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The 210 tank build
- Thread starter mnat
- Start date
Nikki,
How often do you feed the culture after the initial 2-3 pellets? Sunny location required? Do you find that they reproduce well in the DT as well or are you going for just a live food source? Oh one more, after you pull 1/4-1/2 of the culture how long is the bounce back before your able to pull again?
Thanks in advance.
How often do you feed the culture after the initial 2-3 pellets? Sunny location required? Do you find that they reproduce well in the DT as well or are you going for just a live food source? Oh one more, after you pull 1/4-1/2 of the culture how long is the bounce back before your able to pull again?
Thanks in advance.
This is my original thread on our pod culture.
This article is what led me to start this project
Mike, the pods feed off of the algae that grows in the jar. I don't "feed" the culture after the initial few pellets, the sun produces algae and the pods eat the algae. The article that led me to start culturing them talked about keeping the culture in the sun, so that is what I have done. I assume that if I left it in my fish room it would do fine, but I have chosen not to do that.
John, I don't feed the culture after the initial few pellets. I do add tank water to it, so the microfauna from the tank presumably gets eaten, but I do not add any other food source. I have found that overfeeding can lead to an earlier crash. I have used phyto in the past, with mixed results- larger pod harvest, quicker crash. I have also done smaller amounts at one time- a baster at a time for example. This was counterproductive in the long run. A sunny location in required, I have mine in a window that faces East. Anything but North should work. I don't find that tigger pods ever reach a large population in my tanks. Tigger pods can be cannibalistic, which I believe is one reason for that. The other is because I only culture pods when I have a fish that I am supplementing for- mandarin, baby cardinal, anthia, pipefish. I harvest about 1x per week. Tigger pods go through a clear lifecycle. When they are carrying eggs, there is an obvious difference in appearance of the pods. Any time the adults are clearly carrying eggs, I harvest. If I don't, my culture crashes. I have not tried any other types of pods.
Cdiggy, I have fed live phyto to the culture in the past, but it has crashed more quickly when I have done so. I get better results without the phyto. I did get higher yields of pods when I fed phyto- but this is the longest running single culture I have had, bringing my monthly pod cost down dramatically. How long has your culture been running? Do you aerate it at all? What species of pods are you using?
This article is what led me to start this project
Mike, the pods feed off of the algae that grows in the jar. I don't "feed" the culture after the initial few pellets, the sun produces algae and the pods eat the algae. The article that led me to start culturing them talked about keeping the culture in the sun, so that is what I have done. I assume that if I left it in my fish room it would do fine, but I have chosen not to do that.
John, I don't feed the culture after the initial few pellets. I do add tank water to it, so the microfauna from the tank presumably gets eaten, but I do not add any other food source. I have found that overfeeding can lead to an earlier crash. I have used phyto in the past, with mixed results- larger pod harvest, quicker crash. I have also done smaller amounts at one time- a baster at a time for example. This was counterproductive in the long run. A sunny location in required, I have mine in a window that faces East. Anything but North should work. I don't find that tigger pods ever reach a large population in my tanks. Tigger pods can be cannibalistic, which I believe is one reason for that. The other is because I only culture pods when I have a fish that I am supplementing for- mandarin, baby cardinal, anthia, pipefish. I harvest about 1x per week. Tigger pods go through a clear lifecycle. When they are carrying eggs, there is an obvious difference in appearance of the pods. Any time the adults are clearly carrying eggs, I harvest. If I don't, my culture crashes. I have not tried any other types of pods.
Cdiggy, I have fed live phyto to the culture in the past, but it has crashed more quickly when I have done so. I get better results without the phyto. I did get higher yields of pods when I fed phyto- but this is the longest running single culture I have had, bringing my monthly pod cost down dramatically. How long has your culture been running? Do you aerate it at all? What species of pods are you using?
I have no idea what kind of pods they are. I bought them off eBay this time I think. I crashed a couple if batches once using Kent's phyto which promptly crashed them and once when I didn't feed them enough. The phyto gets an led light from Home Depot and I aerate just a tiny bit through a ridged air hose. I d like to start another batch just in case something happens to this batch. 20-40 bucks a pop adds up.
Likewise for me. I've been wanting to do this since you first posted about it. I really just need to get on the ball.
+1. One of the reasons I started culturing was because of how much I was spending on our mandarines. Would love to compare notes some time.
That would be awesome. I am pretty new at pod and phyto culture so I am sure there are better more efficient ways to get it done. Always a learning curve
Which wrasses did you move out do to aggression, Rhomboid & Lineatus?
I think it was. It was black and had that nasty mouth on it.
We were doing some dips on corals and this nasty little bugger came out. Glad we got him:
Oh jeez that looks scary. What coral did you find it on?
Yeah that's what made me think it was that. They are definitely not a fun creature lol. Friend had a 3 foot one in his 120, lost colonies of corals and some large fish to it before we got him out, easilly an inch and a half in diameter and past my arm's length. Nightmares ensued after that experience
He was pretty gross.
I was dipping some SPS because a couple of frags had RTN'ed on us (and I don't think that happens for no reason), and I found that nasty critter.
I promptly dipped every SPS frag in the tank, and this weekend might be time for a mass dip of all of the corals in the frag tank.
I'm just glad we got him out.
I was dipping some SPS because a couple of frags had RTN'ed on us (and I don't think that happens for no reason), and I found that nasty critter.
I promptly dipped every SPS frag in the tank, and this weekend might be time for a mass dip of all of the corals in the frag tank.
I'm just glad we got him out.
