HOB pod farm

[rockytop47]

I recently lost a mandarin in under 12 hours, totally my fault, as he was emaciated when I bought him in hopes of bringing him back from the brink of death. THIS time I bought one from my LFS that not only loves my pods, but he eats frozen brine/spirulina. He came from the LFS eating brine! I know for a fact I have a golden head goby, a pinkbar goby that are eating pods as well as my mandarin. Here's my idea to supplement the pods already in the 65 gallon DT. I am getting a 5-20 gallon freshwater filter like a Whisper for the top DT with a live rock/chaeto combo for a pod condo. In addition to this, I'll add a "pod pile" in my refugium to supplement the chaeto I already have in it. I should, in theory be able to keep up with everything that grazes on pods in between regular feedings of shrimp/salmon/squid/scallop "stew" I feed. Am I overlooking anything? I feed on the heavy side so the pods will eat well

[philosophile]

If you can just add a sump/large refugium you'd be much better off than with the whisper filter. The filter would probably filter out copepods which is what you want in a tank wih mandarins. If you can make a pile of rocks where the pods can live and not get eaten by the mandarin, that would be helpful. Also if you dose phyto, you'll feed the pods. Start off dosin a small amount and increase very gradually, otherwise you might get a lot of algae.

[rockytop47]

Thanks! Forgot to mention that I would be removing ALL the filter media out of the filter, my bad! I just want a box/refugium for the top of the DT for copes to live and breed in. My only concern thus far is MAYBE it'll be too close to the lights. All the research I've done points to pods liking the dark. May just go with the pod condos in my refugium as I run a reverse photo period with a 5500 K bulb for my chaeto

[TL1000RSquid]

Marina makes a breeder box thats a HOB like 10"x5"x5" I'd consider that or a larger filter like an aquaclear70 or 110. A little 5-20 gallon rated hob isn't going to have much room maybe some rubble and a golfball sized piece of chaeto, I'veused big aquaclears and the marina hob breeder/fuge for macro's on smaller tanks and pods ended up growing ok in them.

[Psirex]

for a HOB look at one of these - http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/sumps-tanks-refugiums/refegiums.html

[rockytop47]

Thanks for all the info folks, I really appreciate it. I'm going to, I think, just add about 2-3 pounds of rubble to my refugium. Along with the chaeto, this should help supplement my pods now and I'll add a fresh culture every so often. I'm really happy my mandarin is already eating brine, so ANYTHING I can do to supplement his little fat self is a plus!

[Reeferz412]

I use an AquaClear 110... it puts out a ton of water and I have chaeto and rubble rock in there plus my chemi pure. Good hob filter fuge combo if you ask me for $25 on ebay. Plus no pump in my tank like the CPR fuges.

[Reeferz412]

I also used the Finnex/Marina hob box but I used a small 60 gph pump to increas flow throughout. It served me well and its pretty cheap. I have it boxed up in case I need it for another nano I start up.

[nynick]

Had a hob fuge on an old tank of mine and they are indeed great for pods. The power comes before the fuge unlike a reg one you keep under your tank so pods just flow into the dt rather than being chopped up by a pump. Just make sure the flow isn't too fast. Mine fed 2 mandarins and I suspect pretty much everything else in the tank too.

[rockytop47]

nynick! Now THAT was what I wanted to hear! I just came home today with the female mandarin(who also eats frozen/live brine shrimp) from the LFS I got my male from a week ago. He's already fattening up. I also got about 2 pounds of dry rock rubble I'm going to seed my fuge with and inject fresh pod cultures every other month, regardless of pod population. They're everywhere now as it is, but every little bit helps, right.

[nynick]

If you have enough rock in your dt and a big enough fuge I doubt you will need any extra feeding after it is all up and running. I am looking for one for myself too now...just have a 3 inch clearance behind the tank though. Might have to diy one (which I SUCK at), God help the down stairs neighbors! :)

[codyreef29]

Iwould put little balls of cheato in the tank in places it won't be seen and dump a crap load in were the fishes can find and eat them. alot pods in a refugium is a lotta pods in the refugium. alot pods were the fish are is a alot pods where the fish are.

[rockytop47]

Lol nynick, I'm a downstairs neighbor! Since I've had this female mandarin home she's eaten nonstop. I have the rubble in the fuge now and the chaeto in there is the size of a soccer ball now. I got a LITTLE tiny bit from my brother-in-law when I first did my setup, came with pods and worms of all kinds. I have copes for days, but would like more amphipods and rotifers, so I'm hoping by seeding more, I'll get my amph population up