how to grow pods???

Hi, I have my tank running for 3 months now. I have a refugium, I have chaeto, mangroves, live rock in the refugium. I have see a lot of people have successfully grow pods/copods to feed their fish and coral. My questions is...

What do I need to get thing started???
Do I need buy small colony of pods to raise them?

Thanks,

 

I've always had the pods come in naturally on either the Mangroves or Cheato. Never needed to seed them. If you don't have any at this point, you can buy them or you can try getting another small clump of cheato (hopefully it has some in it). You can order pods here:
https://livecopepods.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3

 

The single biggest piece of advice I can give you; Don't let them get eaten.

To elaborate: They are most likely already in your system (as Reefron mentioned), so give them time. If there are none, something is eating them, or water quality is extremely poor, and I doubt the latter.

 

thx, how do I tell if I have any pods in my refugium?

 

Look at the glass. You should be able to see little white objects moving on the glass. I use a hand held magnifying glass to look as it makes them MUCH easier to see.

 

Also, when all the lights are off shine a flashlight on the side of your fuge. Like most other bugs, pods are attracted to the light.

 

K thx, I luv 3reef... Very fast respond to all my question.