feeding rotifers automated

[shifty51008]

so here is my plan, I will have 2 or so buckets of rotifers going at the same time, what I would like to do is use a couple older dosing pumps to feed them through out the day. I have a small dorm fridge I have not used in a couple years so I will keep the RGcomplete in the fridge and run the lines to the rotifers. I am just wondering how long of a run of line can I have outside the fridge to the rotifers so that when the RGComplete isn't dosing, whatever is in the line outside the fridge doesn't go bad.

hope that makes sence.

 

[JustinGr]

I've left RGComplete out over night and it's fine. Just shortens the life, I was told. In your application, it will be fine.

I use the same setup you are describing for feeding thawed frozen to my breeders throughout the day.

 

[shifty51008]

perfect, thanks for the input.

 

[GreshamH]

That's how we do it at Reed... try to keep the line as short as you can outside of the fridge, but honestly, if you're dosing every 15 minutes or so, its no big deal. You'll have the doser in the fridge I hope? Which doser, the one in your sig?

 

[shifty51008]

yes the doser will be in the fridge and the line outside the fridge to the rotifer tanks will be 1-2' max.

I haven't decided on the doser yet but I was thinking about using the marine magic pump as it is not in use, I also have a couple of the bulk reef supply 1.1ml dosing pumps that I could switch out also if those would handle the colder temps better.

 

[GreshamH]

Colder temps make the tubing stiffer, thus more strain on the peri pump. Choose which ever you feel has more power and a better gear construction.

 

[shifty51008]

I think i will go with the brs pumps, they seem to be built much better for this now that you mention the colder temps are harder on the tubing.

Would you suggest feeding every hour or sooner? I will be dosing about 15ml everyday in each bucket on the days i will need them and then go back down to 5ml in between batches that i dont. Does that sound like it will work?

 

[GreshamH]

Every hour would be fine. We do continuous on ours, but we use a very narrow tubing. Your plan sounds solid to me I rather enjoy hearing people going to automated feeding, its really what rotifer cultures need to thrive.

 

[shifty51008]

perfect, I am all about making stuff easier. I figure the easier stuff is to do the more it will get done. plus now that we found buyers for our clowns we are gonna step up our breeding setup, so the easier it is, the happier the wife will be as it takes one less thing that she has to do.

and I have to agree that the constant feeding is gonna be much better for the rotifers.

 

[lnevo]

Why do you need the pump in the fridge? If you gonna have tubing outside the fridge then wouldn't it be the same having the pump outside...just seems like unnecessary complication...

 

[triggreef]

I was actually thinking about trying this with a live culture. Using the dosing pump to pump the culture to the tank, and one to pump fresh (tank water with nutrients) to the culture. Hopefully exchanging enough so that the culture would not have to get changed out.... I was alos thinking of maybe using only one pump to pump the culture into the tank and a gravity feed to replace the water that was taken from the culture. But I don't think that can work. Any thoughts? Any one ever try anything similar?

 

[lnevo]

Theres a thread on automatic water changes that is based on using a multi-head peristaltic pump driven by one motor that will provide the same rate of flow for both lines. You could use something like that. The pump i got cost me $35 plus shipping on ebay, although the guy has now raised the price on that pump to $75..

 

[GreshamH]

Why do you need the pump in the fridge? If you gonna have tubing outside the fridge then wouldn't it be the same having the pump outside...just seems like unnecessary complication...

Because then you have two lines outside the fridge which doubles the exposure of the refrigerated feed to warmer conditions thus lowering the nutritional value. The best method is to pass your water through the fridge and dose directly into that.

 

[GreshamH]

I was actually thinking about trying this with a live culture. Using the dosing pump to pump the culture to the tank, and one to pump fresh (tank water with nutrients) to the culture. Hopefully exchanging enough so that the culture would not have to get changed out.... I was alos thinking of maybe using only one pump to pump the culture into the tank and a gravity feed to replace the water that was taken from the culture. But I don't think that can work. Any thoughts? Any one ever try anything similar?

Pump the culture into what, your larval tank? One large objective of larval tanks is to keep them clean. Constantly pumping dirty culture water and all that goes with it (vibrio, etc), into larval tanks, isn't a good idea. Rotifers are feeding machines and produce quite a bit of waste.

Flow-through rotifer culture systems are great, but using the rotifer culture water in your larval tank just isn't a good idea. Most flow-through systems have systems in place to keep the culture in, and only allow the culture water to exit. That is how our main system is done here at Reed.

 

[lnevo]

Because then you have two lines outside the fridge which doubles the exposure of the refrigerated feed to warmer conditions thus lowering the nutritional value. The best method is to pass your water through the fridge and dose directly into that.

Its really just one line with a pump in the middle...where the pump is is kind of irrelevant except for the cons raised regarding colder tubing. Its only a few inches to go around the peristaltic head. Considering that the feed wont be in there for long as its continually dosed and it really wont change the nutritional value, its just an added complexity of putting a pump and power inside a fridge...but if thats the approach you go with...whatever works for you.

 

[GreshamH]

He's not dosing continuous. He's dosing every hour. I doubt his lines will be short enough to clear the feed side as the diameter is rather large, so you are looking at probably 2+ hours of dwell time. We don't recommend leaving the feed out at room temp for that long.

There are a lot of people employing the method I said successfully. It tends to be the preferred method in hatcheries as well (our primary business). You're absolutely right though, what ever works for you... but I can only suggest the what we feel is the best solution for our feeds.

 

[Lou Young]

Gresham- Can you explain or post a link with more info on the Flow-through rotifer culture system? You also mentioned there are a lot of people using this method. Can you ask any of them to share their system design? Thank you.

 

[shifty51008]

I got it lined up so far that the lines outside would be 6" sticking outside the fridge but no holes drilled yet as you got me thinking about the flow through design now instead if it's that much better.

as Lou asked, can you explain this design better and will it work on 5 gal buckets? I still would like to keep 2 cultures going just in case 1 may crash, unless crashing of cultures is very rare when continuous feeding.

 

[shifty51008]

How much damage would putting a small pump in the rotifer container do to the rotifers?

Now im thinking of having a small pump in the container connected to 1/2" pvc, have that run into the fridge and then back out into the container. Inside the fridge there will be a T commin off the pvc that attaches to my feed pump line, this way the RGcoplete stays in the fridge the fridge the whole time.

 

[arpapile05]

Is there a type of pump run continously tested safe that is safe for rotifers and does not shred or kill them?