Copepods and Caulerpa

[lenny]

Being new to the hobby, I still have a lot of questions, lol.

Is there a local source for copepods? I don't mind buying them, but to mail order them, the shipping charges are simply insane. I would much rather get them from a local source. I have recently upgraded to the 90 gal tank, and would like to get enough copepods to appropriately seed the tank until it becomes self sustaining. I don't have a refugium (yet, though I will in a few months), so would it be best to just dump them in the main tank and let them do their thing, or set up a small tank to just culture the copepods.

I am also interested in adding more caulerpa to the tank. Is there a place in town with a good variety? Any Reef club members with a surplus they need to get rid of? Are there any varieties that do better at removing wastes from the tank then others?

So the moral is for both the copepods and caulerpa:

Where do I get them?
How much do they cost?
HOw much does it take to have enough to start to culture them?
Do any reef clubbers have any they want to get rid of?

I'm too new to have anything to trade yet, other than these green things with pictures of presidential faces on them.... I think they are Americanus Moneyus.... Or will be happy to take a generous gift with the intention of passing it on when I am able to produce these things myself.

 

[cgill311]

Where do I get them?

Cappuccino Bay Aquarium sells both I think.

How much do they cost?

Pods $12 and for caulerpa, I'm guessing $8.

Sorry, I don't have caulerpa. I do have plenty of pods, but they're probably impossible to catch. I run chaeto in my fuge and it works great. You're welcome to some of that if you're interested.

 

[tsciarini]

How long has the 90 been up and running? Did you use rock that you had in a previous tank? The age and stability of the system is going to be a factor in pod survival.
Just something to think about...

 

[msnajkowski]

Lenny,

Where are you located?

 

[lenny]

Y'all are wicked cool! (see, im all hip with the lingo....)

I live in smyrna, fairly near the 75/285 split.

When I transfered to the 90, I brought over all my live rock, live sand, and the little macroalgae that i have. The guy who set up my tank also gave me a block of some super surface area material that he had cultured in his tanks for me to help get going. My levels are reading good, though slightly above zero. (And yes, I know I'm rushing things a bit, but hopefully, I will learn more patience over time )

I have spoken with aquazoa, and will be going to check out his store either later this week or early next week.

Here's my noob question of the day: What is Chaeto? I know that caulerpa is a macroalgae, but I'm not familiar with chaetomorpha, though I've seen people talk about having it, lol.

I will be setting up a refugium soon, and know that that is the best place to grow the caulerpa and the pods, but after spending so much on the big tank and setup, i need to wait til' next month for the refugium. I would like to get a jump on the collecting of the macroalgae though, and I'm told it's good to keep (or at least try to) a copepod population in the tank for the seahorses (and hopefully at some point, a mandarin goby, cuz every Hippie needs a tye-dyed fish....).

Okay, this is one disjointed post, but it's been a looooong day. I appreciate the responses, and will be contacting those folks who've sent me info. For what it's worth, I'm all about Karma, and as soon as I'm able to start helping people out with things like this, I plan to pay it forward, so thank you to all you helpful folks. Your information, resources, and willingness to help out a noob are GREATLY appreciated. I wish I could make it to tuesday night meetings and meet some of y'all face to face, but I work Tues. night, so for now I have to be content with a lot of typing.