Not enough pods in the tank

[maroun.c]

Hi just realized lately that my tank doesnt have as many pods as other tanks i see, as well as my previous tanks. In my previous tanks each time i removed a rock i had loads of pods jumping around, in this tank I dont see any. On night time checks i also dont see the large pods jumping on the sand.
Tank is 400g with a 130g sump including two large fuges one with a DSB and a 2inch DSB in the tank.
I have some wrasses: 2yellow cories, 2 leopards, 2 flashers, 1 solorensis and a lubocks, while that could explain lack of pods in the tank my sump should still have better pods population. Got around 35 fish so tank is well fed. Shrimps and snails are fine which rules out heavy metals, same for softies and lps. Still i had issues with many sps frags upon moving them from my frag to the DT which i blamed on lighting. Having non ending issues with cyano on the sand bed in the tank since 1.5year wonder if theres any relation. Also never had a good load of worms in all my tanks for some reason. Got a big load of feather dusters on the sand and some rocks which means there are enough nutrients.
Alk 8
Ca 420
Mg 1240
No3 0
Po4 0.04
Feeding vitamin soaked pellets and frozen Mysis, artemia, spirulina soaked mysis, marine mix... Sump ran for 4-5 months with some fish, with macroalga from previous tank which had pods. Tank running for 1year and a half.
Any meaning to this and is there anyway to boost the pod population?
Thanks

 

[cloak]

If you don't have a specialized feeder such as a mandarin, I wouldn't trip... Pods are just food, (sort of) they don't really do anything for a tank, there just there...

 

[maroun.c]

Agreed but does the clear lack of a pod population indicate anything?
Plan is for a pair of mandarins as well.

 

[cloak]

Not in my opinion... Pods could fall off the space of the earth, and those in the know can still get by... (pretty tanks)

Good luck with those mandarins... :thumbsup:

 

[Saltydrip]

They are part of the food chain. They eat something and something eats them. To do have a place in our tanks. How important they are I can't say.

You can gononline and buy a bag of pods. I did that to jump start my fuge when I set up my previous tank and ill most likely order more once my fuge is hooked up to my new tank.

 

[kissman]

Reefs2go.com sells pods. They eat algae and detritus and then fish eat them.

 

[400M1963]

aka as plankton are part of ecosystem, live food that also plays a part in keeping entire circle of life in your aquarium -- and the world at large. guess we shouldn't be so surprised that some don't know about reef tanks yet ... forums like this a good place to learn. some wrasses like the six line and other animals subsist on, feast on and can deplete pod population over time unless you have a fuge

 

[maroun.c]

aka as plankton are part of ecosystem, live food that also plays a part in keeping entire circle of life in your aquarium -- and the world at large. guess we shouldn't be so surprised that some don't know about reef tanks yet ... forums like this a good place to learn. some wrasses like the six line and other animals subsist on, feast on and can deplete pod population over time unless you have a fuge

My post intent was hints on what to look for that could be causing my pod population to drop.
Am very familiar in their role and importance and them being the biggest biomass on the planet...
Im sure they have a tremendous role in the wild, not sure they do in our tanks where they are over consumed and hence the only interest in them for many(not me necessarily included) is limited for mandarins, pipefish and fish breeding.
My tank has a load of fish that consume pods, yet load of breeding ground (around 60G) and another connected fishless tank 50G, and a return and drain area of 60 G. Those should be full of pods regardless of consumption in tank.
My separate frag system 60g and connected 27g cube and sump with few fish in each tank also has no pods.
Sumps of both systems were seeded with rock from my previous system and few months back i syphoned a load of pods from a friends tank and loaded both sumps yet dont see signs of a population increase.
Any things i should check for or could do for this? Was considering isolating the fuges a couple of times per week and feeding phyto in them?

 

[400M1963]

phytoplankton (algae) should be encouraged in your fuge reverse light schedule say with chaeto ball -- no other particulate mechanical filtration. pods add to biodiversity

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/rs/index.php

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Reefs2go.com sells pods. They eat algae and detritus and then fish eat them.

Good price too. http://www.reefs2go.com/c=F6Opic9bCP3Wk8HLnpND3OKBt/category/sea_life.amphipods-copepods/

 

[leveldrummer]

My post intent was hints on what to look for that could be causing my pod population to drop.
Am very familiar in their role and importance and them being the biggest biomass on the planet...
Im sure they have a tremendous role in the wild, not sure they do in our tanks where they are over consumed and hence the only interest in them for many(not me necessarily included) is limited for mandarins, pipefish and fish breeding.
My tank has a load of fish that consume pods, yet load of breeding ground (around 60G) and another connected fishless tank 50G, and a return and drain area of 60 G. Those should be full of pods regardless of consumption in tank.
My separate frag system 60g and connected 27g cube and sump with few fish in each tank also has no pods.
Sumps of both systems were seeded with rock from my previous system and few months back i syphoned a load of pods from a friends tank and loaded both sumps yet dont see signs of a population increase.
Any things i should check for or could do for this? Was considering isolating the fuges a couple of times per week and feeding phyto in them?

The population will balance with the amount of nutrients available for them.

Usually when a tank is new, the populaton will explode, and increase until it deletes available food, then it will crash, then it will slowly grow back until its sustainable to the amount of fish you have and the amount of excess food you leave in the tank, if your tank is very nutrient poor with very strong current that sweeps all left over food into the sump to be skimmed out, then there wont be much left to feed pods, and their numbers will stay down, of course the opposite is true too, if you have gentle currents with dead spots that uneaten food collects, the pods will increase and eat this food.

Its all a balancing act. dont get too worried that you dont see as many as you use too, your new tank is different and it will react different as it ages.