Pod quality observations from Algae Barn vs Reef Nutrition

[OfficeReefer]

For years, I have purchased Algae Barn and love their portfolio and business model. In fact, their service response is great, too. Most recently, I have been purchasing Ecopods as a 4x (64oz) size or Poseidon's Feast usually the 16oz jars directly from LFS.

Of late, I purchased two sets of Ecopods with the first order, looking fairly normal and the next, with new jars and less design. To my surprise, these appeared to have 60% of the pods in the previous shipment. After providing that feedback directly, they offered to send another four. Those replacements, looked more like the first I purchased but as they were slow to ship, I ordered Reef Nutrition and extra Algae Barn from the same Mr. SaltwaterAquarium.com to make sure my Mandarin didn't starve.

However, when opening them today, both Poseidon's Feast, along with Tisbee and the 6oz of Tigger pods from Reef Nutrition are not the same. Aside from the extra 10oz of water, there are clearly more Tigger pods in the Reef Nutrition than if I were to order Poseidon's Feast. It would seem to be better to combine the Reef Nutrition brand with the Tisbee from Algae Barn to get the best value. Am I wrong in this observation?

Before I post images or video, anyone care to share their experiences? Are you seeing the same quality and value?

 

[afboundguy]

I have never purchased from the vendors but there are some great vendors such as @TopShelfAquatics , @ReefLegends and @Reef By Steele that have great pods. I have ordered from all three with great results. I believe most even include nauplii and not just all adults in their bottles.

 

[Hallowhead]

Out of curiosity how often are you feeding your tank pods for mandarin ? Looking to get my wife one as it's her favorite fish.

 

[bradreef]

Out of curiosity how often are you feeding your tank pods for mandarin ? Looking to get my wife one as it's her favorite fish.

This all depends on size of tank imo. If you have a large enough tank, you simple provide a safe haven for pods and they will populate. In my last tank(75 gallon) I added a pod hotel behind my rocks to help. Ideally, you order pods, turn off flow at night for 20+ minutes and let's them find places to hide and grow.

 

[Hallowhead]

This all depends on size of tank imo. If you have a large enough tank, you simple provide a safe haven for pods and they will populate. In my last tank(75 gallon) I added a pod hotel behind my rocks to help. Ideally, you order pods, turn off flow at night for 20+ minutes and let's them find places to hide and grow.

And how often do you replenish ?

 

[bradreef]

And how often do you replenish ?

I don't have to. If you buy the right type of pods from one of these vendors, create an environment for them to multiply, there shouldn't be an ongoing need.

That said, anything smaller than 50 gallons might need addition imo. Several factors there though. If you have a lot of rock, refugium, or similar. You might not need to. You might also grow the population with phyto.

 

[Reef By Steele Verified Sponsor]

And how often do you replenish ?

I agree with @bradreef. Getting the right pods are very important. Having a large enough tank can allow colonization, depends on the other fish. May have to supplement if you also have scooter blennies, other dragonets, or other “pod hunters”. Generally they claim a territory which allows the pods to regenerate in a different area, but if you have several fish staking territories it will be a refugium or other safe haven for the pods to reproduce.

As for the right pods, I wrote this up on R2R a while back and added it to our website as a guide.

https://reefbysteele.com/pages/how-to-choose-the-correct-copepods-for-your-tank
Just note, Tigriopus pods are a great food source, but come from the cold waters of the California coast so don’t colonize well in our tropical temperature tanks (not saying they won’t, but less likely). Apocyclops, Tisbe, are both great, Apocyclops reproduce faster, and our unique Harpa pods are cousins to the Tisbe biminiensis that you will find from most vendors, but they are smaller and reproduce much faster.

Happy to help if you have other questions. We love our Psychodelic Mandy (Rainbow Wish) and our Target Mandy (Paisley). Yep, daughters named Rainbow and @Ocean_Queenie named Paisley.

 

[braaap]

Buy from vendors here or someone like me. I’ll ship you 16oz bottles of pods for probably half the price of what you’ve been paying.

 

[afboundguy]

Out of curiosity how often are you feeding your tank pods for mandarin ? Looking to get my wife one as it's her favorite fish.

I have a 35 gallon DT with a Sapphire 34 sump with the middle section as the refugium and I have an 8 gallon remote display fuge with no fish. I have two one gallon cultures of Apo and Tisbe and a 5 gallon tank for Tigger (9 gallons total) and I usually harvest with sieves weekly.

Even with my pair of mandarins there are pods all over my glass!

 

[Hallowhead]

I agree with @bradreef. Getting the right pods are very important. Having a large enough tank can allow colonization, depends on the other fish. May have to supplement if you also have scooter blennies, other dragonets, or other “pod hunters”. Generally they claim a territory which allows the pods to regenerate in a different area, but if you have several fish staking territories it will be a refugium or other safe haven for the pods to reproduce.

As for the right pods, I wrote this up on R2R a while back and added it to our website as a guide.

https://reefbysteele.com/pages/how-to-choose-the-correct-copepods-for-your-tank
Just note, Tigriopus pods are a great food source, but come from the cold waters of the California coast so don’t colonize well in our tropical temperature tanks (not saying they won’t, but less likely). Apocyclops, Tisbe, are both great, Apocyclops reproduce faster, and our unique Harpa pods are cousins to the Tisbe biminiensis that you will find from most vendors, but they are smaller and reproduce much faster.

Happy to help if you have other questions. We love our Psychodelic Mandy (Rainbow Wish) and our Target Mandy (Paisley). Yep, daughters named Rainbow and @Ocean_Queenie named Paisley.

Have a an 80 display and 20 sump with a refugium. Tanks two years and I seeded it with pods for months when I first got it. I see loads at night, just never had luck with mandarins and eating pods. My wife wants one again so I want to try. Guess I'll get some apocyclops

 

[afboundguy]

Have a an 80 display and 20 sump with a refugium. Tanks two years and I seeded it with pods for months when I first got it. I see loads at night, just never had luck with mandarins and eating pods. My wife wants one again so I want to try. Guess I'll get some apocyclops

Look at @Biota_Marine mandarins. They're more money than wild caught but mine were eating frozen and pellet food within days. I bought a male and female and lost the female (not Biota 's fault) but I replaced her with a wild caught female and she learned to eat frozen and pellet by watching the Biota male!

Captive bred is the way to go for mandarins and worth the money hands down especially with the Biota ones being raised on TDO pellets and frozen food!

 

[Reef Nutrition]

@OfficeReefer Thanks so much for supporting us with your purchase. If you have any other questions about our Tigger-Pods or our other live copepod, Apex-Pods, don't hesitate to reach out. You can send us an email or message me here.

Have a great week!

Best,
Chad

 

[OfficeReefer]

Out of curiosity how often are you feeding your tank pods for mandarin ? Looking to get my wife one as it's her favorite fish.

My older Max Nano, is two jars a month but is a former tank with a year of establishment and well cured, bright purple rocks. The newer Max Nano G2 XL is twice as much, and I do lots of supplemental feedings.

I find the fish will usually eat frozen brine with other fish from time to time and live brine is easy to hatch. I also run a small copepod tank I am seeking to expand on.

 

[OfficeReefer]

Look at @Biota_Marine mandarins. They're more money than wild caught but mine were eating frozen and pellet food within days. I bought a male and female and lost the female (not Biota 's fault) but I replaced her with a wild caught female and she learned to eat frozen and pellet by watching the Biota male!

Captive bred is the way to go for mandarins and worth the money hands down especially with the Biota ones being raised on TDO pellets and frozen food!

Do this, which is what I did. They will occasionally eat other foods but are still picky to live when they know it exists. I have both a six line and a green Mandarin in competition, therefore one really needs a fish that will still eat when it's slim pickings.

 

[OfficeReefer]

@OfficeReefer Thanks so much for supporting us with your purchase. If you have any other questions about our Tigger-Pods or our other live copepod, Apex-Pods, don't hesitate to reach out. You can send us an email or message me here.

Have a great week!

Best,
Chad

Thank you, Chad!

 

[OfficeReefer]

First of all, I want to state that I am not here to bash Algae Barn. The customer service I got was really good, shipping was a bit slow considering I paid for the invoice right away but it was Friday.

I have never had an issue with their pods but for those looking, galaxy pods are the way to go. My biggest issue is that cost savings really don't kick in enough until you buy four and I usually need three. One way I find to help offset, is order in advance and then dose the phytoplankton that usually comes with them in the four packs, to the jars directly. In essence, rotate out a jar weekly and dose like you are culturing them. They will last longer and are likely to do better since you're adding tank water and removing from the jar in the weekly process.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I agree with @bradreef. Getting the right pods are very important. Having a large enough tank can allow colonization, depends on the other fish. May have to supplement if you also have scooter blennies, other dragonets, or other “pod hunters”. Generally they claim a territory which allows the pods to regenerate in a different area, but if you have several fish staking territories it will be a refugium or other safe haven for the pods to reproduce.

As for the right pods, I wrote this up on R2R a while back and added it to our website as a guide.

https://reefbysteele.com/pages/how-to-choose-the-correct-copepods-for-your-tank
Just note, Tigriopus pods are a great food source, but come from the cold waters of the California coast so don’t colonize well in our tropical temperature tanks (not saying they won’t, but less likely). Apocyclops, Tisbe, are both great, Apocyclops reproduce faster, and our unique Harpa pods are cousins to the Tisbe biminiensis that you will find from most vendors, but they are smaller and reproduce much faster.

Happy to help if you have other questions. We love our Psychodelic Mandy (Rainbow Wish) and our Target Mandy (Paisley). Yep, daughters named Rainbow and @Ocean_Queenie named Paisley.

Hey there! I have a question. I have been looking for somewhere to purchase some live brine shrimp from. Do you by chance sell these?

 

[OfficeReefer]

Hey there! I have a question. I have been looking for somewhere to purchase some live brine shrimp from. Do you by chance sell these?

I don't sell them but there's lots of stores online and vendors in this thread that do.

 

[fryman]

I have a big pet peeve about people visually assessing copepod "quality". Most reefers just see tiny moving specs, and have no idea what they are actually seeing or buying.

Suppliers know this, and less reputable ones are spiking their "copepod" blends with rotifers and/or ciliates, which makes them look super dense. Most reefers just see lots of moving animals and rave about how "great" the value is, even though they are getting a much inferior product. Most don't have a microscope and are blissfully unaware of the ruse. Grrrr.

I've used reef nutrition and they have clean product, ime. I'm sure there are others that are good as well.

 

[Stephers]

I have a big pet peeve about people visually assessing copepod "quality". Most reefers just see tiny moving specs, and have no idea what they are actually seeing or buying.

Suppliers know this, and less reputable ones are spiking their "copepod" blends with rotifers and/or ciliates, which makes them look super dense. Most reefers just see lots of moving animals and rave about how "great" the value is, even though they are getting a much inferior product. Most don't have a microscope and are blissfully unaware of the ruse. Grrrr.

I've used reef nutrition and they have clean product, ime. I'm sure there are others that are good as well.

I couldn't agree with this more. I bought pods from a company to start my own cultures and found out (via microscope) that 90% of it was rotifers instead of pods. I informed them of this. They haven't changed a thing. I see them touting their density on social media all the time and just bite my tongue.