Refugium Questions

[msujohn]

I am currently cycling my 90 gallon tank and have a few questions on the on the refugium. I have a R200 Eshopp sump. My intent is to have a place to harvest pods, so I can eventually get a mandarin.

- Do I use filters socks or not? Won't they hurt my pod production?
- Should I have any rock or rubble in my sump?
- Should I get Cheato and/or any other macro algae?
- Do I put pods in the tank and my sump?
- Where is the best place to buy pods?
- What pods should I buy?


What else can/should I do in order to get the pod population up?

 

[Coelli]

I can't answer all of your questions as I'm still in the build stage of my new tank but pods were one of the considerations when I built my sump. I placed the fuge on one end and will have a separate feed off the return to overflow the fuge into the return section (with a small-hole screen to keep larger particles/loose macro from going through). Any pods that go through into the return section will either be sent out into the tank or cycled back into the fuge. This way I can still use a sock and only pods that go into the overflow will make it into the skimmer section.

As for pods, if you're not using dry rock you'll build up a population in no time from the pods that come in on the rock. And you'll undoubtedly get some on any macro you get for the fuge.

 

[explorer07]

Filter socks will catch pods. Rock yes,macro algea yes, both tank and fuge will help. Buy a mix of different pods but make sure your tank is cycled and can support pod life.

 

[explorer07]

Pods can live in foam pads. They can thrive on all sorts of food and most filtering equipment will not kill off a thriving pod population.