UV sterilizer or Copepods

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

Hey everyone,

I was planning on running an experiment to see if I can establish a massive population of copepods before adding any predators after the nitrogen cycle on the new 180-gallon reef I'm building. The plan here is to use the Canada Copepods zooplankton blend (copepods and Rotifers seeder) found at copepods.ca to seed the tank and dose it with a high concentration of phytoplankton daily (with a doser). I was planning to leave them and let them breed for at least a month to establish a massive copepod colony before the addition of livestock. After establishing this colony I hope that they would be capable of reproducing faster than they are being eaten. However, the issue I'm using a 40 watt UV sterilizer in my build and after doing some reading I found out that UV sterilizers kill copepods. Now I have quite the dilemma here, I need to decide which one would be more beneficial for my reef. Any help would be very much appreciated.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

What kind of fish will you be adding? Some fish don't eat copapods so you could add them anytime. If you don't add fish I imagine you'll have to feed the pods. As far as choosing uv or pods I would 100% choose pods. They are great clean up crew and fish food. Uv has some cons and some debatable pros.... That being said I'm not sure that I'm on board with the uv sterilizer wiping out your pod population theory.

 

[LovesDogs_CatsRokay]

I don’t think that the UV would kill the population. It would only kill free swimmers that pass through the unit itself. Any pods crawling on rocks, sand, and glass would be unaffected. So in theory it should only kill a perecentage of the population. How high that percentage would be I don’t know. Also I’ve read on the other threads that pods are too big for UV to kill anyway, but I don’t know if that’s true or not.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

What kind of fish will you be adding?

Here's the list so far (subject to change):
Yellow Tang
Blue Tang
Kole Yellow Eye Tang (not sure if this and the yellow tang will go well together)
Magnificent Foxface
Naoke Wrasse and Ornate Leopard Wrasse (or Six-line Wrasse I want a parasite eater)
Cleaner Wrasse
Princess Anthias x3 (I might not get these I heard they have a huge bio-load for their size)
Clown Fish x2
Shrimp Goby
Midas Blenny
Lawnmower blenny
Potter's Angelfish or Coral Beauty Angelfish
Mandarin

If you don't add fish I imagine you'll have to feed the pods.

I was planning on getting a doser to dose the tank with phytoplankton as recommended so I have already considered the feeding.

That being said I'm not sure that I'm on board with the uv sterilizer wiping out your pod population theory.

Fair enough, I could just use the sterilizer on my quarantine or frag tank that I'll build down the road.

So far I'm convinced that I'll benefit more from the copepods.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

I don’t think that the UV would kill the population. It would only kill free swimmers that pass through the unit itself. Any pods crawling on rocks, sand, and glass would be unaffected. So in theory it should only kill a perecentage of the population. How high that percentage would be I don’t know. Also, I’ve read on the other threads that pods are too big for UV to kill anyway, but I don’t know if that’s true or not.

That's still an issue, considering if the UV sterilizer killed off a percentage then it would hinder the reproduction. The bigger issue is there is no way for me to estimate how big that percentage is. For example, consider the following hypothetical scenario: if the percentage kills let's say 50% and my fish eat off 40% then they'll barely be able to reproduce and eventually the population would collapse. However, if it is indeed the case that they are too big and won't die when passing through then it solves the problem. But I would need to see some evidence to support that before I'd be comfortable taking that leap of faith.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

Also I posted a build thread in case anyone is interested I'll be updating that as the build progresses. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/new-180-gallon-aquarium.757042/#post-7940927

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

I was doing some reading and found out that phytoplankton needs to be stored in the fridge, is there anyway to put it in a reservoir and let the auto-doser do its job without the phyto going bad?

 

[Cell]

Easier to add the UV sterilizer later. Do the copepod experiment first!

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

Easier to add the UV sterilizer later. Do the copepod experiment first!

That's the plan . I'm honestly more excited about the copepods than fish, I love the idea of giving the fish an environment that they can thrive in with live foods. I just hope that I'll be able to establish a large enough population which is sustainable for years to come before adding any fish.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

I got another question, do you guys think I should just buy high concentrations of phyto or should I build a culture? What's more cost-efficient and convenient?

 

[Cell]

Buying is more convenient. Diy is cheaper in the long run.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

Buying is more convenient. Diy is cheaper in the long run.

Perfect, I'll keep that in mind and think about it. Do you know how I can ensure my phyto doesn't go bad while it's in the dosing chamber? I was thinking of using a light and using air bubbles to turn the phyto.

 

[HockeyRooster]

Perfect, I'll keep that in mind and think about it. Do you know how I can ensure my phyto doesn't go bad while it's in the dosing chamber? I was thinking of using a light and using air bubbles to turn the phyto.

Look into culturing phyto. As far as keeping it cold I’m sure there are solutions but cost will be the issue as refrigeration is expensive. Mini fridge, doser and some way to a gently agitate the phyto could work.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

Look into culturing phyto. As far as keeping it cold I’m sure there are solutions but cost will be the issue as refrigeration is expensive. Mini fridge, doser and some way to a gently agitate the phyto could work.

If I culture the phytho would I need to worry about things such as refrigeration? It seems more convenient if that's the case.

 

[DaddyFish]

UV at levels/flow to effectively kill parasites, will definitely wipe out your copepods. I've cycled UV On/Off enough times to see it happen like clockwork.
But I'm not giving up UV for nothing or nobody, no sir, not me. Best thing that happened to my systems since startup.

 

[HockeyRooster]

If I culture the phytho would I need to worry about things such as refrigeration? It seems more convenient if that's the case.

I don’t know much as I haven’t even started to do this yet. You culture it a t room temp then refrigerate as you use it. Maybe you could culture and dose ??? I’m sure there’s a solution.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

UV at levels/flow to effectively kill parasites, will definitely wipe out your copepods. I've cycled UV On/Off enough times to see it happen like clockwork.
But I'm not giving up UV for nothing or nobody, no sir, not me. Best thing that happened to my systems since startup.

I'm intrigued, could you elaborate on why a UV stabilizer is more beneficial for a reef than copepods?

 

[ca1ore]

Other than the mandarin, none of the fish on your list require copepods/rotifers. Mandarin is a benthic feeder, so it’s copepod prey isn’t swimming in the water column anyhow so unaffected by the UV. Princess pseudoanthias do fine on most smaller frozen fare, though they do not fare well with aggressive feeders like tangs.

A properly sized UV can help a lot by reducing parasite pressure of things like ich and will do the same for water column zooplankton.

 

[DaddyFish]

I'm intrigued, could you elaborate on why a UV stabilizer is more beneficial for a reef than copepods?

It's strictly my personal preference. I've been able to prevent parasite outbreaks from spreading before the diseased fish can be captured and hospitalized. It's enabled me to treat copper-sensitive fish like puffers using UV and tank-transfer without the use of meds, copper or otherwise. I can now freely move fish from one tank to another with little to no acclimation for maintenance, population adjustments etc.
I have a lot of fish in my tanks, heavy bioloads and some significantly oversized filtration systems to support them. UV buys me time like nothing else, but mostly keeps me away from meds.

 

[Mr. Fishy Fish]

Other than the mandarin, none of the fish on your list require copepods/rotifers. Mandarin is a benthic feeder, so it’s copepod prey isn’t swimming in the water column anyhow so unaffected by the UV. Princess pseudoanthias do fine on most smaller frozen fare, though they do not fare well with aggressive feeders like tangs.

I want the fish to have an abundant live food source, that's why I'm planning to build a massive population before adding any fish. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this route healthier for the reef overall?