Best Practices for a Copepod Refugium- Is It Cheato?

[NS Mike D]

I have a 5 gal CPR HOB fuge for the sole purpose of cultivating copepods (tiggers specifically) to feed a mandarin in the DT.

For years I've gone with the standard Cheato and pods. But since a tank tear down reboot due to Dinos I am rethinking this approach as there appears to be a connection between dinos and cheato while reading through the dino thread.

Right now I have a golf ball size cheato mass and a single layer of rubble rock in the fuge. The CPR design of baffles creates a low flow along fuge.

fwiw, I had grape caulerpa (caulerpa racemosa) invade my fuge and choke out the cheato not to mention make its way into the display tank, getting its runners deep into the rock crevices.

I was thinking of putting some miracle mud with rubble rock and fern caiulerpa (taxifolia) for the pods.

so thoughts on

Cheato?
Miracle Mud?
Rubble Rock?
Fern Caulerpa
Other Macro?

how would you set this up - again sole purpose is for pods. I have a sump for all the other good stuff that a sump can do.,

 

[lapin]

Pods like film algae, phyto and most will hide from light.
I had good results with some rock and a substrate made of reborn calcium media. I did have ulva in the tank, it was the floating kind