Culture Cleaning

[Travis L. Stevens]

I'm not 100% sure how to approach this subject. I'm looking to clean out some of my culture stations, and put them in nice, new, clean, sterile bottles. I don't have a problem with the phytoplankton because just a little goes a long ways, and the rest can be fed to my tank. My rotifers, on the other hand, is a little more difficult. I might just be making this more complicated than it really is, but how can I clean the junk out of rotifer culture and keep the largest amount of rotifers possible? Any pointers on cleaning a Phyto culture while you're at it? I haven't worked on Artemia yet, but what would you suggest for them?

 

[ediaz]

If you are asking how to clean rotifers tanks,

just scrape the walls with towel paper and let the junk sink to the bottom, siphon it, you will ren=move rotifers but if the culture is healthy they will reproduce and you will always have a decent concentration.

Phyto you don't clean the cultures you just harvest and start new cultures, artemia is hatched, rinsed and fed to the fish.

Ed

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Thanks Ed. I was pretty sure on the Artemia and Phyto, but really didn't know where to start with the Rotifers. How long will rotifers last without water movement? My culture is in a 2L Bottle and I plan on pulling the bubbler to let the sediment settle before syphoning. Will the Rotifers stay in suspension, or will the eventually travel to the bottom?

 

[ediaz]

without water movement all the time, without aireation it depends on the concentration, my ten gallon cultures have a rigid airline with a very small bubble just to ripple the surface.When no areation is pesent mine tend to congreagte at the surface but still some remain "in suspension" don't be afraid to loose about half your rotifers in a water change. If your concentration is low you can always sieve the used water and add the rotifers to the tank again.

I ussually leave them about half an hour for it to settle, syphon and add new water, i change 50% water every other day.

Ed

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9629269#post9629269 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ediaz
without water movement all the time, without aireation it depends on the concentration, my ten gallon cultures have a rigid airline with a very small bubble just to ripple the surface.When no areation is pesent mine tend to congreagte at the surface but still some remain "in suspension" don't be afraid to loose about half your rotifers in a water change. If your concentration is low you can always sieve the used water and add the rotifers to the tank again.

I ussually leave them about half an hour for it to settle, syphon and add new water, i change 50% water every other day.

Ed

That helps alot more. Thanks. My current culture is just enough to keep them alive and breeding a little. I'll up the production when I have something that eats them. Until then, they're staying at minimal numbers. Of course, the way I'm doing this makes it difficult to tell what particles in the water is debris and which is an actual rotifer

 

[ediaz]

get a photograpers loupe at any camera shop, fill the hydrometer with a sample and you will see the rots, at about 7 bucks it beats the price of a dissecting microscope.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Thanks for the tip! Unfortunately, I just looked through the phonebook, and there aren't any camera shops in Stillwater, OK

 

[Elmo18]

Hi Travis.

Another similar approach is to find a Coin Store in your area (numismatics, old coin store, etc) and get a 10x-20x magnifying loupe.

I'm a coin collector as well, and the magnifying loupe comes in handy for just that. You just hold it against your hydrometer and you see the little rotifers moving around in there.

Best,
Ilham