Copepods

Are these likely copepods ? I added some 2 weeks ago and haven’t seen any during the day since adding ( thinking they’ve all been eaten) it’s the first time I’ve seen them on a night if so. Drawn to the glass which has some algae growth. Thoughts ?

Started my very first tank this year (february '26). It has always been a dream to be able to join the saltwater hobby and after years of doubt I decided to go for it this year. The tank is far from mature after only running for about 7 months. The dry reef rock was leaking a lot and was a algea party for a long time. The tank is still pest free (that was the goal of the dryrock). I boosted the cycle with a litre of sand from a mature system which introduced copepods. This is a zero water change project. For questions, jump into the comments below! Happy reefing 🐟

What are people's thoughts on copepods?

The 80L AIO Nano reef is cycled and ready to go! In the last week we added in the manual filter roller mat and the Jebao DLW-5 Wavemaker to help move that detritus out through the roller mat and skimmer. We have been just dusting off the rock work daily to help loosen it up as well.

Parameters, Our Ammonia and Nitrite has been at zero for 2 weeks now, our alkalinity is sitting at 7.3, the nitrate is sitting steady at 10ppm, and calcium is sitting a little lower at 370 which is fine for a no livestock tank.

The plan now is for a 20-25% water change, keep loosening the detritus from the rock and skimming it out. Dosing copepods and phytoplankton that we culture ourselves, and hopefully add in a pair of clowns in the next week or so! 🐠🪸

Evening Feeding Frenzy….copepods, Mysis and some Phyto to top the evening off 🐠

Quick AI Prime 16 question for a new reef tank.

No corals yet — just copepods and clean-up crew.

I’m trying to keep the light low to avoid algae, but still make the tank look good.

Thinking:

RB 25 / B 25 / W 5

Everything else 0

5–6 hours/day

Light about 9–11” above the water

Is this a good starting point, or would you run it differently?

Harvesting Copepods for my Red Mandarin Dragonet.

Live Rotifer and Copepod time ...

Only one is interested.

Any tips to start a Copepods Culture?

Day 30.

Only 3 fish, but lots of easy corals, copepods, some inverts and live rock. Plus a steady dosing routine of nitrification bacteria.

The "ugly" stage lasted less than a 4 days and I think I am most happiest with the growth of that patch of macroalgae which I am sure is ripping out the Nitrate and phosphate but is wiping out the pest algae.

The goni isn't thriving but a drop of manganese seems to be assisting now, and I should probably try and get the peppermint shrimp out now they took care of the aiptasia but are now free to harass the BTA. Which the Clowns are not impressed by.

Hey guys, im a month in with my first nano (80l) and hitting a bit of trouble which id love some advice on.

Currently no fish, but added 4 trochus snails 10 days ago to start getting some life in there once cycle was complete.

My LFS recommended adding 2 bags of copepods and 2ml of phytoplankton once a week whilst we don't have fish to (i think) speed up algae growth.

For the last 5/6 days the water has looked a bit cloudy and nitrates have dropped from 18 to around 2 or 3. Chat GPT is saying it could be a bacterial bloom.

Continued in comments...

Huge Shoutout to TiaCollectionCoral for some awesome coral!

The ReefBay tank is getting its first corals. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to follow JDHAquatics tank series. And to see what these coral look like when they open up.

Did you know you can buy coral, fish, inverts & copepods all from within the ReefBay App?! Checkout the ReefBay marketplace.