DIY Vacation brine shrimp hatcher, advice requested

houstonhobby · 09/04/2013, 01:30 PM

Everyone,

I am thinking of this because I'll be away for 11 days at the end of this month and everything I have seems to love freshly hatched brine shrimp.

If somebody else has already tried this, I couldn't locate the thread. Please give me a reference.

I have a 90 gallon new tank with no sump. An HOB skimmer (tapped and running into a 5 gallon bucket), and HOB refugium (medium model from BRS, with light, filled with that bubble algae) and I plan to have two 20 gallon long aquariums sitting above the water line, on a shelf behind the display tank (currently, 1 10 gallon working this way).

The idea is to take one of the 20 long refugiums and use it as a brine shrimp hatchery. I have a bunch of those Ehiem feeders, but they aren't good for anything but dry stuff, so the plan is to put some baffles into the 20 long so that water coming in from the display tank and out of the bean animal overflow (I drilled three holes this time) will come from under the water, not the surface.

The Ehiem can drop in some cysts every day (I buy these things by the coffee can), they will float between the baffles until they hatch, at which time I can draw them toward the overflows by strategic placement of a light.

I could even drip feed some green water to feed them for a while (brine shrimp eat basically anything smaller than 60 micrograms). It would be even better if there was some kind of dry fry food that was small enough for me to put into a second ehiem feeder for them. Anybody know of one?

If it works, I'll probably use it all the time, not just for vacation. Anybody ever try this before? Disaster stories? Advice? Happy experiences?

Also, any idea what I could put in there that would clean up the old cysts without killing the brine shrimp?

Thanks,
Rod

fishgate · 09/05/2013, 06:49 AM

Why reinvent the wheel?

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...2&pcatid=10692

spieszak · 09/05/2013, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by houstonhobby

Also, any idea what I could put in there that would clean up the old cysts without killing the brine shrimp?

I don't know about any of the rest of it, but you could take a look at decapping the brine shrimp eggs ahead of time....

ReefKeeper64 · 09/05/2013, 07:13 AM

I did something similar to this for about a month and then stopped because it just wasn't worth the mess. The cyst shells float around and stick to your glass all the time making a mess of your DT, sump, and refugium. There is nothing that really eats the shells. Check out Paul B's thread here on RC on hatching brine. He has a step where the freshly hatched pods will swim from a dark area to a lighted area and that separates the shells from the baby brine. If you can automate that part, you'll have a winner of an idea.

09/04/2013, 01:30 PM	#1
houstonhobby Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 175	DIY Vacation brine shrimp hatcher, advice requested Everyone, I am thinking of this because I'll be away for 11 days at the end of this month and everything I have seems to love freshly hatched brine shrimp. If somebody else has already tried this, I couldn't locate the thread. Please give me a reference. I have a 90 gallon new tank with no sump. An HOB skimmer (tapped and running into a 5 gallon bucket), and HOB refugium (medium model from BRS, with light, filled with that bubble algae) and I plan to have two 20 gallon long aquariums sitting above the water line, on a shelf behind the display tank (currently, 1 10 gallon working this way). The idea is to take one of the 20 long refugiums and use it as a brine shrimp hatchery. I have a bunch of those Ehiem feeders, but they aren't good for anything but dry stuff, so the plan is to put some baffles into the 20 long so that water coming in from the display tank and out of the bean animal overflow (I drilled three holes this time) will come from under the water, not the surface. The Ehiem can drop in some cysts every day (I buy these things by the coffee can), they will float between the baffles until they hatch, at which time I can draw them toward the overflows by strategic placement of a light. I could even drip feed some green water to feed them for a while (brine shrimp eat basically anything smaller than 60 micrograms). It would be even better if there was some kind of dry fry food that was small enough for me to put into a second ehiem feeder for them. Anybody know of one? If it works, I'll probably use it all the time, not just for vacation. Anybody ever try this before? Disaster stories? Advice? Happy experiences? Also, any idea what I could put in there that would clean up the old cysts without killing the brine shrimp? Thanks, Rod __________________ 210 gallon wanna-be reef, 125 gallon sump. Bubble-Magus NAC-77.

09/05/2013, 06:49 AM	#2
fishgate Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Damascus, MD Posts: 3,340	Why reinvent the wheel? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...2&pcatid=10692 __________________ 125RR in-wall, 40B Sump, CS180 BM Skimmer, ATI 4x80 watt, eheim 1262, custom wrap around rock wall, ReefKeeper Elite 120g in-wall, 40B Sump, PC 54wx4, Jabao DC-6000 (full siphon), future seahorse t Current Tank Info: 125g, 120g, 2x40b sumps, ATI 4x80 T5HO

09/05/2013, 07:13 AM	#4
ReefKeeper64 Wanna be a reefkeeper Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Tampa Posts: 1,158	I did something similar to this for about a month and then stopped because it just wasn't worth the mess. The cyst shells float around and stick to your glass all the time making a mess of your DT, sump, and refugium. There is nothing that really eats the shells. Check out Paul B's thread here on RC on hatching brine. He has a step where the freshly hatched pods will swim from a dark area to a lighted area and that separates the shells from the baby brine. If you can automate that part, you'll have a winner of an idea. __________________ Reef Savvy 110g Tank \| GHL Profilux 4 Controller & Doser \| Royal Exclusiv Skimmer & Dreambox/Sump \| ATI 8x54 Sunpower T5 \| Ozotech Ozone Generator