Copepods

[nnero66466]

Adding copepods to my new tank to get ride of ugly phase naturally. Want to know if I can use brightwell microbacter clean in place of ocean magik phytoplankton to get things rolling

 

[newfly]

I vote for not adding anything . Be patient and let it ride .

 

[jonmedina]

I don't think Copepods will not do as much as you expect them to, and in a non-established system they may not even live that long. Waste of money imo. I'm with @newfly , you kinda just got to let it ride.

 

[dangalang]

Do you have anything in there currently that eats algae?

 

[newfly]

I assume you have green hair algae. If those grow to a decent size, I don’t see any snails / crabs will make a dent. Manual removal is your best bet . Unless your tank is big enough for herbivores like tangs, rabbit fish etc.

 

[nnero66466]

I assume you have green hair algae. If those grow to a decent size, I don’t see any snails / crabs will make a dent. Manual removal is your best bet . Unless your tank is big enough for herbivores like tangs, rabbit fish etc.

No algae except the ugly brown stuff. Just have a few coral 6 snails and 1 cleaner shrimp all of which are doing well. Have waited to buy fish for a couple of weeks more. I did my research and copepods were highly recommended especially since I used dry rock.

 

[tribbitt]

Honestly dude just get a piece of live sump rubble. It’ll contain all the copepods you need. There are no miracle cures unfortunately, copepods won’t do as much as you expect unless you use an ungodly amount

Diatoms go away on their own with maturity too, so there’s no need for copepods beside maybe a seed population, again from sump rubble

 

[nnero66466]

Honestly dude just get a piece of live sump rubble. It’ll contain all the copepods you need. There are no miracle cures unfortunately, copepods won’t do as much as you expect unless you use an ungodly amount

Diatoms go away on their own with maturity too, so there’s no need for copepods beside maybe a seed population, again from sump rubble

Thank you and by the way…I’m not a dude

 

[richiev]

I believe BRS did a video and test on this, and did show that starting off with pods helps get through the uglies faster. Pods aren't eating hair algae, they're eating all the other stuff (eg diatoms).

I think starting off with some pods and a bit of phyto is a completely reasonable approach. Both are cheap.

I wouldn't expect microbacter to be obviously helpful. I haven't heard of pods eating bacteria, but maybe they do.

Also, it's completely possible that the reason why diatoms go away as a tank matures is because things like pods are proliferating!

 

[newfly]

I can understand new reefer refuse to add rubbles from existing tank. I was one of them. Who knows what ‘bonus’ stuff you will get.

That said, no magic bottle can help you to get over the ugly phase. Once you seed with copepod , you’re good. I assume you start your tank with bottle bacteria. That’s good.

 

[H2OPlayar]

Add it all!

My favorite though is to go to a tank you like and get rubble from there. Gives you bacteria and pods.

Then add phyto to feed the pods you do have, and more pods won't hurt.

 

[tribbitt]

Thank you and by the way…I’m not a dude

I use dude/bro for everyone - sorry if I made you feel bad with that

As for the tank, copepods likely won't actively harm you, just maybe not worth it / not the kind of result you're looking for. At least one of the BRS video talks mentioned they were nonstop pouring pods, and I don't think that's cost effective for most people.

 

[JVU]

I don’t have any personal experience with this approach (copepods to reduce the uglies phase) but just wondering about the logic of adding the copepods so they’ll eat unwanted diatoms or whatever, and then also adding food for them to eat instead.

I’ve never seen any difference when I’ve added copepods before, for better or for worse.

 

[nnero66466]

I believe BRS did a video and test on this, and did show that starting off with pods helps get through the uglies faster. Pods aren't eating hair algae, they're eating all the other stuff (eg diatoms).

I think starting off with some pods and a bit of phyto is a completely reasonable approach. Both are cheap.

I wouldn't expect microbacter to be obviously helpful. I haven't heard of pods eating bacteria, but maybe they do.

Also, it's completely possible that the reason why diatoms go away as a tank matures is because things like pods are proliferating!

Appreciate your reply and those are the info I was looking at plus about 4 more videos.

 

[Alexander1312]

Welcome to the club!

Adding copepods to a new tank could be a good idea, but the impact could be similar to cleaning teeth: Brushing + Flossing has 95% impact, Mouthwash 5% (or no impact at all), the latter would be equivalent to copepods.

BRS wanted to sell the Galaxy Pods from Algae Barns, so I don't know how credible their experiment is.

If I wanted to add pods, I would add amphipods, though. This is the cheapest place I found for amphipods: https://www.irwinsbugs.com/. These might have a more significant impact, if any.

However, if you already do all the basic things for maintenance, lighting, etc., a tank journal would be great for giving you more holistic advice, which could potentially save you money and fix your issues quicker.

Lastly, diatoms might not be a bad thing. They often prevent the development of nastier things like dino, so keeping them in, at least in the beginning, could be seen as insurance.

 

[nnero66466]

I use dude/bro for everyone - sorry if I made you feel bad with that

As for the tank, copepods likely won't actively harm you, just maybe not worth it / not the kind of result you're looking for. At least one of the BRS video talks mentioned they were nonstop pouring pods, and I don't think that's cost effective for most people.

No worries I appreciate all info you can give

 

[nnero66466]

Welcome to the club!

Adding copepods to a new tank could be a good idea but the impact could be similar to cleaning teeth: Brushing + Flossing have 95% impact, Mouthwash 5% (or no impact at all), the latter would be the equivalent to copepods.

BRS wanted to sell the Galaxy Pods from Algae Barns, so not sure how credible their experiment is.

If I wanted to add pods, I would add amphipods, though. This is the cheapest place I found for amphipods: https://www.irwinsbugs.com/. These might have a bigger impact, if any.

However, the question is if you already do all the basic things for maintanance, lighting etc. A tank journal would be great to give you more holistic advice, which could potentially save you money and fix your issues quicker.

Lastly, diatoms might actually not be a bad thing to have. Often, these make sure you are not getting nastier things such as dinos. So keeping them in at least in the beginning could be seen as an insurance.

Just started tank journey!! You’re a mind reader. This is my step up from a 13.5 gallon so to waterbox 35.2 gallon. Thank you for the suggestions.

 

[H2OPlayar]

I don’t have any personal experience with this approach (copepods to reduce the uglies phase) but just wondering about the logic of adding the copepods so they’ll eat unwanted diatoms or whatever, and then also adding food for them to eat instead.

I’ve never seen any difference when I’ve added copepods before, for better or for worse.

My logic is to try to get to an heavy a micro/mini bio load as fast as possible, so I am not adding pods to get through the uglies faster, rather adding them to get the population to the sustainable level faster. With the intent of the pods being live food for finicky fish.

 

[Darkxerox]

Amphipods are all over in most of our sumps. They're pretty easy to get locally. I shake out my chaeto before I throw it out to get snacks for the fish.