rotifer question

[kau_cinta_ku]

"The rotifers multiply and a portion of their population are removed daily. In theory, a rotifer culture fed daily, will multiply continuously, and as long as some are harvested daily the culture should last indefinitely."

after reading that statement, it led me to a question.

I am about to start my rotifer culture (10gal. tank separated into 2 sections) my prob. is, it says you have to harvest some daily or they will crash. well now that summer is coming up, the wife and I go camping 2-3 days at a time. what do I do during the time I am gone? or are they going to crash every time we go camping?

any input would be great.

 

[thosefishguys]

Crashing usually depends on rotifer density and water conditions. If you harvest most of the rotifers in the tank before you leave town, and the water quality is reasonably good, the rotifers shouldn't crash. I leave my rotifers unharvested for 3 or 4 days at a time pretty regularly, and usually don't have problems.

J.

 

[billsreef]

Yup, just do a really big harvest and feed them lots of phyto before you take off. You can also put some in a jar and place them in the refrigerator as a back up culture. Chilling them down will let them last about a week or so and leave you with rots to restart cultures should they crash.

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

thanks for the info. I will put some in the fridge before we leave just in case.