EASY live food cultures

[TOtrees]

On 10/27/2023 at 3:30 PM, Guppysnail said:

what is your ph?  Mine is 8-8.2. I read they like hard high ph so I think I’m good there. 
Do you leave your light on 24/7? 

Honestly? I don't know my pH. At least not exactly. My water is around low to mid 7s out of the tap, most of the time. It goes up or down in various tanks depending on substrate, setup and bioload. But it doesn't shift too much. If I didn't have the crushed coral in the daphnia tank and bucket, I'd be worried about it getting low (old tank syndrome, at a micro scale). That's one of the reasons I remove snails periodically, to let calcium stay in the water and avoid crashing. I put cuttlebone and even dr turtle blocks in the tank, and they tend to last a long time, so I don't think calcium is lacking. Plus the daphnia populations boom like crazy so that also supports there being enough calcium. I've definitely found they respond well to feeding, eg if I know I want more daphnia in a week or two, I start feeding a bit more heavily and the do as requested. And the snails I do have, although small, have good looking shells (another sign of sufficient Ca). 

The light on the tank that I shared the pics of is pretty weak, and no it's not on all day. Maybe noon - 10pm? I don't think it's strong enough to grow any significant amount of green algae, and the daphnia do so well on the food I feed I don't feel a need to change that up. 

[TOtrees]

On 10/27/2023 at 9:53 AM, Guppysnail said:

I think I made a fatal mistake. I was told to start the culture using old tank water. I do have hydra that are mostly dormant but do become active during high fry times.

If I got hydra in my cultures, I'd just do a restart. Use a normal fish net to remove a few dozen larger daphnia to get the new culture going, and set aside in a bowl or whatever. Empty the contaminated tank out, discard the water (filter out remaining daphnia for feeding to fish), scrub a dub, use vinegar or boiling water, dry it out for a few days, then refill and restock. Better still: get a duplicate or second culture started with clean and uncontaminated water in a new or cleaned or uncontaminated tank, and get the replacement culture up and producing before tearing down the contaminated one. 

[Guppysnail]

On 10/27/2023 at 5:01 PM, TOtrees said:

Better still: get a duplicate or second culture started with clean and uncontaminated water in a new or cleaned or uncontaminated tank, and get the replacement culture up and producing before tearing down the contaminated one. 

I think this is what I’m going to do. I’ll run 2, one smaller so if the first crashes due to hydra or my inexperience with them I’ll still have some. 

[Guppysnail]

@TOtrees another question. If I were an aquatic critter it would probably be a pest snail 🤣

 

How dense is to dense?  How dense is harvest time?  Here it is today. all the small ones like to congregate in the bottom along the seal. Is that normal?
 

 

[TOtrees]

On 10/28/2023 at 12:37 PM, Guppysnail said:

If I were an aquatic critter it would probably be a pest snail 🤣

 

How dense is to dense?  How dense is harvest time?  Here it is today. all the small ones like to congregate in the bottom along the seal. Is that normal?

Some of us appreciate pest snails as much as the rest. 

There’s no harm in harvesting too early, but if you want to collect more I’d let it go a bit longer. You can choose the population size you want to maintain, by choosing your tank size, feeding amount/frequency and harvesting schedule. Early on I’d recommend erring on the side of caution, but I think you’re very very far from “too much”. Also, I think your setup will benefit from a bit of time and filth and seasoning. All these will increase how robust it is. 

Speaking of snails, I can’t tell from the video, but if you don’t have any, I would add some.

where they hang out in the tank will be a function of light, flow, and where food collects. As far as I know, they’re unable to eat anything that’s actually on the bottom, so I wouldn’t read anything into your observation that they seem to be hanging out at the bottom.

[TheSwissAquarist]

What do you feed your Daphnia @Guppysnail? Constant BBS for fish conditioning is getting a tad expensive for me 🫠. 

[Guppysnail]

On 10/29/2023 at 11:26 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

What do you feed your Daphnia @Guppysnail? Constant BBS for fish conditioning is getting a tad expensive for me 🫠. 

@Elodie Rose brought me lots of green water and I ordered a starter culture and medium for chlorella vulgaris as well as ordered what Totrees video suggested. 

@TheSwissAquarist I started by using the yeast, spirulina powder method on YouTube and chlorella powder

[Odd Duck]

@Guppysnail, you mentioned on another topic that I can’t seem to find, that you microwave your dog food to eliminate mites.  How long do you microwave what volume of food.  I tried this the other day and I may have overdone it.  Now I can’t get the smell out of the microwave despite multiple cleanings.  😆  Oops!  🤣 

[Guppysnail]

30 seconds for a few pieces 1 minute for a handful. Just until it sizzles a bit

On 10/29/2023 at 2:04 PM, Odd Duck said:

@Guppysnail, you mentioned on another topic that I can’t seem to find, that you microwave your dog food to eliminate mites.  How long do you microwave what volume of food.  I tried this the other day and I may have overdone it.  Now I can’t get the smell out of the microwave despite multiple cleanings.  😆  Oops!  🤣 

 

[Guppysnail]

My daphnia magna are doing well. I bought live chlorella vulgaris to feed them. 

I bought these 

I dropped the eggs in the green water from @Elodie Rose with a heater and they hatched. A smaller option for babies. 

I also got some red wigglers from a friend. They are doing well. I cut pieces off for my bigger kids. They love them.