Pods Worms And other organisims for Dry Rock

[biglurr54]

I am ready to move forward with stocking my 60 Cube. Its been up and running for 4 months. I had an issue in the past with Isopods that attacked my fish and bobit worms that attacked everything else. I decided that my tank would be "œSterile" and I would only use dry rock, qt everything, and take every step possible to prevent hitchhikers and parasites. Unfortunately I have done a good job and there isn't much for fish to hunt. I am looking to get an establishment of good pods and other beneficial organisms to provide the fish with something to hunt and eat.



The set up

60 Cube

20 Sump

30 lbs of dry rock

60 lbs caribsea live(ish) sand.

Metal halide light

Algae scrubber off the overflow designed for 1.5 cubes/day

Coralife super skimmer



Should I order pods from somewhere? Do I need to add food and a place for the pods to reproduce? My sump is fairly open. Is there other organisms that I should consider adding? I would like to add things once and have them sustain themselves. I feel that the survival of the stuff we don't see if paramount to the survival of the stuff we do see.



Adding Live rock is out. After what I went through, the juice is not worth the squeeze. My LFS has the same rock as before so I know what it has for pests and I will not introduce that to my system.



I have searched to forums and seen a lot of talk on the topic but that was from 3-4 years ago so I have to imagine things may have changed since then. Let me know what you think is the best approach!

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[MondoBongo]

i would probably order a pod culture from somewhere like Algae Barn, or a similar retailer.

your normal fish feeding should keep the pods fed enough to start up a population.

it might also be worth asking local reefers for donations for certain things too. for example, i like having bristle worms in my tank, i think they're excellent cleaners. i'm sure someone in the local area would be more than happy to trap a few for you.

 

[gallegos]

You really shouldn't have to seed pods at all. They always just kind of show up

 

[biglurr54]

Can feeding phytoplankton help with establishing a song population. Should I provide a sheltered place for them to reproduce in the sump

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[MondoBongo]

not sure about songs, but it can help with pods.

the copepods and amphipods we generally want in our tank eat all kinds of things. microalgae, bacteria, detritus, left over fish food, etc...

so yes, dosing phyto would give them something else to feed on, but if you're feeding your fish an appropriate amount, chances are good there's going to be plenty of food already in the system for them.

i don't dose anything now specifically for pods, phyto or otherwise, however when my tank was starting out i did add regular additions of phyto along with a few pod culture doses just to bootstrap the populations.

 

[Greybeard]

Inland Aquatics offers a detritivore or refugeum kits that I've used many times. Garf offers their 'Bag o Bugs' that I've bought once or twice, as well. Reefcleaners offers a pretty good Copepod starter culture.

 

[Chuckd76]

the juice is not worth the squeeze

The best signature ever!

Try Sach's Aquaculture for pods and mysis.