Filter Mesh needed for Phytoplankton

[skozzy]

Hello guys and girls, I have been keeping my own culture of rotifiers going for a little while and have been using store bought nano, this stuff isn't cheap so I set up a 4 foot tank and dosed it up on trace elimants and a liquid fetilizer, the tank is outside and is in a shaded area where it only get a few hours max of direct sunlight.

2 weeks after starting it up the water is now so green it has a max visability of 3 inchs.

About 6 months ago I bought a mesh with a rating of 20 microns, I tried using this mesh to filter the phytoplankton out but the stuff just passes through it. I don't know what type of phyto I have growing and therefor don't know it's size.

I can only asume the size of this plankton is less then 20 microns. I would like to find out what I have growing.

Can someone give me an idea of what I can use to filter this stuff so I can start using it with my rotifiers or even add it to the main tank. Because I have added so much trace eliments and fertilizer i don't want to drip feed my main tank as I would assume I will get a big algae outbreak in there, so i realy want to filter the plankton.

I am in Brisbane Australia and would prefer to buy a product localy, but don't hold back with an online store outside of AUS if you know of one that can supply what I need.

I hope someone has some advice I can use.

Thanks.

 

[skozzy]

Anyone ?

 

[sjvl51]

I can see a couple of problems here.

By using "fertilizer" I hope you did not use fertilizer for land plants. Those fertilizers have dyes as well as ammonia and phosphates that you don't want in your tank.
From p 44 of Plankton Culture Manual - "Other fertilizers may grow microalgae, but the quality and value of microalgae is directly influenced by the properties of its aquatic environment. We strongly advise you not to use common terrestial plant fertilizrs, especially thos containing ammonia or urea as a nitrogen source. Residual ammonia or urea from overfertilized cultures or those that are harvested prematurely may contain toxic levels of ammonia. In addition, common agricultural fertilizers usually do not contain essential trace metals and vitamins suitable for good microalgae growth and are often high in phoshates." Since you are planning on feeding this to rotifers, the rotifers can get a build up of these unwanted elements in their bodies and transfer them to your tank.

The phyto that I grow - tetraselmis, nannochloris and nannochloropsis - will clog (very quickly I might add) a 53 um filter (the size used to filter out the rotifers). You might try a coffee filter (I have no idea what size it is to filter out your phyto.

Another thing to consider is you have no idea what you are adding to your tank (what kind of phyto) nor the food value of same. Many filter critters will only eat a specific size of phyto. The different cultured phyto has different amounts of Protein, Fat, Carbohydrates, EPA, vitamins, etc that make a difference in how nutritious the rotifers are.

I get my supplies from http://www.florida-aqua-farms.com/ I believe they ship world wide.

Vickie

 

[KING OF THE REEF]

hey try aquatic-eco systems. they have cultureing products and all sorts of thing for the culturer and they have shipped to europe when i lived there

 

[skozzy]

Hey guys, thanks for the replys. 1st up, it true I have no idea what I have growing or even what I am doing. I started the culture of the mystery phyto by putting in to the water measured amounts of trace eliments and liquid fertilizer, both I got from the garden section at my local shops.

It took around 1-2 weeks for the water to change colour from clear to dark green. The only phyto I had that is commercialy sourced was inert and also frozen, I tried to get the culture started by adding this to the water but it didn't help, so I just used water from my salt water and fresh water tanks and then this worked.

I would like to see first hand a working system close to my place, but no body in the marine club I am in has even tried to grow any and therefor I have no direct help.

If I ordered from Florida Aqua Farms and had the correct stuff shipped to me I am not sure it would be alive when it gets here.

What I have growing so far only cost me $15aus to get going. I suppose for the price of all this I might just order the nano I want and see just what happens.

 

[orion76]

I dont think anyone uses a mesh to collect phyto plankton, the green water is simply dumped into the rotifer culture.

You definitely shouldn't be using garden fertilizer, and good luck with customs importing live algae to Australia if you don't have an import license.

You should contact some local aqua culturing business, fish and shrimp farms for example breed phyto plankton and zoo plankton to feed juveniles.

 

[purewater]

Fine Wire Mesh

Fine Wire Mesh

Just happened to stumble across this forum on my search and I figured I could help all of you guys out with a great source for the stuff.

http://www.bwire.com/

They specialize in fine filter wire mesh of every alloy and have a lot in stock. Got my pieces to me within 3 days of my order.

Just an FYI for those out there looking for a source.

 

[djkms]

IIRC phytoplankton is 2-20 microns. There is no easy way to separate the phyto from the water. The only way I could suggest would be to put it in a bottle and if it is non motile it will settle at the bottom of the bottle and you can take the water out that way.

 

[munted]

Yeah you're on the right track, it's not easy to import plankton as it can become a biohazard... some countries are easy mine was not...
I live in new zealand and the type of plankton i was importing required all sorts of hassles i couldn't be bothered with.

it's far better for your self learning to get filter meshes instead, and setup a little multistage filter.

here's how:
you can get pvc pipe joiners from plumbing stores which have a taper at one end, glue the mesh onto tapered end and then slot them all together.

that way if you have the largest mesh at the top to get the zooplankton out etc, then get progessivly smaller you should end up with a relativly pure mix of phyto plankton after the smallest filter.

not the most accurate and sterile method, but very easy, and it means you can get phyto-plankton from the sea near your house.

then go buy a USB microscope with 200x zoom and have a look at what you filtered out... feaky...

apparently the smaller planktons grow the fastest, but I'm sure that all zooplankton are larger than 80Microns, but rotifers and microcrustacea etc are all larger than 150Microns I also heard of some people filtering out diatoms with 53Microns filter.~

in conclusion, you need a multi stage filter consisting of

1st stage = 150 Micron filter mesh
2nd stage = 80 Micron filter mesh
optional 3rd stage = 53 Micron filter mesh

I tried my best to keep the final batch sterile, as I didn't want to have anything eating my plankton, so the rotifers I found grow in their own tank
and I have LED grow lights on the Phyto plankton jars, they grow like crazy!!

was one of the best backyard projects ever, amazing whats living in what looks like clean water!

I also found this company, ugly *** website, but they are in sydney
http://www.filterfabrics.com.au/

I found a supplier in the local phone book, filter fabrics are used by many industries, get the cheap nylon ones as they won't taint the water as much as some and cost less...