Pods?

[OceanMaster]

I'm in the brown algae phase of cycling my new anocube dx and all thats in there are a few hermits, two snails, a peppermint shrimp(whom I ousted from my 20long because he was eating my yellow polyps) and two watermelon mushrooms. The pump keeps the temp around 72 but today I added a heater to raise the temp to around 77. I left home for several hours and when I came back I had millions of things that look kind of like tiny tiny shrimp. I noticed them when I turned the lights on in the tank to see how things looked. I don't think they are pods because they tend to flee for cover when I turn the lights on. The little things scoot around in there and they are like little white snowflakes from afar. Do you think the rise in temperature triggered a hatch of some eggs from my rock? Maybe the peppermint had eggs? I dont know Im just confused and wondering what they may be.
thanks yall

[newtofish]

They probably came on your LR and just have not been big enough to see. I know in my tank I did not see any pods a then one day it seemed like I had millions.
I am not sure what triggers the outbreak, you must be doing it right.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Those are probably just amphipods. They are harmless scavengers and good to have in the tank.

Here's Ron Shimek's "pods" article. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-08/rs/index.htm

[OceanMaster]

Well I'm still pretty sure that they were baby peppermint shrimp. They most likely all got sucked into the filter because I havn't seen any in a while but they didnt look like any of those pods, all of which I have seen before. I did manage to identify the gnat-like things skimming the surface of my tank though, thanks to the article. I asked the lfs about it and he said it was probably something from my hosue but I knew it was too wierd. They are hexapods, a flightless surface skimming marine gnat from the indo-pacific.

[johnmackay70]

Sugar Magnplia,

Thanks for the article.

BTW, I have had my micro up since 12/19 and I finally had a "pod" explosion over the weekend...very cool.