Copepods.... the Boss of Diatoms

Rincon_Reefer

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Hey Y'all,

I cam across a cool photo op that I wanted to share showing off the power of the pod. I am starting a new little stand alone refugium for growing some macro algae to feed my bristletooth tang and to provide copepods to my DT. Anyway, Diatoms naturally started to show up and I decided to seed the tank with some copepods using my pod hotel and some chato transferring them over from another tank.

The picture is cool because you can see the clear white sand in a radius around the pod hotel and a literal line in the sand where the pods haven't gotten to yet. I knew copepods were helpful with diatoms, but man I didn't realize how good!

PXL_20210114_202156808.jpg
 

shred5

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Tank looks very nice and better than some display tanks. There was a time when display refugiums were popular.
I might set one up myself now, I have had a few in the past.

The thing about diatoms is they just disappear. They show up in a new tank and over night they can just disappear. Pods will eat diatoms so a population increase could help for sure.

I would think pod hotel would be more for amphipods which are bigger. Copepods are like a spec of dust and can hide anywhere.
 
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revhtree

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I need some of those pod hotels!
 

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very cool, thanks for sharing! This is one of the reasons I wanted to start culturing my own pods. Going to start this weekend and wanting to see if it'll be a similar result in my tank!
 
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Very cool. What kind of pods in that hotel?
Originally I had added algea barn's 3 pod mix, trig, tisbe, and apocyclops, but really I saw a huge boom in my pod population (showing up on the glass) after bringing in a mericultured toadstool leather...so I will say the pod type is mericultured mystery pods
 

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Originally I had added algea barn's 3 pod mix, trig, tisbe, and apocyclops, but really I saw a huge boom in my pod population (showing up on the glass) after bringing in a mericultured toadstool leather...so I will say the pod type is mericultured mystery pods
Can you get a picture of mystery pods your talking about? Very interesting.
Also have you noticed anything else getting better far as nuisance algae?
I'm going to start dosing my system with phyto and pods to see if natural approach works better.
 
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Can you get a picture of mystery pods your talking about? Very interesting.
Also have you noticed anything else getting better far as nuisance algae?
I'm going to start dosing my system with phyto and pods to see if natural approach works better.
I can't get a good picture of them since they are out under low light and they are so small. To me they look like the same pods as the ones diagramed on algae barn....but their features are so small it is tough to tell without an apparatus. As far as algae, they didn't handle it in my tank alone, I employ a small force of snails and crabs who have gotten the job done.
 

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Hey Y'all,

I cam across a cool photo op that I wanted to share showing off the power of the pod. I am starting a new little stand alone refugium for growing some macro algae to feed my bristletooth tang and to provide copepods to my DT. Anyway, Diatoms naturally started to show up and I decided to seed the tank with some copepods using my pod hotel and some chato transferring them over from another tank.

The picture is cool because you can see the clear white sand in a radius around the pod hotel and a literal line in the sand where the pods haven't gotten to yet. I knew copepods were helpful with diatoms, but man I didn't realize how good!

PXL_20210114_202156808.jpg
Thanks so much for the info, I was wondering if that Copepod Hotel really works. I'm in the 2nd month of my Reef The diatoms have a pretty good hold. Thanks to 2 cerith snails, they do some cleaning up, along with 2 Turbos. And I have 3 Emerald crabs, I see eating only it's difficult to tell what thy are eating,
Hey Y'all,

I cam across a cool photo op that I wanted to share showing off the power of the pod. I am starting a new little stand alone refugium for growing some macro algae to feed my bristletooth tang and to provide copepods to my DT. Anyway, Diatoms naturally started to show up and I decided to seed the tank with some copepods using my pod hotel and some chato transferring them over from another tank.

The picture is cool because you can see the clear white sand in a radius around the pod hotel and a literal line in the sand where the pods haven't gotten to yet. I knew copepods were helpful with diatoms, but man I didn't realize how good!

PXL_20210114_202156808.jpg
I am more interested now than ever before bout the Copepod Hotel. I am about 6 weeks into my Reef and the brownies have a pretty good hold. 2 Turbo Snails & 2 cerith snails help . But I would much prefer livestock food to do the job for me. I've done a small amount of reading on the Copapod Hotel. Found it strange and didn't want to waste the money. Now you have piqued my interest. The good part for me is that I have access to copepods one and a half hours away .

I have a 6 stage sump, with a 55 gallon Display. I believe I read where a Copepod Hotel can go in a sump. But, I do not have the understanding of how it would work. My fifth section,maybe could house a hotel. I have one , of 2, heaters & an air diffuser in it now.

My Question is, the Pods produced would get pumped into the tank by the return pump in the last section containing the return pump.

Please, little help people
 
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Thanks so much for the info, I was wondering if that Copepod Hotel really works. I'm in the 2nd month of my Reef The diatoms have a pretty good hold. Thanks to 2 cerith snails, they do some cleaning up, along with 2 Turbos. And I have 3 Emerald crabs, I see eating only it's difficult to tell what thy are eating,

I am more interested now than ever before bout the Copepod Hotel. I am about 6 weeks into my Reef and the brownies have a pretty good hold. 2 Turbo Snails & 2 cerith snails help . But I would much prefer livestock food to do the job for me. I've done a small amount of reading on the Copapod Hotel. Found it strange and didn't want to waste the money. Now you have piqued my interest. The good part for me is that I have access to copepods one and a half hours away .

I have a 6 stage sump, with a 55 gallon Display. I believe I read where a Copepod Hotel can go in a sump. But, I do not have the understanding of how it would work. My fifth section,maybe could house a hotel. I have one , of 2, heaters & an air diffuser in it now.

My Question is, the Pods produced would get pumped into the tank by the return pump in the last section containing the return pump.

Please, little help people
check out this brs video, it outlines the general idea of it: . I carried out this idea, but instead of sump to tank I did established tank to new tank. Worth noting that both my tanks had no fish, hence no predators. I think you could do the same thing with a chunk of chato if you want to save some $$, but the hotel is convenient.
 

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