep really large amounts of pods in the tank. If there's someone else I haven't mentioned, but you trust their products/services, please throw names out. Thanks.

 

[Lavey29]

I buy reef nutrition Tigger pods at my LFS monthly with success. I have ordered pods multiple times from algaebarn to but the shipping survival rate is poor in my opinion.

 

[thedon986]

Have loved Reef Nutrition so far. Nice that local stores carry them so see what you are getting right there. Phytofeast Live is amazing, just make sure its fresh.

 

[PotatoPig]

The main pods species that are commercially cultured are going to be fairly similar everywhere.

IMO of the varieties Reef nutrition tends to have more pods in the containers, and are often available from the LFS, but seem to have fewer species on offer. I got my tigger pods from reef nutrition and they cultured well. I got my Tisbe pods from algae barn and they did fine.

Tigger Pods - I’d view these as “direct feed” only. I cultured them for ages, I must have added literally hundreds of thousands of them to the tank, sometimes adding a batch almost every day. They flat would not colonize. My limited understanding is the reef tank temps are too high for them, filter socks remove them, and they get predated on by everything, so get almost immediately wiped out. If you’re going to do these I’d strongly recommend culturing them to save $$$.

Tisbe pods - when your tank is ~3-6 months old just dump one bottle of these in and you’re done. These do great in reef systems, colonize the tanks readily, and are a little on the smaller side so aren’t predated on by *everything*. They’re tiny though - you will never see any on the rocks - so you have to use a flashlight and go searching for them on the glass by lighting them up from the side. Expect to wait a month or so after adding them before they really start showing up.

Other commercial pods: IMO buy a bottle and dump them in. They’ll either colonize or not. If they don’t then adding more won’t colonize.

For seeding with commercial pods I’d be very tempted to go with algae barns 4/5 pod species mix. Float, dump em in, wait.

In terms of wild pods - you flat won’t keep these out of your system even if you try. They’ll ride in on corals, crabs, snails, etc. You’ll end up with them sooner or later, and ones that tend to do ok in reef tanks as they’re coming from reef environments.

If you want to maximize your tanks pod production, and have a sump, then a chamber with a bunch of rock fragments, with water coming in low and exiting high (so it flows through and carries them out) makes a great pod breeding environment safe from predators.

 

[tanks2u]

The main pods species that are commercially cultured are going to be fairly similar everywhere.

IMO of the varieties Reef nutrition tends to have more pods in the containers, and are often available from the LFS, but seem to have fewer species on offer. I got my tigger pods from reef nutrition and they cultured well. I got my Tisbe pods from algae barn and they did fine.

Tigger Pods - I’d view these as “direct feed” only. I cultured them for ages, I must have added literally hundreds of thousands of them to the tank, sometimes adding a batch almost every day. They flat would not colonize. My limited understanding is the reef tank temps are too high for them, filter socks remove them, and they get predated on by everything, so get almost immediately wiped out. If you’re going to do these I’d strongly recommend culturing them to save $$$.

Tisbe pods - when your tank is ~3-6 months old just dump one bottle of these in and you’re done. These do great in reef systems, colonize the tanks readily, and are a little on the smaller side so aren’t predated on by *everything*. They’re tiny though - you will never see any on the rocks - so you have to use a flashlight and go searching for them on the glass by lighting them up from the side. Expect to wait a month or so after adding them before they really start showing up.

Other commercial pods: IMO buy a bottle and dump them in. They’ll either colonize or not. If they don’t then adding more won’t colonize.

For seeding with commercial pods I’d be very tempted to go with algae barns 4/5 pod species mix. Float, dump em in, wait.

In terms of wild pods - you flat won’t keep these out of your system even if you try. They’ll ride in on corals, crabs, snails, etc. You’ll end up with them sooner or later, and ones that tend to do ok in reef tanks as they’re coming from reef environments.

If you want to maximize your tanks pod production, and have a sump, then a chamber with a bunch of rock fragments, with water coming in low and exiting high (so it flows through and carries them out) makes a great pod breeding environment safe from predators.

A lot of great information; thank you.

 

[dschuffert]

I have had good experiences with Dinkins. I haven't tried the others and can't compare them.

 

[Lavey29]

I'd like to start with copepods in my tank and was wondering if anyone had any really great or really bad experiences with any of the companies that sell pods and phytoplankton. For now, I have no immediate plans to culture pods or plankton myself, but it is a possibility down the road. I do not have, nor plan on getting a mandarin, so I don't need to keep really large amounts of pods in the tank. If there's someone else I haven't mentioned, but you trust their products/services, please throw names out. Thanks.

As Potato references, diversity is key and eventually your tank will have different pods in it whether you dose them or they just find their way in. You want copepods, amphipods, isopods, etc... My fuge has probably 8 different typs of pods swimming and crawling around in there and they do make it past the skimmer and bubble trap into the return chamber to and then back in the tank so it is nice to have a fuge in the sump for pods..

 

[reef_4_ever]

Ive used both algae barn and Dinkins. I am switching to dinkins going forward for 2 reasons.
1 I find their phyto to be better than algaes
2 Where I am located Algae barns standard shipping method always gets delayed an additional 1-2 days Where dinkins is always on time and hence pods have been in better condition.

When the algaebarn pods arrived on time they were always healthy I am just not willing to pay for expedited shipping on pods.

 

[AlgaeDepot]

Like someone already mentioned, diversity is key. Tigriopus pods are fantastic for direct feeding and seeding, but because they are larger, they are more visible to predators and get consumed quickly. Apocyclops and Tisbe are much smaller and can reproduce faster, giving them a better chance of survival. Dosing phytoplankton to the reef will help ensure they are fed, in the event they do not have enough nutrients in the tank.

 

[reveriesh]

I'd like to start with copepods in my tank and was wondering if anyone had any really great or really bad experiences with any of the companies that sell pods and phytoplankton. For now, I have no immediate plans to culture pods or plankton myself, but it is a possibility down the road. I do not have, nor plan on getting a mandarin, so I don't need to keep really large amounts of pods in the tank. If there's someone else I haven't mentioned, but you trust their products/services, please throw names out. Thanks.

I’ve purchased from all 3 companies and I prefer Reef Nutrition. The containers are contaminate free, absolutely packed full of pods and my tank responds better to their pods, specifically their Apex & Tigger pods. I like the Tisbe for coral but they are too small to elicit much of a response from larger pod eaters.

My problem with copepod mixtures is that, if you research this you can confirm it, the larger pods consume smaller pods when blended together in open containers. So from where I sit I’d just as soon select specific pods and add them to my sump or DT in the mix that suits my needs, and at varying times.

 

[Frank SM]

+1 for @Dinkins Aquatic Gardens Great service. Great products.