Starting copepod colony

[Kingy]

Hi,
I’m having a bot of trouble trying to start a copepod colony inside my reef tank/sump. After about 1/2 days of adding my pods they die off and im struggling as to why they are dying off.

my specs and params:
70 gal tank (10gal sump With refugium and cheato)
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm
Salinity: 1.024 SG
Phosphate: 0.25ppm
Ph: 8.2
Alk: 8 dKh
Cal: 440ppm
Mag: 1260ppm

livestock:
7 Nassarius Snails
1 yellow watchman goby

When i add my pods i normally turn lights, skimmer and pump off for about 1 hour, float bag of pods on the surface, add about 10ml of phytoplankton and then after about 30 minutes i add them to my fuge.

Any help would be really appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[Funston07]

How do you know they are dieing off? Just curious being they are hard to even see. Plus you should add half to your tank and the other half in your fuge, I wouldnt put them all in your sump.

 

[Kingy]

How do you know they are dieing off? Just curious being they are hard to even see. Plus you should add half to your tank and the other half in your fuge, I wouldnt put them all in your sump.

Thank you for the message!
I understand they are difficult to see but when i first add them to the tank i can see them swimming about and by the end of the day and following day i can see less and less so i just presume they are dying off.

My biggest worry first was that they were dying from starvation however i managed to get some info from someone saying that 10ml of phytoplankton a day should be plenty for the pods to feed on.

Thanks for the bit of info on putting 50% in DT and 50% in fuge, I’ll be sure to try that next time.

 

[Alchameth]

They don't stay swimming around, best way to check is after dark when the lights go off. Wait a few hours at least and then take a flashlight, they get drawn to the light.

They hide, fish eat them, etc. I don't dose with Phyto or anything, usually reefroids once a week and when I feed that I take a little and squirt it into my Chaeto in my fuge. To start, I usually by stew and pods at the LFS, 1-2 times a month I add them and now I have tons of pods in the tank.

 

[Kingy]

They don't stay swimming around, best way to check is after dark when the lights go off. Wait a few hours at least and then take a flashlight, they get drawn to the light.

They hide, fish eat them, etc. I don't dose with Phyto or anything, usually reefroids once a week and when I feed that I take a little and squirt it into my Chaeto in my fuge. To start, I usually by stew and pods at the LFS, 1-2 times a month I add them and now I have tons of pods in the tank.

I’ll have to try the that and see if any come out of hiding! Hopefully they do

Having tones of pods must be amazing! My aim is to get to that point! I might try reefroids a go and see if they take to that better. Thanks for the help and advise, all very much appreciated!

 

[Kingy]

Just in case anyone was particularly interested and wanted an update (most likely not but thought I’d add anyway).

after shining a torch against the glass a few copepods appeared, i did add the bag of pods about 3 days ago so this is the longest I've seen them last tbh. I cant quite say i saw as many as i first added but as mentioned above they may be hiding (i do in fact have a lot of hiding places for them). Hoping over time they will breed and populate the tank.