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Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Monday, July 9, 2012 3:30 PM
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I have continuously been annoyed by what I find to be a high maintenance creature (for what it is). So I have been trying to figure out an easier way to culture rotifers with as little effort and as little time as possible. I have a good method now! This method is ONLY for those that don't harvest rotifers on a daily basis! I have done this method with both 5 gallon pails (which proven to be way too many rotifers for my use), and now 3.5 liter buckets that I found in the painting section at a hardware store. I have used this method for about 3 months now and no crashes. I suggest keeping the typical 2 cultures that are at different levels of fullness in case of crash of one bucket. Day 1 - Add dense starter culture of 1/6 of the bucket capacity. Add fresh saltwater to achieve 1/3 bucket. Day 2 - Add 1/3 of the bucket capacity fresh saltwater. Now 2/3 full. Day 3 - Add 1/3 of the bucket capacity fresh saltwater. Now 3/3 full. Day 4 - Decant top 1/6 of bucket (clean culture) into spare container. Gently clean rotifer bucket (just brush it down, no disinfectants), return the decanted part of the culture to the bucket. Add fresh saltwater to achieve 1/3 bucket. Continue with "Day 2". Also, when I do a waterchange on my larvae tanks, I sieve the waste water and add the rotifers back to the rotifer culture buckets. This has helped me achieve higher density. Once I have reached higher density I can maintain it easily with this method. When I need to harvest rotifers I will take a sample of the water from each bucket and harvest from the bucket with the greater density or if they are about the same I will harvest from the fuller bucket. For the record, I am using RotiGrow Plus for culturing and ClorAm-X solution added in equals amounts as the food. I'm not sure of an exact count for density, although my rotifers are consuming about 2.25 mL RG+ per liter of culture each day. I think someone brilliant (like maybe Gresham?) could extract a density out of the feed consumption rate. They get fed twice per day and get slightly more in the morning than they do at night as their daily consumption seems a bit higher than their nightly consumption. I use a mild, but steady stream of air. I get higher density in my grey buckets with clear lids than I did in my white salt buckets with purple lids (Instant Ocean). I have no idea why. Please feel free to comment (or criticize hehe).
<message edited by EasterEggs on Monday, July 9, 2012 5:42 PM>
Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Monday, July 9, 2012 3:45 PM
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do you really need ClorAm-X in your rotifers?
RLTW 180 Gallon Mixed Reef Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Monday, July 9, 2012 3:58 PM
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Originally Posted by rgrking
do you really need ClorAm-X in your rotifers? I've never tried it without. It is my understanding that lower densities don't require ClorAm-X because the resulting ammonia levels would reflect lower concentrations. Higher densities should have higher concentrations of ammonia. My research has suggested that ammonia over 3 ppm starts to inhibit rotifer reproduction, and rotifers die in 48 hours when exposed to 5 ppm ammonia. I will try running one of the buckets sans ClorAm-X and see what happens. I will also test ammonia.
<message edited by EasterEggs on Monday, July 9, 2012 5:59 PM>
Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Monday, July 9, 2012 4:52 PM
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I have two 5 buckets I raise rotifers in. I've always added RGComplete, but I might be changing that. Let me know your findings so I can adjust things on my system.
RLTW 180 Gallon Mixed Reef Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Friday, July 27, 2012 6:24 AM
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RGcomplete has Cloram-X already in it. http://apbreed.com/products.html "RGcomplete is a super-concentrated microalgal-based premium quality feed for filter-feeding invertebrates. It has been sized especially for Breeders, Aquarists, and Propagators and includes both a pH buffer and ClorAm-X®(ammonia neutralizer). It has a long refrigerated shelf life of at least 6 months.
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Friday, July 27, 2012 4:38 PM
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Originally Posted by EasterEggs
Originally Posted by rgrking
do you really need ClorAm-X in your rotifers? I've never tried it without. It is my understanding that lower densities don't require ClorAm-X because the resulting ammonia levels would reflect lower concentrations. Higher densities should have higher concentrations of ammonia. My research has suggested that ammonia over 3 ppm starts to inhibit rotifer reproduction, and rotifers die in 48 hours when exposed to 5 ppm ammonia. I will try running one of the buckets sans ClorAm-X and see what happens. I will also test ammonia. If you are using any Reed Mariculture phytoplankton product, we recommend using Cloram-X alongside it *IF* it does not already include it in the mix There also is a buffer in RGcomplete and we recommend you buffer any rotifer culture.
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Sunday, August 19, 2012 12:08 AM
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Are you using an airstone or just rigid airline?
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Sunday, August 19, 2012 8:58 AM
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I use rigid airline. I imagine an airstone would get clogged up pretty fast in a rotifer culture. These cultures are still truckin along at fairly dense numbers. A week ago I turned the water up as high as I could without having them bubble over the top and the culture become noticeably denser. To me it seems you can't use too much air. My experiment of leaving out the ClorAm-X has been a total failure because I keep forgetting to not add it! Hehe...
Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Sunday, August 19, 2012 2:32 PM
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Originally Posted by EasterEggs
My experiment of leaving out the ClorAm-X has been a total failure because I keep forgetting to not add it! Hehe...
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Monday, August 20, 2012 1:37 PM
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In the CCS - Compact Culture System (the bucket system I have been talking about for a long time) we employee air stones. The ones we use are cheap enough to toss if needed, but are easily cleaned.
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Monday, August 20, 2012 7:24 PM
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Hmm, interesting. Airstones would help because they don't create as much "lift" on the surface so I could fill the buckets up a bit higher. I use glass bead airstones, and they bleach out quite well. Seems like a lot of work though.
Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Sunday, August 26, 2012 8:33 PM
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So, there is a problem with this method... too many rotifers!!! Bear in mind I am not harvesting daily and these cultures are essentially stock cultures. I am adding plenty of water volume though which similar to harvesting I suppose. The cultures are currently using 4-12 mL RotiGrow+ each per day depending how full they are. I feed twice a day, and the water is very clear by the next feeding. The density is so much that I can't see through a dip cup that is 1 1/2" diameter. In comparison, if these were 5 gallon pails with 4 gallons of culture like most people use I would be feeding 50-60 mL per day per 5 gallon pail! That's nuts! I have no use for this many rotifers. I can overpopulate a 10-gallon larvae tank with rotifers with just 150 mL of culture. So, I'm going to downgrade to 1L beakers when I can find some because this is costing too much!
<message edited by EasterEggs on Monday, August 27, 2012 11:33 PM>
Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Monday, August 27, 2012 9:30 PM
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WOW those are some active rots!
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Monday, August 27, 2012 9:40 PM
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i really should decrease volume. I am spending a more than a dollar a day to feed them, and i don't use them that often.
check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Monday, August 27, 2012 10:13 PM
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I have landed in St Louis Kathy and am working on getting up and running. Couple weeks i may come calling for cultures to get me started.
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 5:46 AM
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Yes Kathy, I'm spending more than $1 a day on RG+. You're using RGcomplete I think, right? Indeed Mike, they are very active cultures! Surprisingly stable too.
<message edited by EasterEggs on Tuesday, August 28, 2012 7:46 AM>
Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 7:34 AM
( permalink)
check out Kathy's Clowns, llc website: http://kathysclowns.com Captive bred clownfish and more (Wholesale to the trade.)
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Re:Small Scale Rotifer Culture for the Lazy Man (or Woman)
Wednesday, March 18, 2015 10:43 AM
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FWIW, I'm still using this method with success 2 1/2 years later. The cultures never crash. I feed 2 mL undiluted RotiGrow Plus per liter of culture water per day (split into two feedings) to maintain a medium density for feeding larvae. This method works just as well by feeding 0.5 mL RG+ per liter of culture water per day to maintain a light density when you're not feeding to larvae. When going from a light density to a medium or high density, simply increase the amount of food, and the culture will ramp up very quickly. Be sure to skip a feeding if the water hasn't cleared though, and ramp up the amount of food a bit slower.
Don't let fear and common sense stop you! =]
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