Copepods with a cannister filter

[jeflen651]

A friend of mine has a reef tank that uses a oversized Aquatop 5oo canister filter instead of a sump for a 40 gallon breeder tank. Also has a HOB protein skimmer. He is very diligent about keeping the system clean and all of his parameters are in good shape. He wants to introduce copepods to the system so that he can have a Mandarin or Scooter goby. What effect if any will the canister filter present? Will the copepods reproduce once the goby is introduced? How often will the copepods need to be replenished? Thanks for your help.

 

[Brew12]

A friend of mine has a reef tank that uses a oversized Aquatop 5oo canister filter instead of a sump for a 40 gallon breeder tank. Also has a HOB protein skimmer. He is very diligent about keeping the system clean and all of his parameters are in good shape. He wants to introduce copepods to the system so that he can have a Mandarin or Scooter goby. What effect if any will the canister filter present? Will the copepods reproduce once the goby is introduced? How often will the copepods need to be replenished? Thanks for your help.

What size tank is it?
What kind of filtration does he use in his canister?

 

[jeflen651]

It's a 40 gallon breeder. He uses fiber pads with carbon and GFO as needed

 

[eatbreakfast]

A friend of mine has a reef tank that uses a oversized Aquatop 5oo canister filter instead of a sump for a 40 gallon breeder tank. Also has a HOB protein skimmer. He is very diligent about keeping the system clean and all of his parameters are in good shape. He wants to introduce copepods to the system so that he can have a Mandarin or Scooter goby. What effect if any will the canister filter present? Will the copepods reproduce once the goby is introduced? How often will the copepods need to be replenished? Thanks for your help.

40g is borderline for a mandarin. They consume ahuge amount of pods. A canister filter can act as a sort of refugium for pods to breed, depending on media.

 

[Brew12]

It's a 40 gallon breeder. He uses fiber pads with carbon and GFO as needed

My bad... I thought you were saying he was using the canister instead of using a 40g breeder as a sump.

Definitely agree with eatbreakfast. A mandy can eat hundreds of pods a day. You can modify the filter to use as a refugium but then it can't really be used as a filter.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Ceramic media and floss media will serve as biological media, partial mechanical filtration, and refugia.

 

[jeflen651]

So if he was to say put in 1000 copepods a couple of weeks prior to introducing a mandarin goby or a scooter blenny would they start reproducing? Should he continue putting copepods in weekly, or monthly to supply the system?

 

[eatbreakfast]

So if he was to say put in 1000 copepods a couple of weeks prior to introducing a mandarin goby or a scooter blenny would they start reproducing? Should he continue putting copepods in weekly, or monthly to supply the system?

They will multiply, but a mandarin can quickly deplete a pod population. They will eat several thousand pods a day. Letting the pod population stabilize for six+ months prior to a mandarin's introduction will help.

 

[One Person]

Hi,
I have a 36 gallon w/a Mand. Drag. I’ve had him now over a year with no problem. I have a small hang-on-back refugium, w/ micro algae and a copepod hotel. I added my copepods directly to the refugium, and the population has been constant. The overflow from the refugium constantly supplies the DT. I add more copepods to the refugium every quarter. Hope this helps.