Refugium and Copepods

sptfyre51

sptfyre51

Member
I am setting up my sump and forgot to take into account the thickness of the glass when measuring for the first chamber. I do not have enough room to put my protein skimmer in the first chamber. One of the main reasons I want a refugium is to cultivate copepods as I would like a mandarin dragonet once I have an established population. Because of my measuring mistake I am thinking of putting the refugium in the first chamber and the protein skimmer in the second. If I were to do this will the protein skimmer kill all copepods as they leave the refugium?

If the protein skimmer will kill the copepods could I cultivate a large enough population in the main tank that they would not be an issue for mandarin goby without a refugium? have a 150 gallon tall tank.

Thank you!
 
sptfyre51

sptfyre51

Member
florida joe said:
IMO no matter how you cultivate pods your tank is way to young to sustain a Dragonet
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I agree 100%. I am not looking to add a mandarin now. I do plan on adding one down the road once I have an established population of copepods. My worry is that if I have a refugium in my first chamber and a protein skimmer in the second that the protein skimmer would suck up any copepod that is working its way into the display tank, but I'm not sure if that will be the case or if there is something I can do to prevent it and allow the copepods population to flourish.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Take your time it really takes a long long time to have the right environment for a dragnet. I now have one for more then 3 years. work on cultivating your pods in your DT
 
sptfyre51

sptfyre51

Member
I'm not in any hurry to add one as the last thing I want to do is to get one then watch it starve to death due to not having enough copepods. The purpose of my post was to be sure having a refugium before a protein skimmer wouldn't make it pointless to attempt to cultivate them in the refugium if they are just going to be killed or sucked up by a protein skimmer. I don't know if they will or not, so I am trying to get some feedback on whether that is a viable solution or if I will have to think of something else.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
The skimmer really isn't a worry. I have pods crawling around inside and outside of my skimmer. They will migrate through the sump rather easy.

One thing you can always do is keep a few small pieces of live rock in there and transfer them back and forth between the tank and refugium once in a while. Will help insure the tank stays seeded.
 
sptfyre51

sptfyre51

Member
2quills said:
The skimmer really isn't a worry. I have pods crawling around inside and outside of my skimmer. They will migrate through the sump rather easy.

One thing you can always do is keep a few small pieces of live rock in there and transfer them back and forth between the tank and refugium once in a while. Will help insure the tank stays seeded.
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That is good to know thank you. Are you saying I need to put some rock in the chamber with the protein skimmer? I have an 8x6 piece of marine pure to put in my refugium as well as several of small 1-2 inch rocks. I can move the small rocks to the chamber with the protein skimmer.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
It's up to you where you put them it may not make a huge difference either way. But I keep them in my refugium since that's where the majority of all the breeding is happening.
 
sptfyre51

sptfyre51

Member
2quills said:
It's up to you where you put them it may not make a huge difference either way. But I keep them in my refugium since that's where the majority of all the breeding is happening.
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Ok, I just wanted to be sure. That is good to know that you haven't had a problem. I was worried that my miscalculation may either end up costing me from being able to have a mandarin, which has been the top of my wish list since I started in the hobby. Thank you for your help!
 
S

Shilpan

Member
I got copedpods from my DT (came in on liverock) and then through my skimmer and into my what used to be dead rock.

I then added macroalgae which boosted the population which I'm thankful for because I have a wrasse now.

So my tank is 3.5 months old and the skimmer won't stop them, these isopods and copepods just spread everywhere
 
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