pods filter socks

Guess it would depend on the sock construction, but my understanding is basically no.

If you had one with large pores, maybe, but then it would be a bad filter sock.
 
i didnt think they could but i think the filter socks are 100 micron filter socks, was wondering if pod babies where smaller than that
 
No, generally pods won't be able to pass through socks so some will always be lost when you change filters. The bigger question is, Does it matter? I'm not sure I know the answer to that. Perhaps someone else here does.

Personally I'm trying to build up my pod population so I've stopped using filter socks for the time being. Maybe in a month or two I'll start them again.


Also, I know that some people say to just empty filter socks over a bowl, etc... and throw pods back into the tank. I tried doing that but I have a feeling that the number of pods I saved doing that was nowhere near the number I lost.
 
i have a 57 gallon tank with macro algae and dsb, it feeds to filter socks, i was hoping any pods raised in that tank would take its way back into main display. i do have a refugium in sump, but was wondering if the extra tank would help population also. i was thinking no, but wasnt sure. not sure if it matter anyway though
 
If you don't have a specialized feeder in the tank such as a Mandarin or a Pipefish then I wouldn't even sweat it. Pods are cool and all but they don't really do anything IMO, they're just there. (or not)
 
If you don't have a specialized feeder in the tank such as a Mandarin or a Pipefish then I wouldn't even sweat it. Pods are cool and all but they don't really do anything IMO, they're just there. (or not)

i was going to get a paid of mandarins for my 265. (another 6-9 months tank is only 2 months old) wanted to make sure they had enough food. i mean i probably have 400 lbs of live rock, but i also have 2 fairy and 2 flasher wrasses so being my first attempt at keeping them just making sure
 
IIRC, mandarins eat something like 15k (wrong) (actually 8k per day, see post below) pods per day. I'll let someone else chime in if they think that's enough live rock.

Do you notice that Wrasse's nipping at things on the live rock, or are they primarily eating prepared/frozen foods?
 
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15,000 per day seems a bit suspect. That would be roughly 10 per second.

If it's true then I have a lazy Mandarin because he doesn't eat near that many.

1,500 a day seems reasonable but even one per second is a stretch.
 
15,000 per day seems a bit suspect. That would be roughly 10 per second.

If it's true then I have a lazy Mandarin because he doesn't eat near that many.

1,500 a day seems reasonable but even one per second is a stretch.

your math is a little off
18 hours of feeding time, 60 mins in an hour, 60 seconds in a min = 64800 seconds or 1 every 4 seconds
18x60x60=64800

any mandarin experts out there
 
You're right. My math calculated approx. 10 per minute, not 10 per second. Assuming 24 hours per day of feeding, which we know isn't accurate.

Still seems a bit high. I can watch mine look at glass covered in pods... a virtual pod buffet. He takes maybe 1 every 30 seconds or so.

Mine will eat brine shrimp as well. I've caught him eating them when I mix some in with my other fish's frozen food.
 
I had actually wondered the same thing about my tank before picking one up, so asked a little while back, and these were the answers I got.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2601165

A mandy should be making a successful 'kill' of a pod every 5 seconds to remain healthy. Keeping one in a well-established 50 with 50 lbs of holey rock, and a mature, year-old 20 gallon fuge with another 20 lbs of rock is very marginal. If you meet those conditions and there is no competition for pods, you can do it with caution.

To run the math, there are 86400 seconds in 24 hours...and given 12 hours of dark when it is not eating (it actually eats before the lights come on...that is 43200 seconds of daylight, divided by 5 (every five seconds)---meaning that a mandy eats about 8640 pods a day, or 720 an hour. Two thousand pods, if fed to it in the required concentration, will be eaten in less than 3 hours. If you have a pair---do the math. You need at least 100 gallons supported by a very large, strong fuge with cheato and live rock.

I had the number doubled in my above post from what it is supposed to be. Approx. 8k per day. I wanted to keep two, so was looking at closer to 15k per day. (which wasn't realistic, so kept it to one mandarin in the tank.)
 
it's always hard to get accurate numbers for things like that, so to an extent they turn in to Fermi problems, but i think those are solid conservative estimates.

more than anything i think they illustrate that how even at low levels buying bags of 1500 or 2000 pods here and there isn't going to be enough to sustain them on its own.

i do not run filter socks in my setup right now, nor did i in the last one. i do this primarily because i don't want to impede the movement of pods around system (i have two tanks sharing the same sump and dragonets in both) so it makes sense to me to allow them to freely flow through the entire system.

i will put filter socks on from time to time for specific reasons, or if i'm doing maintenance, to catch any nasty i am kicking up in the water, but they are the exception, not the rule, for my setup.

if you're talking about a 265 with a 200 gallon sump and all that rock, unless you have some major competition going on, i wouldn't be too concerned about it personally, filter socks or no.
 
it's always hard to get accurate numbers for things like that, so to an extent they turn in to Fermi problems, but i think those are solid conservative estimates.

more than anything i think they illustrate that how even at low levels buying bags of 1500 or 2000 pods here and there isn't going to be enough to sustain them on its own.

i do not run filter socks in my setup right now, nor did i in the last one. i do this primarily because i don't want to impede the movement of pods around system (i have two tanks sharing the same sump and dragonets in both) so it makes sense to me to allow them to freely flow through the entire system.

i will put filter socks on from time to time for specific reasons, or if i'm doing maintenance, to catch any nasty i am kicking up in the water, but they are the exception, not the rule, for my setup.

if you're talking about a 265 with a 200 gallon sump and all that rock, unless you have some major competition going on, i wouldn't be too concerned about it personally, filter socks or no.

thanks i didn't think it would be a problem, but wanted to double check to see what others thought. only thing is my tank i barely ever see any pods. yes my tank is 2 months old, but even my old 57 i never saw a lot of them. i mean i see the occasional one here and there, but nothing like when people say the glass is covered in them or running around the rocks like crazy.
 
thanks i didn't think it would be a problem, but wanted to double check to see what others thought. only thing is my tank i barely ever see any pods. yes my tank is 2 months old, but even my old 57 i never saw a lot of them. i mean i see the occasional one here and there, but nothing like when people say the glass is covered in them or running around the rocks like crazy.

Perhaps you need to do some pretty heavy seeding? I got my mandarin about three weeks ago and for a month before that I emptied one of those 1500 pod packs into my tank every week. So, 6000 pods total over the course of a month.

Right now, in the middle of the day, my glass is swarming with them and my Chaeto looks like it's moving, there are so many.


I also have 150 lbs of live rock, which acts as a HUGE breeding ground.
 
Perhaps you need to do some pretty heavy seeding? I got my mandarin about three weeks ago and for a month before that I emptied one of those 1500 pod packs into my tank every week. So, 6000 pods total over the course of a month.

Right now, in the middle of the day, my glass is swarming with them and my Chaeto looks like it's moving, there are so many.


I also have 150 lbs of live rock, which acts as a HUGE breeding ground.

your main tank is teaming with them or your refugium.

maybe my eyes are horrible. i did sead the tank yesterday with 1500 tigger pods. that was the only brand they had. will buy the others for 10 bucks a bottle why not try a few different kinds
 
I had a good 1" of algae that I left on the lower part of the acrylic on my tank. (and one wall I never clean most of just in case.)

Before I added my mandarin, I saw thousands upon thousands of pods on that tiny strip of algae.

I still see some, but many, many less than before. There are all of two fish in the tank, a lawnmower blenny and the mandarin, so the mandarin is the only thing I know of that would be eating them. They def. seem to have a very, very healthy and constant appetite.
 
thanks maybe i am just over thinking this 400 lbs of rock and 75 lbs in the refugium should be enough just wait a year then add them thanks all
 
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