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I BOUGHT SOME 'PODS, HOW DO I ACCLIMATE THEM?





Not everyone needs to culture copepods. If your live rock just needs a little boost or you have a thriving refugium but have seen less and less of the "little white bugs" that inhabit it, just buy some 'pods and put them into your system to boost the population - no extra culturing is required.

ACCLIMATION PROCEDURES

Essential Live Feeds Copepods are shipped in a 4 oz. bottle at 28 ppt to 32 ppt salinity (1.022 to 1.025) with a little bit of food (this food will not harm your tank residents).  Copepods will settle to the bottom during shipping, so if you open the bottle and don't see any, try shaking it up and holding it up to the light or pouring them into a clear jar or tupperware container (NOTE - make sure there is no soap residue on any of your culture containers - this upsets the 'pods).
 
You can add them directly to the tank after bringing them up to the temperature of the water, or you can get some water from your tank, and combine about 25% of the bottle of the copepods to this water, and check in 15 minutes to see how they are doing.  If there is going to be an adverse reaction of the copepods, it will happen rather quickly, so you should know.  (Of course, if there is something wrong enough with the water that it's killing harpacticoid copepods, then there's something very amiss with the system.  These things live in highly variable environments and can withstand rapid salinity and temperature changes.)

Usually, if that first 25% make it, then just go ahead and add all the copepods to the tank water, and within a few weeks you will see a bloom.  A bloom is easily detected at night by shining a flashlight on the side of the tank.

If you have a voracious eater (mandarin gobies and/or seahorses), you might want to consider setting up a culture.

Check out my TIPS FOR CULTURING COPEPODS.