Do I need Pods????

Hi, Just set up my fuge this weekend. 15 gallon, 40lbs Live Sand, Chaeto.
My question is, do copepods help with filtering waste, or are they only added for livestock that eats them? I have a scooter blenny, diamond goby,lawnmower,3 tangs,clown,3 PJ Cards,3 damsels and 1 coral beauty.
I dont want to add them and have a population explosion if nothing is using them.

 

The scooter blenny is very similar to a Mandarin, meaning it's main diet is normally small crustaceans, meaning pods. It is actually in the Dragonette family along with the Mandarin, but accepts prepared foods more willingly. I would dose some pods in there for him to keep him healthy. Pods have nutrients and stuff that prepared food just can't compete with, so are essential when you have a Mandarin, which is a close relative of your scooter blenny. I'm not sure how necessary they are for a Scooter Blenny, but I would put some in just to be safe. Hopefully someone else will chime in.

 

K+ Jwin for pretty much nailing it on the head. Couple things to add. Scooter Blennies definitely need live pods, Diamond Gobies eat live pods, and Damsels will snap up bigger ones every so often. How big is your tank with how many pounds of live rock and how deep is the sand if there is any??? I'm assuming its a very large tank with 3 tangs. Even so, in a large tank with a lot of LR, you should get a population started in your fuge so they can breed. Both Scooter Blennies and Diamond Gobies eat HORDES of pods. Don't worry about a pod explosion. With a SB and a DG you will never have one.

 

Thanks--My tank is 150 gallon with 180lbs Fiji. (Still Adding) 3 inch sand in DT 4 inch sand in fuge. (all livesand). Tank is about 5 mo old

 

Even if you have abn explosion it isnt going to hurt a thing...... As far as I am concerned you can never have enough pods!

 

+1 The more the merrier. I'm sure you have pods in your tank already though and your refugium will make a place for them to reproduce without the stress of predation.

 

All true. However, you don't need to dose your tank with pods. They'll find their way in there on live rock, live sand, and macro you put in there. Pretty soon your fuge will be overflowing with pods that will find their way up to the tank via pumps. Also, if you ever move macro up to feed your tangs they will get up to the tank that way. You pretty much won't be able to keep them OUT of your fuge as hard as you try ;D. Oh, and K+ gazog. You really can't have too many pods!!

 

Thanks everyone I guess that puts that to rest!!!

 

And to add more, pods do help consume the detritus that sits on the sand bed so it will help with the waste removal as well. I had pods EVERYWHERE in my tank and my fish have eaten pretty much every pod that was seen in the tank. It doesn't hurt to have them, but when there are a lot of them, they may crawl on your fish when they sleep and irritate them that way.