I have read through, viewed YouTube videos and want to see your setups, thoughts, advice on how to setup and how much phyto is ok to dump in your tank?
I'm with you. I really want to be able to culture copepods and I feel like with the right setup (starting for success) it would be fairly straightforward.
I'm currently thinking of a bunch of 2L for phyto and rotifers and a pair of 5g buckets for copepods.
Since I am picking up a 20g tomorrow I'll try to culture copepods in that. I really want mandarins! If I can culture my own pods than I'll feel more comfortable.
Plus live phyto is much more beneficial than the dead waste phyto in a bottle.
Melv's reef site has the basics and YouTube has a real good video of it but I want to see others twists on it. Is 2L bottles the most sufficient? Would a 5 gallon with all glass panes painted black with a divider work better?
Since I really don't think I want to go as far as selling it like I saw on the video. I could go back and forth through the 2 chambers every 5-7days and it'll make it a little easier to deal with than 2Ls laying around.
Setting up a backup culture, better to use the bucket or 2L coke bottles for a tank (cheaper as well!), and good to know they harvest rotifiers and copepods. I probably would have contaminated my tank the first go around!
A lot of good equipment and supplies at florida aqua farms. I'll probably end up ordering a bunch of stuff from there at some point.
Your 20gallon would make a good zinn reactor and you could do phyto and rotifer in it. The only issue I have is the air lift pump thats part of it, I'm not really sure how that works...but that seems to be a nice automated method.
Sorry for all the replies...been researching this all week...anyone else have info/experience/setups to add
More info the better. I won't complain. I just started researching it today so the more I know before I actually go for it then the more success I am likely to have!
Sounds like it but I am interested in advice for setups and explaining how to tell if a culture crashed? I believe it's by smell?
For someone who has never done it what would you tell them to watch for, how much do you dose in your tank and any benefits from adding live phyto alone?
It is pricey, but lessens 1 culture to maintain in your system. Has a pretty good shelf life if kept frozen (2-3yrs). Minimizes cross contamination to almost nil; especially if kept frozen.
But if you want to stick with culturing phytoplankton, keep your phyto culture above or away from your rotifers/pods culture. One drop of rotifer into your phyto culture will ruin your mood.
Thank you for the advice! I will probably end up with a small target stand for 2L bottle phyto, and small 5/10 gallon tanks on top for the pods and rotifiers so that it can be a small "display".
You'll probably need some form of ammonia remover. It'll build up quick from all the feeding and the waste from your culture as it grows. Seachem Prime works, but it gets pricey after awhile. CloramX works very well, and in powder form, you'll get more for your buck. I still have a 5lb tub left from my clownfish breeding (attempts) days, I can give you a few scoops to get you started.
WC will definitely help. Frequency would depend on your feeding/culture size/waste & death rate. Get a cheap ammonia badge to get an idea of your levels.
My system was purely based on one factor -- laziness. If I can skirt WC, I will. CloramX helped me with that...
Yes, I didn't harvest on regular basis and just let sat with an airstone for 2-3 weeks. Luckily I had a friend that had a culture, so restart was quick and easy.
You can also refrigerate a bottle of rotifers, put a few drops of phyto/algae paste in and it'll last 1-2 weeks. That'll slow their metabolism quite a bit, and can serve as a backup culture.
As far as the ammonia issue, thats why I like that bucket method I posted. You start at 25% and instead of water change you just dillute and add more water. When the bucket is full its time to harvest