Reef Central Online Community - View Single Post - Microfood culture: phytoplanktons, Rotifers, ciliates, Artemia, and copepods

herring_fish · 08/10/2010, 10:35 PM

I want to grow artemia but I want to learn how to grow it using powdered phytoplankton. To that end,
(Version 1) I got about a quart of the critters from someone that grows it and put it in a 10 gallon tank in the garage, filled with about 8 gallons of freshly mixed salt water. I bubbled air into the tank through a tube with no stone. I added powder twice a day. I added a few pinches, enough to return the water lightly green but adding enough so that it does not run clear before the next feeding. The culture appeared to do well, multiplying nicely, until the fourth day when it crashed all of a sudden. I knew that it would happen but I thought that it would take longer for the powder to foul the water.

(Version 2) I got another quart, put it in a new clean empty tank and added powder that night. Once again, it was aerated. The next day, I added 2 gallons of clean salt water. I continued to feed the culture twice a day and added 2 more gallons of clean salt water each day. Never the less, the culture crashed last night. Again, it was the fourth day.

I thought that adding 2 gallons per day would keep the water parameters reasonably good until I could start cycling 2 gallons of water from the main tank and back again per day, at a rate of one quart every 3 hours. I would do this using a timer and a controller based powder feeder.

I tested the water after the crash and the nitrates were very low. The test kit hardly changed color at all so it was less than 10 mg/l. I would guess that it was 1 or 2. The phosphates, on the other hand, were a 0.8 mg/l.

In the past, I kept a 55 gallon tank of brine shrimp in the basement with only an air stone and some coral sand on the bottom. I added eggs from time to time and powdered food several times a week. The tank never fouled and the critters simply dove to the bottom and fed off of the surface of the sand.

I thought that if I could dial the artemia culture in properly, I could keep a sustainable culture using powdered food. It seams that artemia is much more finicky than I thought that it would be.

Can anyone give me some advice to help me out on Version 3?

08/10/2010, 10:35 PM	#254
herring_fish Crazy Designer Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Winston-Salem NC, USA Posts: 1,029	Sustainable Artemia Culture I want to grow artemia but I want to learn how to grow it using powdered phytoplankton. To that end, (Version 1) I got about a quart of the critters from someone that grows it and put it in a 10 gallon tank in the garage, filled with about 8 gallons of freshly mixed salt water. I bubbled air into the tank through a tube with no stone. I added powder twice a day. I added a few pinches, enough to return the water lightly green but adding enough so that it does not run clear before the next feeding. The culture appeared to do well, multiplying nicely, until the fourth day when it crashed all of a sudden. I knew that it would happen but I thought that it would take longer for the powder to foul the water. (Version 2) I got another quart, put it in a new clean empty tank and added powder that night. Once again, it was aerated. The next day, I added 2 gallons of clean salt water. I continued to feed the culture twice a day and added 2 more gallons of clean salt water each day. Never the less, the culture crashed last night. Again, it was the fourth day. I thought that adding 2 gallons per day would keep the water parameters reasonably good until I could start cycling 2 gallons of water from the main tank and back again per day, at a rate of one quart every 3 hours. I would do this using a timer and a controller based powder feeder. I tested the water after the crash and the nitrates were very low. The test kit hardly changed color at all so it was less than 10 mg/l. I would guess that it was 1 or 2. The phosphates, on the other hand, were a 0.8 mg/l. In the past, I kept a 55 gallon tank of brine shrimp in the basement with only an air stone and some coral sand on the bottom. I added eggs from time to time and powdered food several times a week. The tank never fouled and the critters simply dove to the bottom and fed off of the surface of the sand. I thought that if I could dial the artemia culture in properly, I could keep a sustainable culture using powdered food. It seams that artemia is much more finicky than I thought that it would be. Can anyone give me some advice to help me out on Version 3?