Protein skimmers work by mixing air and water together in a pump to create thousands of micro bubbles within the skimmer body. The surface area of these micro bubbles attach organic waste and move up the skimmer body and out into the collection cup. If organic waste can get removed by the protein skimmer the question becomes can the same thing happen to your beneficial Copepod populations and kill them?
ReefSumper Recommended Protein Skimmers
Yes, a protein skimmer has the potential to kill Copepods. Copepods can be killed by the protein skimmer as they move through the pump or get removed from the system via the skimmers collection cup.
If a protein skimmer can potentially kill your pods, the question becomes how much you should worry about this and are there considerations you should take to reduce the probability of the protein skimmer killing your Copepods.
How do Copepods Get Into the System?
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Copepods are tiny organisms that can live and breed within the marine aquarium system. Most of the time Copepods are introduced into a reef tank almost automatically, as they hitchhike on things introduced into the tank. Copepods can hitch a ride on live rock, corals, and substrate as they are brought into the tank. The other way Copepods make into the tank is the reefer seeding the tank with Copepods. Copepods can readily found for sale online and at local fish stores and added to the refugium or main display to seed the tank.
What good are Copepods in a Reef Tank?
Copepods are awesome to have in a reef tank and they fulfill many jobs in the reef tank. Copepods increase biodiversity, serve as a clean up crew member, and can serve as a food source. A healthy copepod population will increase the bio diversity of a tank and higher bio diversity often leads to greater stability and success in the tank. Copepods are tiny organism and they consume detritus in places like rock work that would otherwise go unclean. Remarkably Copepods also can provide a food source for other tank inhabitants like fish. Some fish like the Mandarin Goby prefer to eat Copepods exclusively. A healthy breeding population of Copepods can be a infinite resupply of food for some of the tanks inhabitants.
Should you Worry About the Protein Skimmer Killing your Copepods?
Ultimately you shouldn’t really worry about your skimmer killing off your Copepods. With a healthy population of Copepods in your tank many pods will make it through your sump past the skimmer and up into the display tank. Copepods will also inhabit and multiple in the display tank itself. It is most likely that your skimmer will only filter out a small fraction of your Copepods. If you want to maximize your Copepod population there are some steps to consider.
How to Ensure a Healthy Copepod Population
The best strategy for a healthy Copepod population is to have a safe place for your Copepods to call their home. A refugium is the perfect place for Copepods. Copepods will do very well in a refugium with chaeto, substrate, or live rock. If you are concerned about your skimmer killing off some of your pods one strategy to minimize this is to place the refugium section after the skimmer section in your sump. With a refugium following the sump more of the copepods will not have to bypass the skimmer to make it up into the display tanks. If you are seeding your tank with Copepods its also a good idea to do it in the evening with the lights out and with the skimmer off. Leave the skimmer off for a an hour or so to allow the pods to settle in. I like to seed both the display tank and the refugium.
Copepod Hotel & Reef Easy Feeder
Give your copepods a safe place to stay, in the Pod Hotel. The hotel can be placed in your sump or refugium. When the hotel is overbooked, just give the Pod Hotel a shake into your aquarium to release its occupants and watch your fishy friends enjoy a live tasty treat.
CPR Aquatic AquaFuge 2 Large Hang-on Refugium
The AquaFuge2 provides ideal growth conditions for food items, such as copepods and ampipods, to feed invertebrates and fish in the main tank. It provides a controlled growing area for macroalgae, and provided a “nursery” area for a variety of organisms.
Even though a protein skimmer can kill Copepods, the risk to wiping out a large portion of a healthy population is low. If you keep a the right conditions for Copepods including a refugium you should have a nice army of Copepods that improve biodiversity, clean detritus, and serve as a food source for the tank.