Going to start a POD farm

Discussion in 'Fish Food' started by Peredhil, Jun 3, 2009.

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  1. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    Next week is my next water change. I am going to use the dirty water to start a POD farm.

    I have an old 3 or 5 gallon acrylic fish tank I plan on using.

    This is my plan. If you see problems, PLEASE let me know. This will be my first POD farm.

    Thanks to Pack for the pointers.


    More or less fill the old tank with WC water. Put in a heater and set it at 80.

    Drop in some normal new and clean kitchen sponges
    [​IMG]

    Order a thing of pods and dump them in.

    Feed occasionally some phyto and/or flakes.

    Put the aquarium in a dark armoire for out of the way keeping.

    Is this fine?



    There would be no substrate. There would be 0 flow in the tank. There would be almost 0 light in the tank. Are any of these a problem for a pod farm?

    Any pointers on how long until this just stinks to high heaven? I basically plan on switching out the water ever 3-4 months when I do a W/C. Hoping this will be often enough to keep the stink at bay.

    After this has been up and running for a while and appears to be working, I will get a mandarin. Yay!

    Thanks for any pointers!
     
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  3. Robman

    Robman Great White Shark

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    cool--however i dont think you will need a heater as hot as it is right now!!! Whew!
     
  4. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    Too true ;) but I have an extra one so I'll use it anyway


    I forgot, I will also have an air stone and a thermometer in there.
     
  5. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    Also, I will get a Amphi/cope mix of pods.

    And I will mark the tank's "full" line so I can top off with fresh as needed. Moderate SG swings probably not an issue.
     
  6. Robman

    Robman Great White Shark

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    Let me know how it works out--i want a Manderin, But i promised I would not do it until I hit the 1 year mark. I have alot of bugs in the fuge but I never see them in the DT. Maybe they get eaten immediately.--PS How do you change the water without losing a bunch???
     
  7. inwall75

    inwall75 Giant Squid

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    At any point in time, there will be swimming (pelagic) pods. However, they prefer surface area to hold onto (benthic). Yes, you might lose a few but most are going to remain.
     
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  9. Iraf

    Iraf Snowflake Eel

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    i started farming pods off my overflow on my nano, just put some thing sponge pad at the top where it could float and I used that to seed the fuge on my 90 where pods now grow at a nearly alarming rate
     
  10. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    Just change the water on top? I guess... I don't really know. Maybe between evaporation and top offs, that's enough of changing water?

    I think they multiply fast enough and the W/C would be rare enough this wouldn't be a real issue?

    Not sure though.
     
  11. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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    Are there any problems with the only flow being what little is created by an air stone?

    Any reason at all to add a PH?
     
  12. Peredhil

    Peredhil Giant Squid

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