I have a new tank
Building a new aquarium from the ground up? Adding a sump and refugium to an exisiting display tank? AlgaeBarn has everything you need to get started! Read on below to learn more about establishing a thriving, natural marine ecosystem that feeds the inhabitants of your tank, keeps your tank clean and balances key nutrient levels the way nature intended.
The Ultimate Refugium Starter Pack
The BEST way to start a new Sump/Refugium - includes Live Copepods, Live Phytoplankton, Clean Macroalgae, MarinePure Biomedia & Fritz Turbostart 900. Each component serves a vital role in establishing key trophic levels in a Saltwater Marine Ecosystem. Read on to learn about the key benefits of each component, and how they work together in your aquarium system. Our Ultimate Refugium Starter Packs come in two shipment, sent one week apart.
Live Copepods
Live Copepods are an essential component to any Saltwater Aquarium Ecosystem. Our 5280 Pods offer the most biodiversity available and include Tigriopus, Tisbe, and Apocyclops Copepods, ranging form juvenile to adult in size. Our copepods are designed to be added directly in your system, and ofer a wide variety of beneficial behaviors and functions that help your tank and its inhabitants thrive.
Copepods serve as a great food source for feeding finicky fish & inverts such as Mandarins, Seahorses, Anthias, Wrasses, SPS, LPS, Softies, NPS corals, Clams, and many other filter-feeding inverts. All of our jars contain a range of juvenial to adult pods - the adult pods are easy for the inhabitants of your tank to see and typically provide a more immediate food source, while the more juvenile pods will hide out in your refugium, reproduce & establish a sustainable population in your tank. Copepods change size & shape many times during their first month of life, making them the perfect scavengers for both cleaning your glass and reaching the small, hard-to reach nooks and crannies of your tank!
Live Phytoplankton
Live Phytoplankton forms the base trophic level of your Saltwater Aquarium Ecocystem. Each Bottle of OceanMagik contains four unique species of LIVE Phytoplankton (Nanno, Iso, Tet, and Thal) that is great for feeding copepods, corals, clams and other filter-feeding inverts. It will seek out and consume Nitrates and Phosphates in your aquarium before they can contribute to nuisance algae growth. This means you get less algae, clearer water, more copepods, & vibrant corals!
In addition to serving as a perfect food source for the three-species of copepods in our 5280 Pods, OceanMagik is also ideal for combatting dinoflagellate outbreaks, as well as spot-feeding coral to get great polyp extension, coloration, and growth.
Clean MacroAlgae
Our Clean Macroalgae grows quickly and cleans your tank by consuming Nitrates & Phosphates for easy nutrient export. Balance out your nutrient levels and watch your in-tank ecosystem fluorish.
The Ultimate Refugium Starter Pack typically comes with Clean Chaeto, which forms a tangled mass that can spread over the substrate and tends to maintain its shape well when kept in large masses. As a result, copepods love hiding out in the ample inteerior space of the Chaeto. However, you also have the choice of a few other Macroalgaes if you'd prefer those. Our Clean Sea Lettuce makes a great alternative for larger sumps & refugiums, as it grows the quickest out of all the macros we offer and make a great snack for fish in your tank, tangs love it!
Marinepure 2" Cubes
The Ultimate Refugium Starter Pack comes with 2" MarinePure Ceramic Biofilter Cubes - exclusively available in small quantities at AlgaeBarn!
Marinepure is designed for Ammonia and Nitrite removal but we've found that they also make an excellent habitat for Copepods. One MarinePure Sphere has the same surface area as 1,350 plastic 1.5" bio-balls. Copepods love to live and reproduce in it and they enjoy the safety and shelter it provides- they're kind of like an apartment building for copepods that also stabilize yoru tank. Due to its extremely porous nature, water is able to flow through instead of just around it which allows fish waste, detritus, and phytoplankton to flow through and provide the pods with a consistent food source.
Fritz Turbostart 900 Saltwater - Live Nitrifying Bacteria
FritzZyme TurboStart completely cycles aquariums in five days or less, allowing for safe, immediate addition of livestock. It's designed to rapidly eliminate toxic Ammonia and Nitrite, prevent "New Tank Syndrome" & fish loss and offer a safe, natural approach to water treatment.
The 1st shipment in our Ultimate Refugium Pack contains Fritz Turbostart, and MarinePure Cubes for the Nitrifying Bacteria to colonize. After your tank is cycled, the Copepods, Phytoplankton, & Macro Algae arrive one week later, ready to be added to your tank right away!
