Quote:
Originally Posted by natas
if we can nail this down and get multiple people confirming that plankton and pods solve the issue for a good % of people maybe someone can write up a summary and howto and get it posted as a sticky.
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I've been toying with making a chart of efficacy from this and the older dino thread. I dunno how to account for multiple methods tho.
I can tell you that pods and phyto alone cured at least 2 people's tanks just in the last 4 pages of this thread. If you start including 'dirty method' in general that goes way up. Also it's the only method with zero adverse effects.
I can link several scientific papers (and the biology post-grad from the other thread who was trying to culture dinos) saying that copepods are the major predator, and that dinos don't compete well at higher nutrient levels.
Pod stuff:
-Try to get benthic pods. Might be difficult as tisbe and tigriops are both pelagic iirc. Nothing wrong with either type, fish just love pelagic
-add a chunk of live rock/sand from your LFS, local reefer to your sump, will seed pods. Doesn't have to be big. Someone must have a cheap mushroom frag for sale. Bonus if the piece includes some kind of algae
-Americans have zillions of options. Order a kit or live sand or a small piece of live rock from TBS, IPSF, ReefCleaners. Non usains are kinda hosed. Check local reef club, online classifieds
-Adding a bunch of macro algae will seed with many different types. Someone local with have chaeto for super cheap, it has to be harvested regularly
-just feeding phyto should cause a population explosion. It doesn't have to be live phyto. I'm using phytofeast which is dead and super concentrated
-if you can't get any of the above, overfeed. Many pods are detrivores. Overfeed anyway, it helps
hth
ivy