If you've been following along our previous blog posts you have learned an ample amount of informative content and basics about copepods and rotifers. We have talked a lot about how beneficial introducing these into your reef tank is for your beloved fish and coral specimens. So how are fellow reef keepers able to keep copepods in their system with such success? Today we will be diving into how to establish and grow your copepods in your reef tank.

•        INTRODUCING PODS TO YOUR SYSTEM: A few important things to consider when planning to start a pod population are: your system volume, if your system has any type of refugium, and accessibility to attain macroalgae [althought macro is not needed and we'll go more into this in a future article]. The water volume of our system is something we typically want to think about when we start talking about pod population because the more space we can provide for pods to hide, reproduce, and flourish the higher chances we have to allow them to establish. Something that increases pods survival and population is having a refugium or sump with a type of macro algae. [As seen below in the picture here, A very popular type of macroalgae that reefers like to establish for their pod population in is chaeto or caulerpa. These types of macroalgae offer a dense and great surface area for pods to hide in. They also offer an advantage of being an awesome way to eliminate nitrates naturally and easily. Once you have considered the above key points and have your POD YOUR REEF pods ready to go, turn off any pumps causing water agitation and pour in your bag of pods into your refugium. Keep your pumps off for a bit to allow your pods to settle in and find some hiding places in your algae then turn your pumps back on. So now that you've introduced your pods to your system how do you maintain them?

•        MAINTAINING YOUR POD POPULATION: It's very simple to add pods to your tank but let's talk about how to keep a healthy and thriving pod population to keep your reef tank happy. Remember in our previous posts we discussed phyto and how it was important and beneficial for our systems? This is where our phyto comes into play as it is what feeds our pods and keeps them healthy. By dosing our POD YOUR REEF phyto that we offer per the dosing schedule we provide in our FAQ.  This is a sure way of keeping your pods happy with a quality food source. However, pods will also eat detritus, any left over food. It is very important to be mindful of keeping a good source of food for your pods to keep a thriving and healthy population as one starvation is one of the most common reasons why pod populations die off quickly. Make sure to check out our subscriptions to ensure you never run out of food for your pods. 

•        HOW TO INCREASE AND BOOST YOUR POD POPULATION: A lot of reefers typically like to keep a very healthy and hefty number of pods in their system. A few ways to increase your number of pods include: manually purchasing more POD YOUR REEF pods and adding them to your refugium, being very thoughtful and mindful of where you are establishing your population by having plenty of surface area  or macro algae along with rock rubble that increases more surface area, allowing more space for them to hide and reproduce in a safe spot where they are not being hunted by fish and other specimens in your tank, and dosing phytoplankton per a dosing regimen that works best for your system

Thank you for joining us today and letting us share with you how to establish and maintain a happy and healthy pod population. Be sure to stock up on your pods here