Refugium discussion

Extremely similar to my 20 long sump/refugium. My refugium has a massive amount of copepods and amphipods. I haven't had anything in my tank that eats pods in some time and when looking closely, I have a massive amount running around in my DT as well.

Excellent post by the way!

BTW, thanks for the idea of the adjustable valves, PDDCO. That's great! It'll solve a little issue I've been having and I didn't think of using them.

 

Amphipods can be food for larger fish. I would think they might slow down the time between thinning by some but how much I wouldn't know. I have read where reefers with a decent amount of rock and a good size fuge with lots of algae have kept mandarins without seeding their tank or fuge. No supplemental feedings for the mandarins. I think pods have a tremendous reproduction rate because amphipods eat them too.

 

I have been using this for a while now and it seems to be working verrry well:

Despite what is commonly done in Fuges, I always include these three things: macro algae, DSB and all fauna associated with that, and yes... Even SHRIMP. I keep the shrimp in my fuges because they put out a ton of alive larvae to add to my plankton levels. Lastly, the shrimp do not have a major effect on my pod levels because in turn the pods actually eat the larvae so it all works out.

Even with having a few wrasses and a pipefish I still see pods all over the place

 

Shrimp eh??

I really like the concept of the extra bio-diversity with the larvae, but thought shrimp would wreak havoc on the rest of the Refugium. What type of shrimp are you using and quantity per/gallon? Will definitely give it a test run in one of my fuges.

 

Copepod nauplii don't have any feet for several molts and are victims to the current because they can't hold onto anything. These do make it to your tank and they are so small that there's no way that you'll ever see them.

 

Interestingly enough I don't see them killing the populations. Maybe initially but then things always bounce back. I keep 4 shrimp in my 20g fuge. I keep the chaeto ball dense and they can't get in there to get those pods.
Generally skunk cleaners give one batch every 2 weeks. Pepp shrimp on the other hand are way cheaper and like constantly carrying eggs so that's what I like about them. On the other hand pepps are usually meaner

I will always have shrimp because I feel the effect that the live supply of larvae have on my corals is amazing

Also on a side note, I try to facilitate as much fish spawning in my tank as possible.

 

Good point. I still would not think that the mass of pods would be enough to support a fish over time, and for me it's a better decision not to test it, rather to invest the time in training on frozen foods.

I have a lot of pods, but almost, if not all of them are amphipods. With a magnifying glass, I have never seen a pod in my tanks that doesn't look like an amphipod. Which brings up more points. There are many types of pods. Are some better than others in a fuge? Do different pods have different roles on a fuge? Is it better to have different types of pods? Is it possible to control the pod population types?

 

After the lights have been out (including moonlights) for a half hour put a flashlight against the glass. Come back in 10 minutes. You should see them all over the glass where the flashlight was. If not, you can buy innoculants from many online companies. You'll also want to dose phytoplankton periodically.

 

It was my understanding, or at. My thinking that the pods were primarily for corals. That fish would eat the large amphipods but the tiny microscopic stuff was for the corals. Forgive the typing its my phone. I just wantedwhat everabundance of food i could provide.

 

Hopefully this thread is not dead. I was hoping to hear more information about keeping shrimp in the fuge for spawning. How can you tell the difference between a male and female shrimp to make sure you have purchased a pair? Do you need to feed them anything additional to what is already in the fuge?

Peps are meaner, but if those are the only 2 animals in your fuge (other than the pods) what can they do? Will they attack each other?