Need culturing ideas

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djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
#1
Ummfish and Zooid suggested I start culturing O.Marina. I have actually wanted to start culturing 2 more phyto's and possibly more zooplankton. So for the culture guys; what would be 2 phytos that I could culture with my nanno and tetra which would be relatively easy an beneficial? I would prefer something that can be split once a week in 2 liters and be on the same schedule as my other 2 phyto cultures. Would O.Marina work and what else would your recommend?

Also, is there any other zooplankton that you can think of that I could culture with my roti's and tisbe/tigger pods? I feed nanno paste daily and split every 10 days and top off once a week with my zoo cultures. I would be willing to start another bucket as long as I can do it with my current zoo schedule.

Culturing is time consuming so I want to try to minimize more tasks if at all possible.

Thanks guys!

Here is a quick vid of my recent zooplankton split. Hundreds upon hundreds of pods!
[video=youtube;Njisoj4Q81k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njisoj4Q81k[/video]
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
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#2
#2
O. marina is the easiest phyto-type organism that I know of. Its care is roughly equivalent to culturing rotifers on algae paste. I do container changes more often for O. marina, but that's about the only difference.

Zooplankton: What are you trying to feed? I've just made the first split on a culture of Moina salina (saltwater daphnia). They are _really_ easy, but they are way too big for fish larvae.

Apocyclops is the easiest of the pelagic copepods that I've tried. It, too, is roughly equivalent to culturing rotifers, but it needs live food (phyto or O. marina). Adults are good for small planktivores: I'd assume some corals, chromis, probably anthias, etc. Naups are good for larvae with medium-sized mouths (clowns, dottys, etc.) and likely bunches of corals.
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

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#3
#3
This is my daily Apocyclops harvest (and the daily harvests have gotten better lately :) ):

[video=youtube;Vqs71YX_DRw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqs71YX_DRw[/video]
 
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djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
#5
Thanks Josh. I am really pleased with that recent split. There was at least triple the amount of pods then I have ever seen in a commercial batch!

Andy,
I will give the O Marina a whirl. Do you know where I can get a starter culture?

As far as what I want to feed. Mainly corals and finicky fish. I am not only feeding my tank but hope to sell bottled cultures. Could I throw Apocyclops in with my current zooplankton? I am really looking for something that I could just add to my current zoostew which is fed algae paste daily then the pods feed off of the rotifers.
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
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#6
#6
Oh, do I know where you can get a starter culture...? :) Yeah, I have them and so does Gale. Otherwise, bring a bucket of saltwater to Boulder and leave it outside for a couple of hours. I swear, they are just in the air around here....

I have no idea if Apocyclops will eat rotifers. I've seen some in my rot cultures with no issues, so I doubt it.
 
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djkms

Reef Shark
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#8
#8
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
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#9
#9
I also have a 27 micron mesh for removing ciliates from O. marina water. The 500 micron will likely get at least some of the adult copepods. The truth is that I use 54 for most everything.

Yes, lets. :) Days are bad for you except weekends, right? I don't do much night driving because I see star trailers off lights and it can sometimes kick in a migraine. I think my kid will still have an art class in Denver on Sats. this summer. I can work in a trip around that.
 
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djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
#10
Andy,

Sounds like weekends will be best, just let me know a good time for you and we can work with it. I should have plenty of macros for you to chose from.

On a sidenote I got home last night and noticed really fine bubbles around the rim of my culture buckets. From my reading this is due to ammonia buildup. What should I do? I suppose a water change is in order but I dont have any sieves yet. Guess I should have prepared myself better before buying these cultures. I added a few drops of amquel to each bucket, hope that helps until I figure this out. The phytoplankton has been super easy to culture but I feel like I am struggling with zooplankton.
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
#11
Well, you can always siphon some of your culture out and replace it with plain water. You'll lose some of the animals, but that's better than losing all of them.
 
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djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
#12
I finally got my sieves in. I did 100% water changes on both of my cultures. I feel much much better now. I added phyto paste last night and this morning both cultures are going clear.

If I match temp & salinity how safe is it to do 100% water changes? I ask because my cultures look so much cleaner now. When my starters were sent to me they were sent right before a water change and the water was yellow. If you look at my vid compared to yours my water looks gross! Not sure how this effects the animals but I dont want my water looking yellow and gross. Having clear water really tells me how much to feed. It was hard to tell how much was being eaten with the yellow water, with it clear I can really see the green now. On brine shrimp direct they recommend full water changes every 2-3 months. Could I safely do it every month or every 2 weeks?

Also I read on RC that someone puts sponge in their culture buckets and now have HUGE population booms with their pods.

Andy and Gale, what are your thoughts on this?
 
Zooid

Zooid

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#13
#13
don't worry about the sieves.......just put half the culture in another container and top off both containers with clean saltwater.
I would suggest feeding a little less. When one of my cultures fouls, I I feed about half of what I feed normally after splitting it.
 
Zooid

Zooid

Reef Shark
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#14
#14
I do a 100% change when the culture gets really bad (once or twice a month)....you'll lose some but the others will propagate and will make a quick comeback.
Feed a little less when you do the 100% change because you will have some die off and you don't want to add to the ammonia with extra food.
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
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#16
#16
For me, it depends on the culture. I scoop up half a pint or so of culture water every day and shine a flashlight through it. If the culture is starting to decline then I do a 100% water change to a new culture bucket. I don't use sponges but I also don't culture harpactacoids. I've heard that people also use them with rots, too, but I haven't seen the need. I also control ammonia by other means.
 
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djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#17
#17
Ok boys whats your thoughts on Rhodomonas? I have been reading the thread here:
http://www.marinebreeder.org/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=145&t=726&hilit=lens+culture+problem&start=25

Actually I have been all over the marinebreeder website, good info there. I also registered but not posted anything yet.

Anywyas rhodomonas seems like a great phyto for our little copepod friends however, from reading that thread it seems really finicky. Any of you guys try culturing it? Easier, harder then Iso?
 
Ummfish

Ummfish

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#18
#18
It's supposed to be harder than T-Iso, which kind of ruled it out for me. But a lot depends on whether it likes whatever conditions (and lots of variables: temp, water conditions, light amounts and color, etc.) you can provide it or not. But it's supposed to be a great alga if you can do it.
 
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djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#19
#19
Well guys I am going to start culturing the Rots separate of the pods, I think I will have better success this way.

Anyways either of you have experience with Acartia Tonsa? I wanted to get a pelagic copepod into the mix. From what I have read they can be cultured pretty easy however they can prey on the nauplii. Wondering if there is a good way to separate the 2 to minimize this...off to more reading. Any advice appreciated!
 
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