Live rotifers - worth dosing to reef tank?

[Reefer Dan]

I’m considering starting to culture some rotifers to dose to my reef tank; however, I am in the “researching” phase and there are a few questions I haven’t been able to find consistent answers on:

1- what’s the benefit of feeding live rotifers?
2- how much would should be dosed daily in a 80 gallon?
3 - what happens if you dose too much?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I’m considering starting to culture some rotifers to dose to my reef tank; however, I am in the “researching” phase and there are a few questions I haven’t been able to find consistent answers on:

1- what’s the benefit of feeding live rotifers?
2- how much would should be dosed daily in a 80 gallon?
3 - what happens if you dose too much?

I can’t speak to the benefits, I only use rotifers to feed larval fishes. Just be sure that you have a properly sized plankton sieve to isolate the rotifers from their culture water, you never want to add that to your reef. Here is an article I posted recently on culturing rotifers:

DIY Rotifer Culture Using Soda Bottles

A low cost method to culture micro algae and rotifers.

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[Reefer Dan]

I can’t speak to the benefits, I only use rotifers to feed larval fishes. Just be sure that you have a properly sized plankton sieve to isolate the rotifers from their culture water, you never want to add that to your reef. Here is an article I posted recently on culturing rotifers:

DIY Rotifer Culture Using Soda Bottles

A low cost method to culture micro algae and rotifers.

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

Thanks Jay. Anyone know if there is a benefit in the context of a reef tank?

 

[Reefer Dan]

Bump

 

[Reefer Dan]

no one has added live rotifers to their tank to see if there are any benefits?

 

[MoshJosh]

Have only been culturing roti for a little bit, I occasionally broadcast feed it when I have extra (1-2 a week) and meh. . . I haven’t observed and noticeable benefit.

I would pass unless you have it lying around

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

no one has added live rotifers to their tank to see if there are any benefits?

They are used to feed non-photosynthetic corals in specialty tanks. I’m not sure if there is much need for them with photosynthetic corals.
I had always hoped rotifers could be used to keep flame scallops alive, but they don’t seem to help.
Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks Jay. Anyone know if there is a benefit in the context of a reef tank?

They are smaller than typical copepods and not seen by many fish, however they are high in nutrition and as jay stated making them a great food source for fry but the main benefit is the nutrition it offers both fish and Many coral with polyps and mouths

 

[Reefer Dan]

They are used to feed non-photosynthetic corals in specialty tanks. I’m not sure if there is much need for them with photosynthetic corals.
I had always hoped rotifers could be used to keep flame scallops alive, but they don’t seem to help.
Jay

That is good to know, I had been wondering if it would work for a flame scallop.

They are smaller than typical copepods and not seen by many fish, however they are high in nutrition and as jay stated making them a great food source for fry but the main benefit is the nutrition it offers both fish and Many coral with polyps and mouths

Do adult fish eat it? I do have a couple Anthias I was assuming might.

 

[Spicy Reef]

I see all my fish eating the rotifers, when I put them in, including my 7" sailfin. I can see my nems take them in if I spot feed I can only assume they take them in opportunistically as well.

One benefit I notice with my reef bowl is the clarity of the water after I add them. I don't see this with my eyes in my 150g...
The bowl does not have the best filtration and can turn yellow/green tinted at the end of 2 weeks. When I add the rotifers the water clears up in under 6 hours. I do have a nem in there and some corals that will consume the rotifers, but I'm sure some end up on the floor for my minimal clean up crew.

I feed the rotifers 3 times a day and harvest every 3 days, for clean up I just dump them into another clean bucket and hose out the old one. super easy, but if I don't adhere to the feeding or the harvesting, the culture will crash.

I feel the rotifers are worth it for me because I'm home for the feedings. I'm pretty sure you can do 2 times a day w/o any problem once might be pushing it. If you go on vacation, you can take the bucket to a friend to feed and they can throw out a gallon of water and replace it w/ another gallon. just give them clearly marked containers They will forget to feed so come up with a system.

 

[Kasrift]

They are used to feed non-photosynthetic corals in specialty tanks. I’m not sure if there is much need for them with photosynthetic corals.
I had always hoped rotifers could be used to keep flame scallops alive, but they don’t seem to help.
Jay

This is interesting. Does regular phyto help? I've been debating a flame scallop since I culture phyto and have excessive amounts and have no negative effects dosing large amounts.
As a matter of fact I'm out of town so I just dumped about a liter of phyto into a 32 gallon tank since I'm out of town and won't be home to shake the bottles of harvested phyto.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

This is interesting. Does regular phyto help? I've been debating a flame scallop since I culture phyto and have excessive amounts and have no negative effects dosing large amounts.
As a matter of fact I'm out of town so I just dumped about a liter of phyto into a 32 gallon tank since I'm out of town and won't be home to shake the bottles of harvested phyto.

My problem with dosing phyto is that there is no good way to separate the algae cells from their culture water. I don’t want to add old culture water to a reef. I’ve tried coffee filters, but it lets too much algae through, I’ve tried micron filters, but they are too slow.
Years ago, I used phyto to feed zebra mussels and did not achieve any greater longevity than not feeding them at all.
Jay

 

[Reefer Dan]

My problem with dosing phyto is that there is no good way to separate the algae cells from their culture water. I don’t want to add old culture water to a reef. I’ve tried coffee filters, but it lets too much algae through, I’ve tried micron filters, but they are too slow.
Years ago, I used phyto to feed zebra mussels and did not achieve any greater longevity than not feeding them at all.
Jay

Random idea: Have you tried pouring it through a 1 micron filter sock and then rinsing it in reverse with saltwater?

@Spicy Reef - thanks for your detailed response. This is helpful to know. So I imagine there is no way to “overdose” rotifers to the display?

 

[Spicy Reef]

@Spicy Reef - thanks for your detailed response. This is helpful to know. So I imagine there is no way to “overdose” rotifers to the display?

I would say there's probably a good balance spot. feed just enough so you don't have too many dead producing ammonia... so if you see an ammonia spike, then maybe back off a bit. That being said, I have not seen a spike in my tank as of yet, maybe just enough hungry elements or optimal filtration...

 

[Kasrift]

My problem with dosing phyto is that there is no good way to separate the algae cells from their culture water. I don’t want to add old culture water to a reef. I’ve tried coffee filters, but it lets too much algae through, I’ve tried micron filters, but they are too slow.
Years ago, I used phyto to feed zebra mussels and did not achieve any greater longevity than not feeding them at all.
Jay

I saw someone on the private selling that was using a centerfuge to separate out the culture water from the phyto, seemed interesting.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I saw someone on the private selling that was using a centerfuge to separate out the culture water from the phyto, seemed interesting.

I tried that also, but I only had a tube centrifuge so I could only process 50 ml at a time. It also made little algae pellets. I think there are bag centrifuges that work well (for spinning down blood)
Jay

 

[Reefer Dan]

I tried that also, but I only had a tube centrifuge so I could only process 50 ml at a time. It also made little algae pellets. I think there are bag centrifuges that work well (for spinning down blood)
Jay

I was reading about a process that uses cream separator centrifuges. I was intrigued but not enough to spend $140+

 

[Jay'sReefBugs]

I was reading about a process that uses cream separator centrifuges. I was intrigued but not enough to spend $140+

There's a guy that acutaly makes a center fuge just for phytoplankton to make paste but it was definitely expensive from what I remember

 

[geologeek]

I was reading about a process that uses cream separator centrifuges. I was intrigued but not enough to spend $140+

I have done this myself in the past when I was producing a lot of phyto and wanted to concentrate it. I would then reconstitute the resultant paste off the creamer plates to make say a 10 times concentrate.

It's very simple a process and gets rid of the vast majority of the culture water and very limited lysing of algae cells.

 

[Ordovician_Reef]

I have done this myself in the past when I was producing a lot of phyto and wanted to concentrate it. I would then reconstitute the resultant paste off the creamer plates to make say a 10 times concentrate.

It's very simple a process and gets rid of the vast majority of the culture water and very limited lysing of algae cells.

Just noticed your SN, I am a Geologist and am also setting up a molly breeding tank....