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Anyone doing PODS & PHYTO Culturing?

diana a

diana a

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
So I bought last week a Helfrichi Firefish. He/she has been in QT since....well more like a fishy hotel with live rock and plants. I placed the fishy in a 20g tank with an Aquafuge2 HOB refugium which hold 3+ gallons of water. Purchased from AlgaeBarn 2 containers with 5000+ each of cocopods, and phyto. Placed one container of pods in HOB fuge and the other in the tank with the Helfrichi. I have been feeding, each day, the fishy frozen food which I never see him eat. I have noted him eating the pods. Well pod population is down a lot. So I'd like to know how to DIY pod and phyto cultures. Anyone culturing Pods and/or phyto that can show their setup on video? I am a visual learner
 
EZreefin

EZreefin

NJRC Member
Hello @diana a , i do culture phyto. And pods for my personal tank. I have a small amount of tisbe pods, which I feed my Mandarin. They are small and reproduce every 10 days. Which size pod were you looking for? I also have plenty of phyto if you need some. On YouTube: EZreefin I have a video on culturing pods. In the video they were tigger pods. (Bigger redish orange ones) hope it helps you out. Any questions let me know.
 
Trio91

Trio91

Administrator
Staff member
Moderator
EZreefin said:
Hello @diana a , i do culture phyto. And pods for my personal tank. I have a small amount of tisbe pods, which I feed my Mandarin. They are small and reproduce every 10 days. Which size pod were you looking for? I also have plenty of phyto if you need some. On YouTube: EZreefin I have a video on culturing pods. In the video they were tigger pods. (Bigger redish orange ones) hope it helps you out. Any questions let me know.
Click to expand...
Post a link in the thread
 
EZreefin

EZreefin

NJRC Member
Sponge said:
I love the coffee filter idea. And the use of the pvc joints is both simple and smart. Well done do you have a video relating to Culturing the phyto
Click to expand...
Thanks! I'm sorry to say I didn't do a video on phytoplankton culturing, there are a lot of videos you can find on YouTube though. I couldn't find many on culturing pods with the information I was looking for so I read some articals and tested it out for awhile then made the video on culturing pods.
 
Sponge

Sponge

EZreefin said:
Thanks! I'm sorry to say I didn't do a video on phytoplankton culturing, there are a lot of videos you can find on YouTube though. I couldn't find many on culturing pods with the information I was looking for so I read some articals and tested it out for awhile then made the video on culturing pods.
Click to expand...
Well it’s appreciated. Thank you
 
diana a

diana a

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
EZreefin said:
Pod collection:
Click to expand...

Thank you so much! The video was perfect. I was debating on purchasing the Poseidon Reef Systems but I won't now. AngryOwl on R2R did a video using Poseidon system. There are some terrible quality videos on Youtube. Yours and his I trust. I like your DIY on the mesh filter to capture the pods. I will do the DIY system now.

Where do you find pods for around $20? I have been ordering from Algae Barn and it has been $45+/- per bottle plus shipping.
When doing a phyto culture, how do you know it has crashed? What causes the crash?
Temperature: Should these be kept in an living area of the house(70-72 F) and not in a temperature such as a cool basement or warm garage?
 
EZreefin

EZreefin

NJRC Member
Sometimes ACC (AQUARIUM CARE CENTER) has them for $5 a bag but lately I haven't seen them. I got mine from The Petco in Brick. They have them hidden and you have to ask for them. Call before you go to check if they are in. Lately I been keeping phyto and pod cultures at .018 to .021. I have a seperate bucket and containers for each. You don't want cross contamination. I culture it in my basement around 72-74 degrees. No heater needed. When phyto. Crashes it turns a brown/gray like you seen in the video. The culture to the right was a healthy culture. When culturing pods they eventually eat all phyto. And crash it . usually when the babies hatch and the colony doubles in size over night.
 
EZreefin

EZreefin

NJRC Member
I culture phyto. Every 7-10 days. You shouldn't split the culture more then 50%. That is one of the mistakes people make when culturing phyto. I try to wait till the 10th day so the culture uses most of the F2 fertilizer, and it doesn't end up mostly in your tank.The left over fertilizer has phosphates in it that's one of the reasons people sometimes experience algae blooms in there tank.
 
EZreefin

EZreefin

NJRC Member
Causes for phyto crashes usually :
  • 1) contamination. (Not properly cleaning. out vessel, not cleaning off tools before. use. Dirty hands. Etc.
  • 2) dilute your culture to much. More then. 50/50
  • 3) Improper salinity.( 1.018 - 1.020 is the range I try to keep mine in.)
  • 4) not enough F2 Fertilizer
  • 5) improper light time schedule. (should be 16 hours on 8 hrs. Off)
  • 6)Don't forget what day you started your culture on. Lol remember 7-10 days.
  • 7) not enough air flow/ bubbles. If there is not enough flow the phyto will settle out of the water column and suffocate itself causing a crash.
  • Hope this helps.
 
B

Bricknick1127

Wow this is a topic I'm completely clueless on and have always wanted to figure out a way to keep my system stocked with copepods with out murdering my wallet by constantly buying bottles and pouches of pods. Thanks for the instructional video, I may have to give this a try.
 
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