pods

[blueoval16]

Hello,

I am somewhat new to this hobby i have a 24 gallon Nano that has been running for about 9 months. I have 30 lbs of live rock and live sand. I'm now feeling more confidant i in keeping a bit more exotic creatures in my tank.

My first question is i just bought co-pods from an online store ( 300 of em ). I was planning on putting them into my tank. Can i put too many pods in my tank at one time? I had a Mandarin for a while and my population depleted FAST. So before i get all crazy i wanted to run up my pop of pods.

#2) I'm tired of paying high dollar prices for my DT's and what not. I would like to grow my own; plankton, pods, rots, and maybe Amphipods. Well after some thought of all this and realizing what exactly I'm planning I had some vision of a mad scientist exploding from my closet and a never ending mess. Ive read some on the topic and every time i find a site its from someone trying to sell me the miracle cure kit to everything i would like to know what the breeders out there do and feed.

#3) I have been fighting this for some time now. I have debris in my tank! It has been a problem from the beginning. After talking to many people i changed the stock pump to a max jet 1200. And one possible reason is the pump is keeping the sand particles suspended? I'm going to go buy a splitter ( proper terminology ) to divert the water so flow will be the same and maybe let the the debris settle. I have put some of that blue and white pad in my first chamber. Due to people recommendations i took all the sponges out of my first chamber, cut one in half and only use it then put the pad on top. My second chamber has the fusion protein skimmer in it.

#4) Because i am intending to increase the bio load and potential for making a massive mistake in my culture's i would like to add an external filter. Can you recommend a brand and model number. I was looking at Fluval and Eheim. I don't expect these to cure a mistake, but i hope they can give me some buffer time to correct any issues i have with out going thermal nuclear.

#5) Last one for now i promise. I have read reports that keeping salt water in a jug for a period of time is not good. Is this true? What i have been doing is getting 10 gal water from my LFS. I have been keeping a 5 gal reserve. I work 7-7 so decent water is not available when i need it. I rotate the water every week so nothing is standing longer than a week + how ever old it was in the store. Is this an issue? Also before i change the water the night before i throw in my old pump and a cheepo tank heater i got at a garage sale. So the water is well mixed and very close to tank temp. Maybe I'm wasting my time by doing it that way but it takes me 30 seconds to do on my way out the door.

Thank you for you help.

Adam

[dobejazz]

HI Adam Welcome to TRT
I'll have to let someone else field the pod question.
As far as the "debris" in the tank are you certain it's not microbubbles from the skimmer?
I don't have any experience with canister filters if anything I would have it on stand by for a quick clean up or running carbon but it will quickly build up nitrates unless you clean the filter media often.

[blueoval16]

Yes im sure it is not micro bubbles. When i first purchaced the skimmer i had that issue. I used ALL-GLASS Aquarium silicone to seal it up and i also added some of that blue and white pad i had and usec a rubber band around to hold it on and that cured the micro bubbles.

Also the water level is not running out in the 3rd chamber so i know im not sucking air. Also i siliconed the tube to the pump so i did not pull air through that connection.

Micro bubbles were a huge problem from the start. Lucky i had had nothing in the tank except water when i was making sure the tank had no leaks.

I turned off my pump for an hour today and it seemed like the debris was still there.

[Geoff]

First of Welcome to TRT!!!

Originally Posted by blueoval16

Hello,

I am somewhat new to this hobby i have a 24 gallon Nano that has been running for about 9 months. I have 30 lbs of live rock and live sand. I'm now feeling more confidant i in keeping a bit more exotic creatures in my tank.

My first question is i just bought co-pods from an online store ( 300 of em ). I was planning on putting them into my tank. Can i put too many pods in my tank at one time? I had a Mandarin for a while and my population depleted FAST. So before i get all crazy i wanted to run up my pop of pods.

you are not going to be able to keep a mandarin in a 24g tank without buying pods on a regular basis. you can make a couple of pod farms though. get 2 ten gallon tanks. put a HOB filter on them. put some LR rubble in the bottom of the tank. start feeding the tank. pods will love it. every 3-6 months are so you will need to complete rebuild these systems because they will crash. this is why you have 2 when one is being rebuilt the other will still be up.

Originally Posted by blueoval16

#2) I'm tired of paying high dollar prices for my DT's and what not. I would like to grow my own; plankton, pods, rots, and maybe Amphipods. Well after some thought of all this and realizing what exactly I'm planning I had some vision of a mad scientist exploding from my closet and a never ending mess. Ive read some on the topic and every time i find a site its from someone trying to sell me the miracle cure kit to everything i would like to know what the breeders out there do and feed.

do not feed phyto to the tank. you are putting pure phosphates into the water column. this will just lead to a tank crash.

Originally Posted by blueoval16

#3) I have been fighting this for some time now. I have debris in my tank! It has been a problem from the beginning. After talking to many people i changed the stock pump to a max jet 1200. And one possible reason is the pump is keeping the sand particles suspended? I'm going to go buy a splitter ( proper terminology ) to divert the water so flow will be the same and maybe let the the debris settle. I have put some of that blue and white pad in my first chamber. Due to people recommendations i took all the sponges out of my first chamber, cut one in half and only use it then put the pad on top. My second chamber has the fusion protein skimmer in it.

the debris in the tank could be detritus. this should be siphoned out every week when doing water changes. you prolly should be removing a cup of skimmate a day from the skimmer. the more the better. you want a light tea coloured liquid as skimmate, not a chunky brown goo.

Originally Posted by blueoval16

#4) Because i am intending to increase the bio load and potential for making a massive mistake in my culture's i would like to add an external filter. Can you recommend a brand and model number. I was looking at Fluval and Eheim. I don't expect these to cure a mistake, but i hope they can give me some buffer time to correct any issues i have with out going thermal nuclear.

you can not increase the bio-load of the tank. that tank can only support so much. adding a filter will actually hurt the tank more than help. is this tank going to be a fish only tank or some corals? external filters increase the phosphate levels in the tank making it harder to keep corals. they also increase the nitrate levels. though not a big deal, it is an indication that your phosphate levels are also going up. the only filtration you need on a SW tank is the LR and a good skimmer. if you want to spend money on your tank i suggest upgrading your skimmer to a real one. this would help out your tank more than any other purchase you could make.

Originally Posted by blueoval16

#5) Last one for now i promise. I have read reports that keeping salt water in a jug for a period of time is not good. Is this true? What i have been doing is getting 10 gal water from my LFS. I have been keeping a 5 gal reserve. I work 7-7 so decent water is not available when i need it. I rotate the water every week so nothing is standing longer than a week + how ever old it was in the store. Is this an issue? Also before i change the water the night before i throw in my old pump and a cheepo tank heater i got at a garage sale. So the water is well mixed and very close to tank temp. Maybe I'm wasting my time by doing it that way but it takes me 30 seconds to do on my way out the door.

Thank you for you help.

Adam

if the SW is freshly made and capped it can easily sit for week or more. stirring and heating the water is good thing, nothing wrong there.

G~

[Twitterbait]

For info on doing greenwater, rots, brine, etc. look in the breeding forum for threads on each. they should be stickied at the top.