Fish Breeding Setup - From Start to Finish, I hope.

[dalilgriffith]

http://www.wewillhostit.com/development/lol/?path=breeding

That is my development thus far. I need to know if i should allow more air to the stone or less. I also need suggestions on greenwater SG readings. The one right now is only 1.008. I know that needs to go up.

The tank with the black sides in the larvae grow out. I found that tound with pre-spraypainted sides.. Not very well but heh.
I have 3 other tanks including the other one seen in the photos to play with. Suggestions?

The Phyto, Rotifier and Fertilizer should be here Wednesday. So i need to hustle.

 

[dalilgriffith]

Do i need more or less surface aggitation?

 

[rkelman]

What are you using the airstone for? That would help. My Phyto is at 1.020.

 

[Hendersonracing]

you want your phyto air to be all the way up and your rotifer and larvae to have a small bubble rate!

 

[dalilgriffith]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1357010
I bought the same stuff this guy bought. It should arrive Wednesday

 

[rkelman]

You said "i need to hustle" when did they lay?

 

[heap]

an airstone is a waste. it'll just get gunked up, and big chunky bubbles accomplish more of what you want (circulation). like Hendersonracing mentioned, lots of air to the phyto, 1 bubble a second or so to the rotifers.

you can get a more rigid line at lowes/home depot/etc so the line's output will stay at the bottom of the container w/out having to use a stone.

i usually do phyto @ 1.017-18, rotifers @ 1.014-15. the rotifers will reproduce better in lower salinities, but you have to keep w/in .005 variance from the salinity of the larva tank, or the rots die before they can be eaten. if you do a lower salinity, just step them up in salinity prior to feeding.

 

[dalilgriffith]

Will the T5 bulbs be too little or too much for the cultures.. I have 2x 54 actinics and 2x 10k T5s. Which ones should i have on?

 

[heap]

i'd consider it overkill. i use compact florescent bulbs on cheap reflectors...most setups i've seen use regular florescent tubes.

i wouldn't light the rotifers at all unless you're attempting a co-culture

 

[dalilgriffith]

Will the T5's hurt the plankton i guess is my question


One other question, I have a bottle of DT Premium Reef Blend. Is that capable of constructing a greenwater culture or is that stuff all dead?

 

[FB]

I tried a couple of times with pre-packaged stuff and didn't have much luck. The second I started with and algae disk it took off and I have not looked back.

 

[billsreef]

The t-5's will not hurt the phyto. Use the 10k, not the actinics. Next time you buy bulbs, the cheap cool white or natural 6500K actually work very well for phyto. The problem with trying to culture from a "blend" is that you won't know which species of the phyto you ended up with, and some species are indeed better than others when it comes to growing food for our fish.

 

[dalilgriffith]

But DT is live stuff that i theoretically could use?

 

[heap]

i've kept a culture that started as DTs for over two years now. in my case, the nano won the culture war, but yah...being a blend, ya don't know what you're going to get in the long run.

t5's would work, but it's cheaper (both in bulbs, and electricity usage) to just get wallyworld's 6500k 'lights of america' compact florescents and an equally cheap clamp reflector.

 

[billsreef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12335463#post12335463 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dalilgriffith
But DT is live stuff that i theoretically could use?

Yes it's live, but it's a mix of several species. However, not all the species in the mix are ideal to provide the proper nutrition to fish larvae. Since the nutritional value of the rotifers is directly dependant on the phyto you feed, and the larvae are dependent on that nutrition, your better off using known cultures.

 

[dalilgriffith]

Thank you so much, the stuff i ordered arrives tomorrow i hope. Lets wait and see. Clowns have not spawned but I would like to get used to running the cultures and such. I have several guys at work interested already in buying clowns so I am very excited about this endeavor, I have raised freshwater fry before but this is 100% different. Thanks for your help.