looking for good source of all sizes in copepods and algae for refugium

[HARRYMANIA]

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[Timbo]

Algae Barn. I just placed an order for pods.

 

[HARRYMANIA]

Thank you , I have used them before but only for very small pods

 

[homegrowncichlid]

Far Rockaway heh? head on down to Jamaica Bay, Cross Bay Blvd, and gather all the materials you need during low tide. Look for green Ulva, red gralicias, those may not be available now, out of season, but you'll also find 2 or 3 thin kelp species and other red algae species. Pick up any shells with algae growing on them. There will be plenty of pods on them. Pick them up from below the water line. Set up a 20 gallon rubber maid container with super bright lights and an air pump at home. Cycle them and the pod life will explode. If you do bring any cyano, dino or diatoms, 3 days of lights out to starve them out, the macros will still be there and the pods will feed off the detritus in the dark. Repeat till the macros start growing. Then harvest when ready.

I currently have 3 18W LEDs over my hyposalinity setup, plenty of thin ulva growing in there, to keep my new tang happy. (what's really frustrating was last month, I had 2 tangs in there, but they ate everything up. I ran out of algae for 1 week, one starved out, I added the third fixture, and now the ulva is actually growing in mass). /sigh poor clown tang.

 

[bvega789]

Far Rockaway heh? head on down to Jamaica Bay, Cross Bay Blvd, and gather all the materials you need during low tide. Look for green Ulva, red gralicias, those may not be available now, out of season, but you'll also find 2 or 3 thin kelp species and other red algae species. Pick up any shells with algae growing on them. There will be plenty of pods on them. Pick them up from below the water line. Set up a 20 gallon rubber maid container with super bright lights and an air pump at home. Cycle them and the pod life will explode. If you do bring any cyano, dino or diatoms, 3 days of lights out to starve them out, the macros will still be there and the pods will feed off the detritus in the dark. Repeat till the macros start growing. Then harvest when ready.

I currently have 3 18W LEDs over my hyposalinity setup, plenty of thin ulva growing in there, to keep my new tang happy. (what's really frustrating was last month, I had 2 tangs in there, but they ate everything up. I ran out of algae for 1 week, one starved out, I added the third fixture, and now the ulva is actually growing in mass). /sigh poor clown tang.

Thats your QT setup?

 

[ichthyogeek]

I'd skip algaebarn. Do Gulf Coast Ecosystems instead, which sells you far more macroalgae than you'll ever need. For copepods, it depends on what you're looking for. Algagen works well. So does RUSalty/AquacultureNurseryFarms.

 

[HARRYMANIA]

Thats your QT setup?

aren't you afraid to introduce non sterile sea life to your aquarium ?

 

[bvega789]

aren't you afraid to introduce non sterile sea life to your aquarium ?

Yes but i didnt know you could use that for qt but thats just for macro

 

[Hydrospace LLC]

Try EcoPods from AlgaeBarn. Contains 4 species and includes individuals of all life stages (including microscopic nauplii). They guarantee the numbers of pods in each jar. Many customers mistakingly believe that they didn't get many pods because they cannot see the majority of individuals with their naked eye. To the contrary, you get a lot. And if you're using them for seeding (as opposed to direct feeding), then you'll actually prefer the younger individuals. Huge old pods exhibit poor fecundity, and males even avoid older (presumably larger) females. AlgaeBarn could simply use screen mesh sizes that would allow the nauplii to pass (so they could keep them, which would seriously make their production process easier/cheaper), and few customers would ever realize it. However, they add these smaller/younger individuals to the product, which is something they're proud of and have written about on occasion (in their blog).