In a stroke of good timing, or bad timing if you ask my wife, there has been a few popular threads and videos on here about coral nutrition. This coinciding with my itch to restart my cultures and here we are. Looking to go bigger and better than last time. I grew phytoplankton pretty well, in my opinion. Nannochloropsis and Tetraselmis in 2 liter bottles, split every week to two weeks. It was very productive.
Now my copepod cultures on the other hand, weren't anything to write home about. 5 gallon(ish) clear storage containers. Added some rock rubble for ammonia control and pod homes. It was difficult to siphon out pods, gunk collected all over the bottom, and was never very productive.
So, spitballing a new plan. I'm changing it all. Why would I change my phyto culture even if it worked well and was all set up in that sexy PVC tubing? Well its in my sitting room next to the tank. Which makes it significantly less sexy when its in the open in a room you want to be a bit more put together and formal. I'd move it to the unfinished basement where I have more space, but its cold and the cultures languished there. So looking to increase the size of each bottle to gallon carboys, like you see for micro batch home brewing. I'll use the same lights as above, but planning to contain this all inside a small toybox or other chest that can sit next to the tank, so from the outside its just that, a toy chest and my wild "science experiments" can be hidden away. I'll also be moving away from culturing Nanno and Tet and trying Iso and Tet.
The big change I'd like to try is in my pod cultures. Looking to add a brine shrimp and 1 or 2 roti cultures as well. I'd like to try building a stand to hold multiple 5 gallon water jugs/carboys similar to this, except clear:
My thinking is all the junk can settle to the bottom of the cone, the opening at the bottom removes the need for siphoning out both the waste and the critters. I could set up a couple small openings in the top for airlines and feeding the phyto.Probably would try and figure out a way to attach a small heater inside each one as well, since they'd be in the basement and its cold. I could see myself running up to 6 of these, if they are easy enough to maintain.
So at the end of my rambling thoughts, anyone try something similar to this? What worked? What didn't? And share what you have, I'd love to see what everyone else uses!
Now my copepod cultures on the other hand, weren't anything to write home about. 5 gallon(ish) clear storage containers. Added some rock rubble for ammonia control and pod homes. It was difficult to siphon out pods, gunk collected all over the bottom, and was never very productive.
So, spitballing a new plan. I'm changing it all. Why would I change my phyto culture even if it worked well and was all set up in that sexy PVC tubing? Well its in my sitting room next to the tank. Which makes it significantly less sexy when its in the open in a room you want to be a bit more put together and formal. I'd move it to the unfinished basement where I have more space, but its cold and the cultures languished there. So looking to increase the size of each bottle to gallon carboys, like you see for micro batch home brewing. I'll use the same lights as above, but planning to contain this all inside a small toybox or other chest that can sit next to the tank, so from the outside its just that, a toy chest and my wild "science experiments" can be hidden away. I'll also be moving away from culturing Nanno and Tet and trying Iso and Tet.
The big change I'd like to try is in my pod cultures. Looking to add a brine shrimp and 1 or 2 roti cultures as well. I'd like to try building a stand to hold multiple 5 gallon water jugs/carboys similar to this, except clear:
My thinking is all the junk can settle to the bottom of the cone, the opening at the bottom removes the need for siphoning out both the waste and the critters. I could set up a couple small openings in the top for airlines and feeding the phyto.Probably would try and figure out a way to attach a small heater inside each one as well, since they'd be in the basement and its cold. I could see myself running up to 6 of these, if they are easy enough to maintain.
So at the end of my rambling thoughts, anyone try something similar to this? What worked? What didn't? And share what you have, I'd love to see what everyone else uses!
