rotifer and phyto set up!

[Ron Popeil]

hello! i was hoping to get some pictures of your rotifer and phyto culturing set ups!

if you could throw in some information about your maintenance schedules, that would be greatly appreciated!

thank you!

 

[shifty51008]

Ill post pics of mine in the morning but it is just a plain setup. 2 5 gal buckets filled with 4 gal of water, air pump and rotifer floss. I change out 1/3 of the water every morning on each and replace with nsw this way the rotifers get strained and a water change to keep levels good.

For bbs i just use 2 cheap bbs hatcheries with the cut off bottoms of 2l bottles. I have each one set 24 hours apart so the fry always have a good supply. I feed half in the morning and half in the afternoon.

 

[Ron Popeil]

Thank you shifty! What does the rotifer floss do? When changing your water, do you pour it through a sieve first? What salinity do you keep your Rotifers at?

 

[shifty51008]

Thr rotifer floss picks up the gunk in the buckets, i think it works well i can deff tell a diffrence when i dont use it.

Most of the time i will filter out the rotifers in a seive first and feed uit to the dt otherwise i just dump it down the drain.

I keep all my tanks and rotifers at 30ppt, this way it makes it easier to do water changes on everything, no need to have to make diff salinity batches for each thing. And my corals and anemones do great at these levels also.

 

[shifty51008]

here is my setup.
Rotifers


BBS

 

[Jaypilot]

Shifty, nice set up.... just be real carful with you brine shrimp. Your pump should be above the brine shrimp like your rotifer setup or you should at least have a check valve. It may be there and I can't see it thoigh .

 

[shifty51008]

thanks, yes there are check valves on each line but even i don't rarely trust them. I will be making a shelf for the pump this weekend though.

 

[Ron Popeil]

what do you feed your rotifers? home made phyto or something else? in what amounts?

 

[shifty51008]

I'm lazy, lol. I feed RGcomplete 2 times a day, just enough to keep the water tinted green in between feedings I can't really say at what ammount though as I never really measured but I would guess around 3mm each time.

 

[NH Fish]

I'm another that has the simple 2-5gal bucket setup and I also feed RG Complete. Again just enough to keep the water green.

 

[Ron Popeil]

do you ever do a thorough cleaning of your buckets? or just periodic water changes?

how is your rotifer density?

 

[NH Fish]

I siphon out about 3 gal into another bucket about every 3 days. Then clean out the gunk and filter media and put the rots back in, add another gallon and your good to go.

 

[shifty51008]

depending on how long it will be before i need my rots I will strain about a gal or so from each bucket and put it into a new bucket with nsw and clean the old ones real good. but usually the rotifer floss keeps the buckets clean fairly good.

every day I will take an old bbs glass vial and dip it in the bucket and then hold it up to the light to see how many rotifers are in there and it usually has a good ammount. thats the only way I really check my density though.

 

[mwilliams62]

How do you guys have the floss in the buckets? Pics would be great too...
My rotifer setup is like the above and I too use the RG Complete about 5mm on the syringe that I use.

 

[shifty51008]

My floss just sits on the bottom of the buckets and when i take them out to clean i run the floss around the sides. Hanging them is supposed to work good but my way seems to be working fine also.

 

[Dapg8gt]

Nice, subbed as I'm thinking of doing this also a pair of clowns that are coming my way. What about roti cultures? Where's the best place to get starters? And the food?

 

[shifty51008]

I got my rotifers and dry foods from reeds mariculture

 

[Dapg8gt]

I got my rotifers and dry foods from reeds mariculture

Right on thank's I'll check that out.

 

[NH Fish]

Go to reeds and get their starter kit with the floss and air tubes. works great.

 

[mwilliams62]

rotifier and phyto setup!

rotifier and phyto setup!

My floss just sits on the bottom of the buckets and when i take them out to clean i run the floss around the sides. Hanging them is supposed to work good but my way seems to be working fine also.

Thanks now if only I can find my floss that I had.... I did not use it because I was afraid that all my rotifers would get stuck in there and none to feed to the babies... I will try one bucket and see how it turns out.