Rock - Paper - Scissors, or Pods - Chaeto - Fish

[s_tempest]

I think I've overthunk myself into a corner with this new tank build:
Which to add first, if I ultimately want a tank with a healthy population of copepods & macroalgae?

- if I add a fish first, it will provide some nutrients for the chaeto but the fish will eat the pods and repress pod population growth.
- if I add pods first (with phytoplankton) they get a chance to build a population but have less habitat than if I put chaeto in the sump
- if I add chaeto first, I provide pod habitat but may not have enough nutrients to let the algae grow if I'm not feeding fish yet

I'm starting up a new tank (tank build link at bottom of this post, if you're interested). Ammonia drops to zero within 24 hours after adding NH4Cl to 1 ppm (repeated to confirm) but nitrite is still high, so I have a little while before I add anything to the tank.

If you have an opinion on this, please tell me why and not just what to do

My 96g build thread

 

[mta_morrow]

unless you are adding pod hunters first, I would add the pods and fish anytime.

From personal experience, wait for the chaeto until your skimmer and water changes can’t keep up with the nutrients.

I’ve killed off chaeto many times by not having sufficient nutrients.

The pods will live wherever. I actually put a pod hotel in my sump just to give some a safe place to live and reproduce about a month before I added my melanarus wrasse.