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Unread 06/21/2010, 09:38 AM   #251
ME2003
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Coepods
There really is not a good reference for hobbyist for growing copepods
This is a good reference for larger scale and general information.
http://nsgl.gso.uri.edu/flsgp/flsgph07002.pdf
An issue with copepods is which algae to use. Rhodomonas is difficult to
grow but is the best. T. ISO works and is easier to grow. The article referenced
below has a lot of information on raising copepods.
I went to a presentation by Dr. Andrew Rhyne ,who raises a lot of copepods
for queen triggerfish, and he uses T. ISO. I have also tried growing Rhodomonas
and it is not easy.



Development of an optimal microalgal diet for the culture of the
calanoid copepod Acartia sinjiensis: Effect of algal species and
feed concentration on copepod development
R.M. Knuckey et al. / Aquaculture 249 (2005) 339–351


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Unread 06/21/2010, 09:49 AM   #252
ME2003
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For people living near the ocean in New England, We have been collecting a lot
of mysids lately. They are larger mysids but the juvenile shrimp are small and
do well in a tank. They are an good food for the newly hatch cuttlefish we are
raising. Amphipods can also be collected which is also a good food for newly
hatched cuttlefish


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Unread 06/22/2010, 05:28 PM   #253
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edit: ooops miss read your post


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Unread 08/10/2010, 10:35 PM   #254
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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?


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Unread 08/12/2010, 01:16 PM   #255
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Check the DO on the tanks when they crash, I bet it' super low.


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Unread 08/12/2010, 05:03 PM   #256
herring_fish
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Devolved Oxygen? Good thought. I guess that it is too late to do that. Version 2 was in a 6 foot tall tube that was only 6 inches in diameter. I had a good sized air pump that drove air through a smaller tube, to the bottom of the tube with no air stone. The bubbles traveled back up the whole 6 feet and were pretty energetic. I actually thought about clamping it down a bet because the bubbles were concentrated in the 6 inch column. Of course, if a bacteria bloom is big enough, there may not be enough air in the world to feed it.



Last edited by herring_fish; 08/12/2010 at 05:29 PM.
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Unread 08/13/2010, 01:06 PM   #257
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air is just one of a few methods to raise DO.... I would use a pure O2 source though as you do not want a major boil IME.


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Unread 08/14/2010, 06:56 PM   #258
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I had the end of the air tube placed at the bottom of the funnel in the tube. I am going to move it up to the half way point so that the solids can settle to the bottom. I am also going to suck out a little of the water from the funnel with a dosing pump every 3 hours so that I can get rid of those solids .

I hope that I don't have to go with pure oxygen. That would be an added complication and expense. My first step would be to install an algae scrubber because I am very comfortable with them. An algae scrubber would bring the dissolved oxygen up but that would entail a lift or a higher volume dosing pump. I already have one of those but I really want to keep this as simple as possible.

My hope is that by getting rid of as much of the un-dissolved powder as possible, I can keep the bacteria at a lower level. Then when the tube is full and running, I plan to turn over of a quarter of the water per day. Hopefully, the bacteria count will be low enough for the artemia to survive despite using powder.

Maybe I can find the key while keeping things simple and inexpensive as possible.


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Unread 08/17/2010, 12:38 PM   #259
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Rotifer=Artemia?(not)

Now I have to apologize. I am embarrassed to say that I have confused myself. I thought that artemia and rotifers were two names for the same thing or a generic name for both rotifers and brine shrimp. Rotifers are what I am actually trying to grow. Sorry

I have to re-visit a lot of my research and advice because I have conflated a lot of information into one confusing pile. I was getting information to go cleaner and to go dirtier.

A friend sent me to this site for continuous culturing.
http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/Rai...Same-c199.html

Now I have to figure how I can dove tail this into my design for feeding the tank. I still don't know if I can use powdered food for the rotifers.


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Unread 10/08/2010, 01:56 AM   #260
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thank you so much for taking the time to provide such an informative thread - exactly what i need right now... will take more time to read through tomorrow --- eggs are going to hatch soon, have someone going growing the food at the moment. want to do it going forward. hopefully all will go well... =)


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Unread 11/23/2010, 07:15 PM   #261
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Love the food talk Something about growing things seems so much fun. This other thread might be of use, although more for feeding corals than fish... but it seems to be the way the ocean does it...

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1843241


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Unread 01/22/2011, 09:07 AM   #262
efrenvillegas
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where can i get some calanoid copepods?


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Unread 01/22/2011, 09:34 AM   #263
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Www.livecopepods.com looks like the best source I have run across but others may have a better option


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Unread 01/29/2011, 01:30 PM   #264
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When my copepod culture tank's green water starts to clear out, a lot of bubbles form on the top of the water. These bubbles have a greenish tint and cover the whole surface of the water. Is this normal or bad?


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Unread 03/08/2011, 04:53 PM   #265
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but bubbles at the surface could be Ammonia? I would check the levels if I were you.


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Unread 03/08/2011, 04:55 PM   #266
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We've been raising copepods in a tank with a small powerhead. I've been wondering if copepods can be damaged by any powerheads of any pressure levels. Does anyone know?


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Unread 03/09/2011, 01:22 PM   #267
billsreef
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bexar View Post
Correct me if I'm wrong, but bubbles at the surface could be Ammonia? I would check the levels if I were you.
It's typically organic wastes that cause the bubbles, not the ammonia. Ammonia itself won't contribute to bubble formation, but having other wastes built up the bubbling point is usually a good indicator that the ammonia has also built up alongside those

Quote:
Originally Posted by bexar View Post
We've been raising copepods in a tank with a small powerhead. I've been wondering if copepods can be damaged by any powerheads of any pressure levels. Does anyone know?
The water flow doesn't damage them, however, the impeller itself can chop up a small percentage of the copepods.


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Unread 03/11/2011, 10:34 PM   #268
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I finally figured it out! I have been having success for a little over a month now so I thought that I would show what I am doing in a graphic and further explain some of the details. I originally posted a version of this in the DIY section but I thought that this is a better place for the project.



(On top left, ATS with 130G main tank below it. Center, critter tower. Right top, peristaltic pump with 55G sump below it.)

I want to grow different kinds of critters in my garage. Right now. I and trying to grow rotifers.

I bought a 6 foot acrylic tube, for another purpose, that is 6 inches in diameter. I also bought a funnel from Grangers for about 3 bucks and after six tries I figured out how to affix it into the end of the tube. It was made of a plastic that doesn't lend itself to being glued but it was the right size and shape. I expect that the solids will settle to the bottom and go out to the main tank where it can be processed.

I attached a set of reducers and connectors to the bottom of the funnel that takes a ¼ inch tube. Since the tower is taller than the main tank, I plan to let the water from the tower, drain back to the show tank using gravity.

I ran the tube from the funnel, up to the desired water line in the tower before letting it descend to the tank. Hk855 suggested that I add a ”T” connector at the high point of the tube to allow air to get into the line so that the siphon can not empty the tower if the tube falls to the ground or something like that. That will allow for this point to be a spillway for the water. I put a filter on the tower's inlet line to keep larger critter from getting into the rotifer tower. The pump lifts the water up and over the lip of the tower.

When I pump water into the top of the tower, the same amount comes out of the bottom, up and over the spill way, on its way to the tank, from the garage where the reactor is. If I change out 2 to 2 ½ gallons, I hope that the water quality will stay within acceptable limits. I plan to split it up into 8 or more 1/4 gallon, one minute periods, throughout the day and night with that peristaltic pump and a timer.

I won't have to turn off the skimmer at feeding times because I use an algae scrubber instead so that food will stay suspended in the water column longer. The pump will chop up some of the plankton but I can't do much about that right now. I have designed a high volume non-traumatic pump but that will have to wait for a while.

I have been able to grow the rotifers in the tower using liquid food to get started at the suggestion of a friend but the food is dead just like the powder so it will fowl. That means that the water changes are important. As I said earlier, I have tried using powders three times and they crashed quickly. I think that this success is a result of my cutting back on the food. As I get the tower to work with liquid food, I will try to see how much I can supplant with powders. My tank already handles more food than what I plan to use for culturing.



P.S. I just talked to someone at Reed Maricuture and he said that I should turn up the air flow quite a bit. Additionally, I had already planned to do this to finish up an almost hands free system but he felt that it was important that I implement continues feeding with a peristaltic pump. This should greatly increase the density of the culture.

I would love to have feed back on my wacky ideas. I hope that I can grow other forms of critters in more towers with basically the same method.


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Unread 03/15/2011, 01:40 AM   #269
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Hey every one!

Can I give my rotifers dead nanoachlo. alge?

I'v nanochlo, that is in my freez.

Thank you.


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Unread 03/15/2011, 12:43 PM   #270
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Sure you can


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Unread 03/15/2011, 04:56 PM   #271
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Thank you!


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Unread 03/20/2011, 07:32 AM   #272
jake levi
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20 L culture bottles

I used the five gallon water dispenser bottles for culturing green water, artemia and rotifers,

cut the bottoms off, smooth the edges, silicon into the necks a food safe tap.

Build a rack to stand the inverted bottles, I used pine uprights, with long board in between with holes for the bottle necks and the bottles rested on their shoulders, you can either string a light 'bungee' type cord to hold all the bottles straight or each one individually.

Illumination can be overhead and from the back, I used 4 lamp Flo. fixtures, one overhead and one from the rear on its side. Gives a LOT of light.

A rack of 5-6 of these works very well. Above each bottle is an airline with a air hose down into the neck of the bottle with an airstone.

When harvesting the culture through the tap just take the airstone out of the culture for 5-10mins ddepending on what the culture is. You can then draw off as much as you want, I used a large measuring cup. Pour the fluid into a seine filter and then rinse the filter into fresh water, pour it into your feeding culture or use a baster. Return the drained water to the cultures or replace with fresh solution.

These will raise a LOT of phyto, rotifers, copepods, and artemia.Put the pods into the darker shaded ones, or put some paper around them or just leave them.

I'd like to take credit for these but saw them at Scripps a long long time ago. You can tweak them for whatever species you want to rear.


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Unread 03/23/2011, 10:08 PM   #273
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Sounds like enough food for a lake


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Unread 03/24/2011, 03:21 PM   #274
jake levi
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cultures

Not really, growing artemia out takes space as does phyto for them, five gal cultures isnt all that huge, nor is five gallon rot cultures, gallon jars etc I expect are good for pods but growing broods can use a lot of artemia and rots.


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Unread 04/27/2011, 05:27 PM   #275
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I can never get a thick amount of rods to live, i have them in a 10 gallon bucket and just an air line. is there any thing im doing wrong? and i feed them phyto 2 times a day..


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