Copepods without a refugium?

[Lylelovett]

Hi all,

I recently replaced the chaeto refugium in my sump with an algae scrubber. This also means I removed my grow light from the sump as well. I have dosed copepods a couple of times but have become more interesting in trying to keep a better population in my system.

Without having that macroalgae or light in the sump, should I just expect to keep adding pods more than I might need to if I had the refugium? Or are there things to do that might help facilitate a stronger pod population?

Thanks for your insights and experience!
J

 

[dedragon]

Any bio media in the sump or something with surface area? Gonna matter the flowrate through the sump as well but generally there are a lot of pods in my sump regardless of refugium. If you are concerned you could put a pod hotel or just some bio media in a low flow area or in a basket in the sump
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/pod-hotel-clear-water.html

 

[Lylelovett]

Any bio media in the sump or something with surface area? Gonna matter the flowrate through the sump as well but generally there are a lot of pods in my sump regardless of refugium. If you are concerned you could put a pod hotel or just some bio media in a low flow area or in a basket in the sump
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/pod-hotel-clear-water.html

I have a bunch of live rock - or as live as it can be in the dark. :)

And the flow in that chamber is roughly what it would be for chaeto.

 

[Lylelovett]

I have a bunch of live rock - or as live as it can be in the dark. :)

And the flow in that chamber is roughly what it would be for chaeto.

There's just no light. So I don't know how much that matters?

 

[J1a]

Do you have a sand bed?

I find my sand bed in the DT full of pods, dispite having multiple wrasse hunting all day.

I would assume there is a sizable population in the rocks too.

 

[Lylelovett]

Do you have a sand bed?

I find my sand bed in the DT full of pods, despite having multiple wrasse hunting all day.

I would assume there is a sizable population in the rocks too.

I have a 2-3" sand bed in the DT with a wrasse and two gobies. :)

 

[J1a]

I have a 2-3" sand bed in the DT with a wrasse and two gobies. :)

I have 4 sand dwelling wrasses (a melanurus, two canary, and a yellow tail tamarin). There is a file fish which graze the sand bed as well.

I would thought there is unlikely to have pods, until I scoop up the sand to look at them under the microscope. Plenty of pods in them.

Mysand bed is 1.5-2" btw.

 

[G Santana]

I had a ball of cheato that seeded my tank with pods and then disintegrated when I used Vibrant to fight off GHA. that was 5 months or so ago, I've yet to replace the chaeto but my tank has a healthy population of pods that my mandarin enjoys. I never added pods after initial chaeto setup and my tank is a bare bottom tank.

 

[Lylelovett]

Oh great! Thanks everyone.

 

[SlugSnorter]

Hi all,

I recently replaced the chaeto refugium in my sump with an algae scrubber. This also means I removed my grow light from the sump as well. I have dosed copepods a couple of times but have become more interesting in trying to keep a better population in my system.

Without having that macroalgae or light in the sump, should I just expect to keep adding pods more than I might need to if I had the refugium? Or are there things to do that might help facilitate a stronger pod population?

Thanks for your insights and experience!
J

Safe places for them to breed it always good. maybe put a sponge (filter sponge not the animal) in fuge, it can help while algae is growing

 

[Lylelovett]

Safe places for them to breed it always good. maybe put a sponge (filter sponge not the animal) in fuge, it can help while algae is growing

Thanks everyone. I'll play around and see how it goes! Happy holidays!

 

[homer1475]

The secret sauce to having a growing and thriving pod population.....

Feed them!

Live phyto, or even dead phyto is the secret to a thriving pod population.

I have an 80G cube with 4 pod hunting wrasses, and a female mandarin. All fat and happy, and I feed my pods about 230ml of live phyto daily.