Copepods Question

njreejer

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So I seeded my tank with AlgaeBarn Copepods on the 9th & Reef Nutrition Tigger Pods on the 11th. I dosed 80% of both bottles in the fuge & 20% in the DT. I’ve tried looking at the refugium area with my phone’s flashlight at night but can’t seem to see any pods. I’ve noticed my fish picking at the rocks more often now though. When can I expect to see visible pods in the sump? I’ve been dosing the phyto that came with the AlgaeBarn Pods. Another question is do I have to continue dosing phyto after the current bottle is finished & if so how often should I be dosing?
 
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Uncle99

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Phyto can help feed your micro fauna population and keep it stable, and that includes PODs.
I have been feeding once/twice a week to keep my population in check for years and I keep a mandarin to keep them in check. I might think your talking about months of maturity to build a population. But I have never added added PODs.

4D3C9696-764B-463B-8B0C-988EDD65227C.jpeg
 
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njreejer

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Phyto can help feed your micro fauna population and keep it stable, and that includes PODs.
I have been feeding once/twice a week to keep my population in check for years and I keep a mandarin to keep them in check. I might think your talking about months of maturity to build a population. But I have never added added PODs.

4D3C9696-764B-463B-8B0C-988EDD65227C.jpeg
I meant to say when can I expect the pods to be visible in the sump area? I’m aware it’ll probably be months till the population is mature. Not planning on getting a mandarin for at least 3+ months from now. I guess adding phyto once/twice a week isn’t bad. How much do you dose weekly/biweekly?
 

Uncle99

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I meant to say when can I expect the pods to be visible in the sump area? I’m aware it’ll probably be months till the population is mature. Not planning on getting a mandarin for at least 3+ months from now. I guess adding phyto once/twice a week isn’t bad. How much do you dose weekly/biweekly?
I am not sure the timing, each setup is so, so different, try using a light at night once a week, whether or not you seeded the tank, they are coming. We no longer seed tanks with PODS. There are two reasons.
1. When we inspected under a scope the PODS we were receiving, the $49.00 bottle stated 5,000. Our estimates were more like 100 which were alive. Second batch about the same.
2. When we never seeded even one, in about 6 months, we had a great population anyways, so we saved the expense.

So, on the tank below, the dose in this 65g is 15ml, we just use Seachem Phyto, once or twice a week.

We feed based on nutrient levels, if they start to rise, we pull back bit.

740F5090-AA07-4F5C-A858-EDDBDE6F3F3A.jpeg
 
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njreejer

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I am not sure the timing, each setup is so, so different, try using a light at night once a week, whether or not you seeded the tank, they are coming. We no longer seed tanks with PODS. There are two reasons.
1. When we inspected under a scope the PODS we were receiving, the $49.00 bottle stated 5,000. Our estimates were more like 100 which were alive. Second batch about the same.
2. When we never seeded even one, in about 6 months, we had a great population anyways, so we saved the expense.

So, on the tank below, the dose in this 65g is 15ml, we just use Seachem Phyto, once or twice a week.

We feed based on nutrient levels, if they start to rise, we pull back bit.

Yeah I was kinda suspicious of the total number of pods present in the AlgaeBarn order, definitely did not seem like 5000+. I'm pretty sure I came across your thread while researching about pods because I remember reading an old thread about there only being ~100pods inside. My package was actually a little leaky when I received it & I could barely see any pods inside although I'm aware AlgaeBarn mainly uses juveniles. That's why I decided to also pickup the Reef Nutrition Pods. Hopefully, I see an explosion a few months down the road. Gonna continue dosing this current phyto daily & then pickup some seachem phyto and dose it biweekly. Thank you for the reply, I appreciate it. Also, very nice reef you got going there:)
 

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Yeah I was kinda suspicious of the total number of pods present in the AlgaeBarn order, definitely did not seem like 5000+. I'm pretty sure I came across your thread while researching about pods because I remember reading an old thread about there only being ~100pods inside. My package was actually a little leaky when I received it & I could barely see any pods inside although I'm aware AlgaeBarn mainly uses juveniles. That's why I decided to also pickup the Reef Nutrition Pods. Hopefully, I see an explosion a few months down the road. Gonna continue dosing this current phyto daily & then pickup some seachem phyto and dose it biweekly. Thank you for the reply, I appreciate it. Also, very nice reef you got going there:)
Good you did a visual check....many don’t and wonder why PODS take so long.....Or the Mandy dies.....
Free if you have the patience.... good luck
 
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njreejer

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Good you did a visual check....many don’t and wonder why PODS take so long.....Or the Mandy dies.....
Free if you have the patience.... good luck
It’s only been 10 days now since seeding & I can already see them all over the DT glass without even having to turn the lights off :D
 
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