Blog Comments

matt_longview - Today 01:07 PM

I have a refugium and rock rubble in the tank. I'm wanting to do more outside of the tank... I've got more phyto than I could ever feed to my tank, and I cut back half of my chaeto every couple of weeks. I just see that chaeto being thrown out and I think " Man... I wish I didn't have to throw away the pods that are in this!". When you have a mandarin in a nano... even if it is eating frozen... you want to get as many pods into the tank as possible. Do you guys think I'm wasting my time if I already have rock rubble and a refugium in my tank?

Hello when i harvest my macro i put about two gallons of system water in a bucket.And try to spread out the macro and kinda shake out some of the life in it then toss the macro and dump the water back into my sump.always seem to get a bunch of all different size creatures left in the bucket to return to our reef.
happy tanks to ya

melev - Today 01:03 PM
Sounds a lot like a refugium to me.

.Well it is refugium the thing i really like about our little bucket fuge is that with one of our spare power heads or little pumps its portable from tank to tank very easy to move oh yeah.I think i'll call it" pods across America" lol. Kind of surprised Marc did not pick up on the portability issue of our system.Did we slip one past the master.lol

No, I'm not suggesting that. If you want to set up a secondary system to grow them out, go for it. Document it. Share it with us. We'd love to follow along!

I have a refugium and rock rubble in the tank. I'm wanting to do more outside of the tank... I've got more phyto than I could ever feed to my tank, and I cut back half of my chaeto every couple of weeks. I just see that chaeto being thrown out and I think " Man... I wish I didn't have to throw away the pods that are in this!". When you have a mandarin in a nano... even if it is eating frozen... you want to get as many pods into the tank as possible. Do you guys think I'm wasting my time if I already have rock rubble and a refugium in my tank?

Sounds a lot like a refugium to me. Setting up a predator-free zone is the best way to breed pods. Well-fed pods will breed and their babies will flow up into the display as live food. You can also make pod-piles in your tank, such as using a pile of small rocks inside an upside-down strawberry basket. The pods breed and the fish can't get in to decimate the population, but can still pick off some morsels that get to close to the edge of the basket.

Hello Matt if you look our pictures........".Our latest reef" you will see the pod factory that we built.It is a simple 5 gallon bucket with two bulkheads one to supply water from the manifold of our pump the other just drains into the sump.we put in six inches of clean marine sand and a hand full of macro algae and its producing pods at an amazing rate.We have a scooter blennie and he picks pods of the rock work constantly.We installed the supply line about two inches above the sand bed with a elbow pointing to the surface for good gas exchange and the drain is about 2 inches from the top of the bucket.we are using a cheapo clip on light fixture with a 5100k CFL and we are harvesting a ball of macro every 3 weeks about the size of a baseball.wish i had used a 20 gallon barrel.We a pushing roughly a 120 to 150 gallons per hour through are pod factory.good luck happy pods to you........

matthew

Thanks for the little article. That's the same basic info I've been finding as well.

The article says no light is needed... would putting it in the sunlight help algae growth and therefore help give some natural food, or would it not matter to put it anywhere I wanted?

although far from scientific you my find this useful http://reviews.ebay.com/Copepods-Car...ARCH:2&afsrc=1

She still looks a little thin. You might try out the mandarin diner with some food inside to assure she can get a good fill without other fish competition.

Yes...I'm aware of that mistake as well. Mandarin Dragonet or Psychedelic Mandarin would be the correct choice of common names. Before I researched them myself I wasn't aware that they weren't goby's either. Now that I know... I should stop using the incorrect name! Old habits die hard right. :-)



Check these pics out and let me know if you believe she's skinny (and if you can fully say she is in fact a she!). I have done my research, but this is the first I have ever owned so I'll take experienced advise of others very quickly! :-) Thanks Marc. If she is a she, I'm very pleased. Rumor says they are easier to care for.

What does the body of the Mandarin look like? Is it round or do you see a horizontal rib down its side? In the first picture it appears a little skinny to me, but with her fin in the way I can't tell. It also appears to be female, unless you happen to see a long spine coming up off the front dorsal fin. FYI, Mandarins are not in the goby family. It's a mandarin, not a mandarin goby. Everytime I see them marked like that at the LFS, I tell the staff so we can break that habit. You have a Psychedelic mandarin - Synchiropus splendidus http://www.melevsreef.com/id/mandarin.html

That clam doesn't appear to be a Maxima based on the shell's structure or lack of scutes.

Your new additions are looking good, nice pics, I hope I can find me a couple Mandarins that eat like yours is. That Dendro is one of my favorites also.

I'll give these guys a few days in the shade. They are both new additions... only been in for a week. Everything else is still looking great, well... except a few things weren't glued on well enough and fell over. lol

tank looks great i had a few corals loose color i knew i didnt have to much light but it was my iodide so u might want to test for just to see i was told its like sun tan lotion for the corals

Hello nice looking fish and corals the mandarin looks great.We have a scooter blenny that was in 14 gallon cube so we rescued him very fat and happy in a 40 breeder was in a 29 before January did fine

Looks like a very nice start with a bunch of good choices for corals.

Very nice selection of corals! Bet it looks awesome under blues in person. It's really going to rock when things grow out.