Rotifers and green water information.
Wasn't sure what section to post this in, hope it's alright here.
There's a few people that are getting green water and rotifer cultures off me, so thought I'd post how I raise both. This is how I do it, it has worked for me so far, but things can always be improved on, so if you see something that has caused you grief in the past, please mention it.
Rotifers.
Water: I make the water up in 200L lots, using about 140L of old tank water from my grow out system, and 60L of RO water, which gives me a salinity of 1.019. I then chlorinate the water for 24hrs, then dechlorinate.
Grow out containers: I use 20L buckets, which are kept outside under the patio, aeration is supplied via rigid airline, which extends to the bottom of the bucket, at a rate of around 5 bubbles a second.
Feeding: I feed the rotifers yeast, feed them enough to make the water cloudy twice a day.
To give an idea on the amount to feed. I mix 1 cup of RO water with 2tbsp of yeast, this is then stored in the fridge, I feed 7mls of the mixture to each 20L bucket of rotifers twice a day.
Harvest rotifers: Remove the airline for 10 mins to allow any detritus to settle , using a 2L jug, strain around 5L of water/rotifers from each bucket through a 50 micron sieve, top off the bucket with clean water. Half fill a 2L bottle with clean water, add the rotifers from the sieve, top the bottle off with green water and aerate, allow 4hrs or so, and the rotifers will be ready to feed to fry/corals. I harvest every day, if I don't need any rotifers, I don't bother removing the airline, just scoop the water/rotifers out, and pour them down the drain, and top off with clean water.
Cleaning: I find when feeding yeast, I can get awaywith cleaning the buckets once a week, remove the airline, allow the crap to settle to the bottom, slowly tip the water into another container, stopping when you get to the detritus, throwing out the last few litres. Clean the bucket with tap water and a clean cloth, clean the rigid airline, refill the bucket with the rotifer/water mix, and top off with clean water.
Green Water (Nannochloropsis):
Always wash your hands when working with green water, if rotifers get into the green water they will destroy the culture.
Sterilizing: I use bleach and vinegar. Fill the container with tap water, add some bleach (around 15ml/2L ratio), let it soak for a few hours, don't forget to soak the rigid airline as well. Empty the container, rinse out the bleach with tap water, refill the bottle with tap water, add a little vinegar, let is soak for a few minutes to neutralize any bleach left over, empty and re-rinse bottle, all done.
Water: I use the same 1.019 water as the rotifers. I put 20L in a sterile drum and fertilize with 1tsp of Yates Aquasol. This is then used to top off any split cultures.
Containers: I use 2.25L soft drink bottles and 5L spring water bottles. Aeration is via rigid airline extending to the bottom of the bottle, at a rate of around 10 bubbles a second. When the Green water stops getting darker, around 7 days, split the culture, pour half of the culture into a new sterile bottle, and top off with the fertilized water. The other half can be feed to rotifers/corals, or can be kept in the fridge until needed.
I started growing the green water inside 16hr light/8hr dark in 2.25L bottles, but am now also growing it outside in 5L bottles under the patio. Both work fine, I find it grows a little faster under lights.
I think I've covered everything, of course you can skip the yeast all together, and just feed the rotifers green water, but for me that would require around another 5L of green water a day, which is a lot more work, for no real benefit.
As always, a picture is worth a thousand words.
There's a few people that are getting green water and rotifer cultures off me, so thought I'd post how I raise both. This is how I do it, it has worked for me so far, but things can always be improved on, so if you see something that has caused you grief in the past, please mention it.
Rotifers.
Water: I make the water up in 200L lots, using about 140L of old tank water from my grow out system, and 60L of RO water, which gives me a salinity of 1.019. I then chlorinate the water for 24hrs, then dechlorinate.
Grow out containers: I use 20L buckets, which are kept outside under the patio, aeration is supplied via rigid airline, which extends to the bottom of the bucket, at a rate of around 5 bubbles a second.
Feeding: I feed the rotifers yeast, feed them enough to make the water cloudy twice a day.
To give an idea on the amount to feed. I mix 1 cup of RO water with 2tbsp of yeast, this is then stored in the fridge, I feed 7mls of the mixture to each 20L bucket of rotifers twice a day.
Harvest rotifers: Remove the airline for 10 mins to allow any detritus to settle , using a 2L jug, strain around 5L of water/rotifers from each bucket through a 50 micron sieve, top off the bucket with clean water. Half fill a 2L bottle with clean water, add the rotifers from the sieve, top the bottle off with green water and aerate, allow 4hrs or so, and the rotifers will be ready to feed to fry/corals. I harvest every day, if I don't need any rotifers, I don't bother removing the airline, just scoop the water/rotifers out, and pour them down the drain, and top off with clean water.
Cleaning: I find when feeding yeast, I can get awaywith cleaning the buckets once a week, remove the airline, allow the crap to settle to the bottom, slowly tip the water into another container, stopping when you get to the detritus, throwing out the last few litres. Clean the bucket with tap water and a clean cloth, clean the rigid airline, refill the bucket with the rotifer/water mix, and top off with clean water.
Green Water (Nannochloropsis):
Always wash your hands when working with green water, if rotifers get into the green water they will destroy the culture.
Sterilizing: I use bleach and vinegar. Fill the container with tap water, add some bleach (around 15ml/2L ratio), let it soak for a few hours, don't forget to soak the rigid airline as well. Empty the container, rinse out the bleach with tap water, refill the bottle with tap water, add a little vinegar, let is soak for a few minutes to neutralize any bleach left over, empty and re-rinse bottle, all done.
Water: I use the same 1.019 water as the rotifers. I put 20L in a sterile drum and fertilize with 1tsp of Yates Aquasol. This is then used to top off any split cultures.
Containers: I use 2.25L soft drink bottles and 5L spring water bottles. Aeration is via rigid airline extending to the bottom of the bottle, at a rate of around 10 bubbles a second. When the Green water stops getting darker, around 7 days, split the culture, pour half of the culture into a new sterile bottle, and top off with the fertilized water. The other half can be feed to rotifers/corals, or can be kept in the fridge until needed.
I started growing the green water inside 16hr light/8hr dark in 2.25L bottles, but am now also growing it outside in 5L bottles under the patio. Both work fine, I find it grows a little faster under lights.
I think I've covered everything, of course you can skip the yeast all together, and just feed the rotifers green water, but for me that would require around another 5L of green water a day, which is a lot more work, for no real benefit.
As always, a picture is worth a thousand words.
And then after, you're just using standard dechlorinators from a LFS? Is the purpose just to decontaminate the water as much as possible??
