Copepod thriving in a All IN ONE tank? Possible?

[Rakkasan]

Hey all I have a 30G long from inovative marine (AIO) tank that I bought used for 125 dollars at the LFS.

For those of you that are familiar with them there is 4 chambers to set up your filtration strategies.
1 is for the filtration caddy that has filter pads on top and bio media in the bottom two sections. The other has a filter sock. The third has another bag of biomedia and the 4th I was going to throw chaeto in the 4th chamber and use a red light to grow it.

My question is can I grow or successfully house enough copepods to feed a mandarin. Would they need to be grown in the tank or my make shift refugium in the back?

I am aware this might take a long time to accomplish but I want to try.

Attached is my tank aquascape

 

[ruskimax]

Culture nanno phyto and Tisbe/Tigros separately in their own reactors. Then dump in some of each every few days until you establish an effective food chain. That’s the only thing that worked for me on my IM Nuvo 40.

 

[Rakkasan]

Culture nanno phyto and Tisbe/Tigros separately in their own reactors. Then dump in some of each every few days until you establish an effective food chain. That’s the only thing that worked for me on my IM Nuvo 40.

I have no issues doing that at all but need minor guidance on what you're talking about.

Reactor size?(I am assuming small fish tank or bucket)
Name of begging products / what to buy and where?
Do I need to circulate the water? Airstone or filter?

Thanks for the help!

 

[ruskimax]

YouTube is your friend here. Tons of in depth videos. Basically need some cheap vessels around 1g in size (glass or plastic), an air pump, rigid and flexible tubing, cheap $5 light and some free space in a closet. Fun extension of the hobby also once you hit the log phase lol.