Copepods in sump?

[Baby Ray]

Hi, i am kind of new to this hobby and i was wondering what you need to do to keep copepods in your sump. I have heard that some people just drop them in their sump and they do fine. I have also heard people keep separate tanks (not an option for me). What is the best, easiest, and cheapest option for me. Thanks

I have a 29 gallon tank
20 gallon sump
Eshopps psk-75 protein skimmer
eheim 2000 compact return pump
100 watt heater
jebao rw-4 power head

 

[DeniseAndy]

Copepods will thrive where ever there is food for them. If you have no fish that feast on them, eventually your tank will be covered and that is good. That is why people put them in sumps. No fish to eat them. They grow and multiply and then eventually work their way to the main system through pumps and feed fish and inverts and corals. Normally, live rock or even a coral will bring them to your system. However, I like to add various species every now and then for diversity.

 

[Baby Ray]

What do they eat? Do I have to feed them? Thx for the quick reply

 

[Baby Ray]

I saw on live aquaria that they eat detritus. I'm pretty sure that detritus is poop or left over food. I have a sea urchin in my sump and he poops a lot, so could copepods eat the sea urchin poop?

 

[ClearRain]

Detritus is left over food or other organic matter. Unless the pods have somewhere to colonize in the sump, theyll just get sucked up by the return pump. A lot of people use refugiums to keep pods. They are available as in tank boxes, hang-on boxes, and built into some sumps. I have a big clump of cheato in my tank that the pods populate.

 

[Baby Ray]

I have 4 big pieces of live rock in my sump. Could they colonize there?

 

[twilliard]

Pods live everywhere
You will see them best at night when the lights are off.
If they have food then they are everywhere.
I feed phyto and these little guys actually turn the color of my food i feed.

 

[Baby Ray]

Would it be worth it to make a DIY refugium and add some cheato to my sump?
Thank you guys so much for the help

 

[DeniseAndy]

Sorry, when I say sump, I am generally referring to a refugium section of the sump. You being newer, I should have clarified they need a spot they will not just get sucked into immediately. Yes, they eat detritis. This is another term for organic matter decaying, garbage, excretions (sounds better than poop), etc.

It is generally very beneficial to have a section for pods to grow. Using cheato or live rock or substrate or floss and sponge. I have a live rock section that I keep frags in built into the sump.

 

[Baby Ray]

Right now I don't have any dividers in my sump. I have a skimmer, live rock, heater, then return pump (that order from right to left). The intake water from the DT comes down right next to my skimmer and works its way over. I also have a cheap right hanging over my sump. Where would be the best placement for the refugium and how would i divide it from the rest of the tank?
Sorry for all the questions. I just want to have the healthiest reef as possible
Thanks again

 

[twilliard]

Here is my sump layout

 

[DeniseAndy]

Mine goes from overflows into my DIRTY water section. This houses my pump for the protein skimmer and my Up Flow Algae Scrubber. The I have it separated from the refugium area with what we call baffles. These keep bubbles from traveling and also help with separation of sections. Then after my live rock/frag section more baffles and my CLEAN section that has my output of my protien skimmer and my return pump intake. My protein and return are external. (I won't go into the chiller, carbon reactor and calcium reactor placement.)

If you do not have room for baffles, you can create a crate out of egg crate and make a little area for the cheato to live. Bugs like that stuff. Or just throw as many live rocks as you can down there in spaces. They will find them too. Just if you add some that you bought, turn off everything for a bit to make sure they settle in well. It is only polite.

 

[Baby Ray]

How did you divide your refugium from the rest of the tank?

 

[Baby Ray]

I don't mean to be rude…… but I didn't understand much of what you said. What exactly are baffles, and how do you install them.
Again, sorry for all the questions.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Acrylic as my sump is acrylic. If your is glass, I recommend using glass. Most places will cut to exact measurements you give them and you silicon them in.

Style of mine is water in - dirty, over, under, over, refugium, over(through teeth), under, clean. The over and under refer to the water flow on the baffles. So from my overflow (dirty) it goes over a baffle then under a baffle, then over into the refugium section, then water goes through teeth in the baffle to fall over then under to the return (clean )section.

Sorry, you got a post in before me. Baffles are just sections of acrylic or glass that divide a space.

 

[twilliard]

They separate your sump

 

[DeniseAndy]

Now that may not have helped much. But each baffle is usually placed about 1" apart and 1" from the bottom when it is an under baffle. These baffles will also determine water level in the refugium and the sump itself. So make sure you have enough room for power outages.

Google reef sumps and baffle placement. I bet you will get pics that will help. I am a pic person so everything I am saying would make no sense to me in the beginning either.

 

[Baby Ray]

I understand now!!! Thank you guys SO much. I am going to ask my parent for money so I can install a refugium. I am also asking for a bottle of copepods and a tunze osmolator universal 3155. I probably should have mention this sooner but I am only 13 years old. That is why I am asking for so much stuff for christmas.
Hopefully I will have a copepod population by the end of Christmas
You guys can't believe how much you have help me!!!! Thank you so much and i have to go to bed
Thanks again!!!!!

 

[DeniseAndy]

It is great you are starting this hobby so young. Keep up the good work and ask lots of questions. This will be life long for you and you can get some amazingly long lived fish to show off. Hope Christmas goes just how you want it to.

 

[ClearRain]

It is great you are starting this hobby so young. Keep up the good work and ask lots of questions. This will be life long for you and you can get some amazingly long lived fish to show off. Hope Christmas goes just how you want it to.

Agreed. I started SW at 11, turning 25 next month. The passion never dies, it just gets stronger!