Seeding your reef tank

[Marsh980]

Hi all,

What’s the best thing to seed a tank with. Copepods or baby brine shrimp or both?

My tank is coming up to 2 months old and I’ve been regularly loading the tank up with both ready for a copperband and mandarin in the far future.

For information, I don’t have a refugium

Cheers

 

[monti mike]

I just got an order from indo pacific sea farm and I was happy with all the critters.

 

[Marsh980]

I just got an order from indo pacific sea farm and I was happy with all the critters.

They look cool, excuse my ignorance but what are inside some of the bags. I’ve only been in the saltwater hobby 2 months and from the UK so very jealous of that online shop.

 

[NS Mike D]

macro alge.

what size tank do you have.

You feed baby brine, not seed the tank. People who use baby bine hatch them from eggs Then harvest them and dose into the tank.

 

[Marsh980]

macro alge.

what size tank do you have.

You feed baby brine, not seed the tank. People who use baby bine hatch them from eggs Then harvest them and dose into the tank.

I have a 200 gallon rectangle tank. I was told to regularly dose the tank with baby brine and Copepods and over time I’ll get a large healthy breeding colony ready for a copperband and mandarin.

I was told with the amount of live rock and sand bed I have, they should be able to hide and reproduce.

 

[monti mike]

They look cool, excuse my ignorance but what are inside some of the bags. I’ve only been in the saltwater hobby 2 months and from the UK so very jealous of that online shop.

It’s a mix of stuff from a farm in Hawaii. There’s snails, starfish, hermits, live sand, macro algae and plankton from the ocean (most of it will probably be eaten, die, or be removed by the filtration). A nice chunk of live rock or scoop of sand from someone else’s tank should also do the trick to seed the tank. Best of luck!!

 

[MohrReefs]

Give a phyto copepod farm and shot. I make enough to keep my mandarin fed weekly but she also eats frozen.