Guest tgallo October 2, 2004 Share October 2, 2004 lets here from our members who have a phyto and roti setup, what are the benifets, and maybe a small step by step intro into starting such a system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HVF21221 October 3, 2004 Share October 3, 2004 Don't culture phyto. Buy instant algae from reed mariculture. If you go to the site and think it is pricey--let me tell you, it is definitely worth it. Add saltwater cost and your time maintaining phyto cultures, it's not worth it. IA can be frozen and will last a long time. DT's is not worth it either, your paying for water, compare the cell counts. I raise rotifers for my larval clowns. I have about 45 gallons of rotifers going. It takes some practice to know when to change out water before a crash but is pretty easy to do. I keep my cultures at .016 salinity. A shock of more than .007 change in salinity will kill them. My clowns are all kept at .021 so I feel safe with rots at .016 If I have extra rots I sometimes put them in my reef tank. Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tgallo October 3, 2004 Share October 3, 2004 thanks howard, im in the process of setting up a roti station to feed the tank with and alall the info i could get from people that are already there would be great. tell me more , why do you have to change out the water, im guessing when you have a roti culture going, you need to feed it with algae/IA so you would dose some ia into the roti culture to keep them fed ,and once the water clears up /the next day, you would feed them some more and keep the cycle going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HVF21221 October 3, 2004 Share October 3, 2004 You can find info on the web or in books to figure how many ml's of IA to add to you rots each day(based on density). But my low tech(lazy) method involves adding about 3ml's IA a day to 5-6 gallon bucket of rots. I change my water about every 2 weeks to prevent cultures from crashing. Changing water is the same as anything else. Waste water build up, ammonia and such. The setup I have now is the nicest, and I have tried different things from reading and the web. 5 or 6 gallon salt bucket filled with .016 salt water and rots. 1 rigid tube air line bubbling. Thats it. Feed daily, change water about every 2 weeks. You will need a 53 micron sieve to harvest. I got mine from Florida Aqua Farms. I did just buy a sheet of 53 micron material to make my own. Don't use any light on your rots. I read where some people put light over there rot. culture. It is not needed and will only bloom nasty algae that will crash your cultures. While mine are not in the dark, they get ambient room light only. HTH, Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tgallo October 3, 2004 Share October 3, 2004 so when you change the water that the roti's are in, do you end up with less roti's from the 5 gallon bucket. is it a bad idea to scoop some roti's and just dump them into the the main tank, is this why you use a 53 micron sleve to harvest them?.rather then just dumping the culture with water into your main tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg October 3, 2004 Share October 3, 2004 Yes, just taking raw culture isn't a good idea. There can be a lot of nutrients in it. The screen filter is real easy to use, It is a mesh on the end of a piece of 4" tube, so you just pour the liquid culture through it (can drain back down into bucket or waste sink- whichever). They really need to be fed every day- that is the hardest part with them. As howard mentioned, they don't need lighting. The reason some people opt to use it is if they are using live phytoplankton- then you can get a little extra division out of the algae before they get eaten. With instant algae or roti-rich (a yeast based product), there is nothing to grow from the light. I have noticed a lot of increased activity in my copepod pouplations in particular (the smallest of the visible bugs in the tank), and mysis shrimp are everywhere. With adding live phytoplankton, the thing I have noticed benefits the most seems to the sponges. With either, you are adding a component in the early part of the food chain. Oh yeah- dig a little further back in this forum. There is a lot written already if you haven't read through it yet. It also has multiple links. there are also a couple threads in the DIY section. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tgallo November 3, 2004 Share November 3, 2004 the phyto culture i started with was nice and green, it has since turned dark yellow over the weeks, why is that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xeon November 3, 2004 Share November 3, 2004 Have you been harvesting and restarting the phyto weekly? What is your overall procedure/setup, such as lighting, bubble rate, amount/type of f/2... so forth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tgallo November 3, 2004 Share November 3, 2004 i cut it in quarters daily, and then add some more water to the mix and also add four drops of f/2. im running two gallon jars, lighting with two 24'' no plant bulbs 24/7. my bubble rate is high, 2 per second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xeon November 3, 2004 Share November 3, 2004 Am I understanding correct that you cut it "daily". It takes about a week for my culture to mature. I don't do anything with it until it gets dark, again about a week. I also use 2 liter bottles. The bubble rate sounds about right and the light IMO is OK. How long is your lighting period and what temps? Is it in a cool spot in your basement for example? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tgallo November 4, 2004 Share November 4, 2004 yes, i cut it daily to feed the roti culture. my lighting period is 24/7, its setup in the basement in a cool spot, room temp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xeon November 4, 2004 Share November 4, 2004 I have found that running around 16 to 17 hours of light a day yields darker/denser cultures of phyto. It does take about a week though. If you cut it daily by a quarter, I think your culture will continue to get lighter and lighter... less dense. IMO, it just doesn't propagate fast enough to be harvested daily. You might be better served to ramp up your phyto production and maybe use 2 liter bottles. Then you can run them a week (or os). You could stage them in 3 sets, so you can harvest on Moday.. harvest 2/3, restart that culture, harvest the next batch on Wednesday.. restart it... harvest the next on Friday.. restart that culture... yadda yadda yadda. I say 2 liter bottles because you might want some "fault tolerance" built in. If one bottle crashes, it could be a real problem. Gallon containers would probably work too, I just have no personal experience with them. One thing you might want to try is a Rotifer food that Florida Aquaculture sells. I think it is called Roti-Rich or something. If I ever try rotis again, I would have some on hand just in case my phyto production was slipping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Stearns November 22, 2004 Share November 22, 2004 I would also worry a bit about cutting the phyto daily, because you are not giving the phyto time to use all the fertilizer you have added- You are then getting more of the algea producing nutrients into your tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquariareview November 28, 2004 Share November 28, 2004 I gave up on all of the hassle and switched to Tahitian Blend from brine shrimp direct Tahitian Blend is a combination of Nannochloropsis, Tahitian Isochrysis, Tetraselmis, and Pavlova Instant Algae concentrates. An inclusion of NatuRose astaxanthin (Haematococcus sp.) spray-dried micro-algae provides natural pigments for color enhancement in marine invertebrates. It is claimed to contain a food grade cryopreservative to prevent freezing and lysing of the algae cells when kept below freezing temperatures. Therefore, the paste remains liquid when frozen and can be kept for several months without losing its nutritional value. They also sell a Frozen Rotifer product Rinsed and packed in sterile water in a convenient cube pack or flat pack! I don't breed fish I just feed all of this stuff to my tank and I have had pretty good results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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