I have copepods!!

[Lizzy_lray]

Saw my first outbreak of copepods today! I'm excited bc other then the bit of diatom this is the first site of something living and moving in my tank to the naked eye!




Really hard to see with a pic but there are a few on the left crawling on the glass. Silly post I know but I can't contain my excitement any longer

[xaflatoonx]

Awesome. I can totally relate

What did you do to get there. Help me please.

[PotteryMan]

I literally read this post after staring at rocks in my tank watching pods crawling around everywhere. My tank is 4 months old. I have been battling hair algae apocalypse for almost two months. Algae is getting under control, rocks are 85% bare with green to purple color which I hope is the start of coraline. Even the little things in this hobby are exciting!

Here is my only fish:


All that algae in the background is GONE!!!

Good Luck, have fun!!

PS: I named him Thor.

[m0nkie]

Originally Posted by xaflatoonx

Awesome. I can totally relate

What did you do to get there. Help me please.

when the condition is right (usually after you finish cycling), you just need to get a liverock or chaeto algae from someone who has pods in their tank. then you will have pods.

[Lizzy_lray]

Originally Posted by xaflatoonx

Awesome. I can totally relate

What did you do to get there. Help me please.

Um not a whole lot really, RO/DI water, good cured liverock from a really great reef only store and carib sea live sand and usual equipment. This is day 10 since I added the live rock...the tank started 20 days ago.

[Jritter02]

I,bought a bag of pods and put them in my tank. So Damn small I haven't seen them since. I may have too much flow for them to come out..

[Lizzy_lray]

Originally Posted by PotteryMan

I literally read this post after staring at rocks in my tank watching pods crawling around everywhere. My tank is 4 months old. I have been battling hair algae apocalypse for almost two months. Algae is getting under control, rocks are 85% bare with green to purple color which I hope is the start of coraline. Even the little things in this hobby are exciting!

Here is my only fish:


All that algae in the background is GONE!!!

Good Luck, have fun!!

PS: I named him Thor.

Thanks I love Thor!! He looks awesome I'm so jelly I want fish so bad!

I haven't had any hair algae in this tank but I've had it in the past in a 125 gallon (that tank had more issues then past nano) you should post more pics of your tank!

[xaflatoonx]

I am ordering some pods and some phyto

Any tips on how to use phyto? Just dump it in DT after putting in the pods?

[firemedix911]

I find myself looking at those tiny efersss moving around the glass. It was easy for me as I added 90+ pounds of life rock. I have to clean the glass every day bc of pods. Lol. My Mandarin is in heaven.

[xaflatoonx]

How do you guys know they are there? Supposedly they are tiny and undetectable to naked eye.

[Lizzy_lray]

You can totally see them in the glass they are the size of or maybe slightly smaller then a gnat you would see in the summer time. Except they are white and are usually hanging out on the glass or close to the sand bed.

[huntreefs]

Pods are awesome. Love all the little critters that emerge from all the rock and sand beds. Seems like you always see some new life pop up once your reef is established.

[SteveZZR]

Wonder if I'll start seeing pods again soon..... When I upgraded I bought second hand rock and put it straight in..... Unfortunately it was from a predator tank and full of nutrients that have left me battling algae since!

Added a one spot foxface on Saturday and I can see bare rock for the first time in ages!!!

[ShannyG]

What is it about blenny faces that make me want to laugh every time I look at one?

[Clowny88]

Originally Posted by PotteryMan

I literally read this post after staring at rocks in my tank watching pods crawling around everywhere. My tank is 4 months old. I have been battling hair algae apocalypse for almost two months. Algae is getting under control, rocks are 85% bare with green to purple color which I hope is the start of coraline. Even the little things in this hobby are exciting!

Here is my only fish:


All that algae in the background is GONE!!!

Good Luck, have fun!!

PS: I named him Thor.

What did you do to finally turn the corner on the algae? I'm about 3 weeks in and its nuts. Just did first water change today, 10%.

[PotteryMan]

Originally Posted by Clowny88

What did you do to finally turn the corner on the algae? I'm about 3 weeks in and its nuts. Just did first water change today, 10%.

I just saw this, been a late night watching football. I believe my algae problem was phosphates and the solution was GFO and patience. I will post some pics tomorrow of the tank new, middle of the infestation, and present. The difference is amazing. In the last two weeks the nuisance alga just began to disappear.

I am now concerned about having enough food for my blenny.

[Code4]

You can buy sheets of algae. Also make pod hotels. Pods are eaten by almost everything. My blenny hangs out on my feeder designed by Paul b. So he likes baby brine shrimp also.

Shelley

[PotteryMan]

So here we go...my timeline:

Here is the tank after cycling September 20th Algae starting to kick in. Clean up crew only.



I installed GFO and reactor October 11th. By November algae was out of control. Here is a ricordia on Nov 22.



November 29th, Thor on the "rocks".



December 3rd, uncropped image of Thor from above. Notice the algae growing from the sand. During the whole algae fight, I would use a long shirt hanger straightened and knock it down everyday. I was cleaning filter socks and blue filter pad daily about an hour after manually stirring algae up.



Now today, same area as picture above. I moved the leather coral.



Today, shot of the right side of aquarium. Red circle will be close up in second picture showing extent of algae today.





And finally, today, a picture of the same ricordia in the same spot as above.



Not great pictures all shot on my phone but hopefully it will show you that GFO works, it just takes time. Now time for a drink!

[PotteryMan]

Originally Posted by ShannyG

What is it about blenny faces that make me want to laugh every time I look at one?

"You mean, let me understand this ... cuz I ... maybe its me, maybe I'm a little messed up maybe. I'm funny how, I mean funny, like I'm a clown? I amuse you. I make you laugh? I'm here to ****** amuse you? Whattya you mean funny? Funny how? How am I funny?" - GoodFellas

[banjowalker]

Congrats man! I saw some pods the other day too. Get a cleanup Crew if you don't want to get fish. I enjoy watching my cuc almost as much as my clowns. I'm fighting a beastly outbreak of hair algae myself, but I'm ordering gfo and other stuff today to help

[Clowny88]

Thanks for the pics PotteryMan. I'm going to pick up GFO and a reactor to help fight the battle.

[PotteryMan]

You're welcome, GFO works. One of my power heads has a clump of green hair algae that I haven't manually removed. I scraped it off tonight and fed it to my crab. Here is the crab eating the algae with pods all over it...recorded on my phone tonight: