Mr. Saltwater Tank TV Friday Am Quick Tip: Easily Save The Critters In Your Filter Socks
Copepods and Amphipods are great for your tank. Rescuing them from filter socks can be certain death unless you follow this easy step.
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Good to know I am not the only tank “wack” that saves the copepods from the filter sock. Now someone tell my wife I am not nuts-at least not 100% nuts!!
This sounds good in theory but whenever I’ve tried this all I end up with is a bunch of nasty brown water. Which I’m not all that interested in throwing back into my tank. And I can’t say I’ve ever seen that many pods in the socks. Fortunately I don’t use socks anymore (except for polishing after water change for a day)and I don’t see a difference in my display whether I use a sock or not. Are there really enough pods in the sock to repopulate the system I would think if there were your pod population is doing just fine so why not utilize the free food for the fish. The time I do see a lot of pods during maintenance is when I harvest the cheato. I place that in small bucket with some water and the pods all scatter back to the water. They go right back into the fuge.
Filter sock? What filter sock? I quit running one about a year ago, have not regretted it. To me They are more trouble than they are worth. I am with Darren on this one.
Matt…I tried but she didn’t listen
SHOCKER!!;)
I agree, filter socks drive me crazy. I only run them for a day or two after doing some tank maintenance that stirs up the sediment pretty well. Like blowing off all of the rocks. When I clean out the socks I just put the pods into my fuge. Otherwise I go sockless!
I not only save the pods from the filter sock (I prefer running a filter sock on one of the two overflows), but also spend the time saving as many pods as I can from the macro algae I have to remove from my refugium. I have made this a game with my 10-year-old and her little fingers are perfect for the task.
Not only does my Mandarin thank me for any extras, I get a chance to “distribute” pods to other locations and tanks.
It is a little extra effort, but fully worth it in my opinion
By counting the pods in the filter sock can give you a ideal about the health of your pod population.