I sent him a message requesting more info along with his picture that I numbered some stuff on. As soon as I hear back I or he will post more info.
This is great, thank you! I'm fairly excited about this, lol
Help growing copepods in refugium
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This is great, thank you! I'm fairly excited about this, lol
I want to thank Joe for his reply and very detailed write up.
"Here's a very quick and crude schematic with some description that might be help:
The main "bioreactor" is as follows: acrylic tube (2 3/4" OD, 1/8" wall, 14" tall from USPlastic) which holds ~ 1 L of culture. Glued to the inside wall of that tube is a small diameter (~1/2") that sticks above the liquid, but the end of that tube ends ~1/2" above the bottom of the reactor. A piece of flexible tubing that carries the medium (see below) passes through the reactor's wall (your #8) and bends into the small acrylic tube. This way, as medium is dripped (pumped) into the reactor, it must flow into the bottom of the reactor, which keeps it from instantly flowing out of the reactor. As medium in pumped into the reactor it flows out via a tube near the top that extends into the refugium (not visible in photo, but shown in drawing). The reactor was inoculated with Tetraselmis (Microalgae Disk Type: AA-TET, Florida Aqua Farms) and allowed to grow in reactor filled with f/2 medium for a few days before medium flow was turned on.
The output from the bioreactor drips into a acrylic tube inside the refugium (on left in drawing) that has a hole near the bottom. This insures the algae are fed to the bottom of the refugium, and not dripped on the surface where they might be quickly swept out of the refugium. It may not be needed.
A piece of 1/8" stainless steel tubing is connected to an aquarium air pump via plastic air hose. I have a sterile gas filter in-line (between your #5 and #6), but it is probably not needed, but you could use a piece of large dia tube stuffed with cotton. The stainless steel tube that also passes through the side of the reactor (your #7), is open at the bottom, so creates large bubbles (you don't want or need a sparging stone, just big bubbles and just a slow train of them). The air provides CO2 and oxygen, but much more importantly provides mixing to keep the algae well suspended. The air flow rate is controlled by a standard aquarium air valve (your #1). A similar piece of SS tubing is also in the tube within the refugium (on left in diagram, but air tube not shown), and controlled by valve #3. Your #4 is just the input to the 3-way air valve from the aquarium air pump, and #2 is not used.
There is a 5 L Pyrex bottle with f/2 medium ("Micro Algae Grow Mass Pack without Silicate" from Florida Aqua Farms). A piece of norprene L/S 13 tubing (Cole-Parmer, but any very small ID tubing could be used) starting at the bottom of the medium bottle passer through a fixed speed Cole-Parmer peristaltic pump and into the bioreactor as described above (#8). The f/2 medium is prepared as described by Florida Aqua Farms (or where every you buy it), and it is brought to a boil to pseudo sterilize it. While still near boiling, it is pored into the medium bottle to "sterilize" it too (and why the bottle needs to be made of Pyrex so it does not shatter). The pump that feed medium to the reactor is not on constantly, as it would have to have an extremely slow flow rate. Instead, the pump is turned on a few times (~5) for a short period of time (17 min in my case) so as to attain a desired daily flow rate (see below).
The light is provided by a strip of LEDs of around 18 W (strip I use is no longer made, but there are many out there now) on a 12 hr on/off cycle. You wan LED that have wavelengths that grow algae well (I'm just using some leftover 8K lights, but it's not critical.
The medium flow rate is rather important. The term dilution rate is just the medium flow rate (say in mL/day) divided by the volume of the bioreactor (in mL). The specific growth rate of algae is their growth rate per unit volume (say in g/mL/day) divided by their biomass concentration (in g/mL). Both the dilution rate and specific growth rate have units of 1/day then, and eventually, the specific growth rate of the algae will match that set by the dilution rate. Algae don't grow much faster than 1 1/d, so if the dilution rate is much higher than that, then the algae will just be washed out of the reactor and you will just end up pumping in pure medium, which you don't want. Consequently, I've been running the bioreactor at a dilution rate of 0.1 1/day. For my 1 L (or 1000 mL) reactor, that means I pump medium in at 100 mL per day. If you have a big aquarium/refugium (my total volume is around 60-70 gal) you can use a higher flow rate of medium, but the bioreactor needs to be bigger as well. For instance, if you wanted to pump in 1 L of culture per day, then your bioreactor would need to be 10 L in volume, so as to get the same dilution rate of 0.1 1/day. Search google on chemostats, and you'll find tons of information on them. Also important, the higher the dilution rate, less of the medium that gets consumed. At a dilution rate of 0.1 1/d, I measured very low inorganic P leaving the bioreactor. That is, most of the P in the medium had been consumed by the algae. If I ran the dilution rate closer to 1 1/d or higher, the more of the inorganic P (and associate N) would not be consume and would also be pumped into the aquarium, which would not be desirable.
This algal chemostat has been running continuously since Feb 2017, and when I check the culture under a microscope, it is pretty much 100% Tetraselmis, which I find some what surprising. Tetraselmis must be pretty good at out competing other algae, because the setup is not very sterile. As long as the bioreactor does not get taken over by an algae that loves growing on the bioreactor walls, I will keep it going. If it does get taken over by wall growth at some point, I'll just sterilize the bioreactor (i.e., drop it in some boiling water) and start again.
I thinks that's most of the details. Feel free to pass this information around.
cheers,
joe"
"Here's a very quick and crude schematic with some description that might be help:
The main "bioreactor" is as follows: acrylic tube (2 3/4" OD, 1/8" wall, 14" tall from USPlastic) which holds ~ 1 L of culture. Glued to the inside wall of that tube is a small diameter (~1/2") that sticks above the liquid, but the end of that tube ends ~1/2" above the bottom of the reactor. A piece of flexible tubing that carries the medium (see below) passes through the reactor's wall (your #8) and bends into the small acrylic tube. This way, as medium is dripped (pumped) into the reactor, it must flow into the bottom of the reactor, which keeps it from instantly flowing out of the reactor. As medium in pumped into the reactor it flows out via a tube near the top that extends into the refugium (not visible in photo, but shown in drawing). The reactor was inoculated with Tetraselmis (Microalgae Disk Type: AA-TET, Florida Aqua Farms) and allowed to grow in reactor filled with f/2 medium for a few days before medium flow was turned on.
The output from the bioreactor drips into a acrylic tube inside the refugium (on left in drawing) that has a hole near the bottom. This insures the algae are fed to the bottom of the refugium, and not dripped on the surface where they might be quickly swept out of the refugium. It may not be needed.
A piece of 1/8" stainless steel tubing is connected to an aquarium air pump via plastic air hose. I have a sterile gas filter in-line (between your #5 and #6), but it is probably not needed, but you could use a piece of large dia tube stuffed with cotton. The stainless steel tube that also passes through the side of the reactor (your #7), is open at the bottom, so creates large bubbles (you don't want or need a sparging stone, just big bubbles and just a slow train of them). The air provides CO2 and oxygen, but much more importantly provides mixing to keep the algae well suspended. The air flow rate is controlled by a standard aquarium air valve (your #1). A similar piece of SS tubing is also in the tube within the refugium (on left in diagram, but air tube not shown), and controlled by valve #3. Your #4 is just the input to the 3-way air valve from the aquarium air pump, and #2 is not used.
There is a 5 L Pyrex bottle with f/2 medium ("Micro Algae Grow Mass Pack without Silicate" from Florida Aqua Farms). A piece of norprene L/S 13 tubing (Cole-Parmer, but any very small ID tubing could be used) starting at the bottom of the medium bottle passer through a fixed speed Cole-Parmer peristaltic pump and into the bioreactor as described above (#8). The f/2 medium is prepared as described by Florida Aqua Farms (or where every you buy it), and it is brought to a boil to pseudo sterilize it. While still near boiling, it is pored into the medium bottle to "sterilize" it too (and why the bottle needs to be made of Pyrex so it does not shatter). The pump that feed medium to the reactor is not on constantly, as it would have to have an extremely slow flow rate. Instead, the pump is turned on a few times (~5) for a short period of time (17 min in my case) so as to attain a desired daily flow rate (see below).
The light is provided by a strip of LEDs of around 18 W (strip I use is no longer made, but there are many out there now) on a 12 hr on/off cycle. You wan LED that have wavelengths that grow algae well (I'm just using some leftover 8K lights, but it's not critical.
The medium flow rate is rather important. The term dilution rate is just the medium flow rate (say in mL/day) divided by the volume of the bioreactor (in mL). The specific growth rate of algae is their growth rate per unit volume (say in g/mL/day) divided by their biomass concentration (in g/mL). Both the dilution rate and specific growth rate have units of 1/day then, and eventually, the specific growth rate of the algae will match that set by the dilution rate. Algae don't grow much faster than 1 1/d, so if the dilution rate is much higher than that, then the algae will just be washed out of the reactor and you will just end up pumping in pure medium, which you don't want. Consequently, I've been running the bioreactor at a dilution rate of 0.1 1/day. For my 1 L (or 1000 mL) reactor, that means I pump medium in at 100 mL per day. If you have a big aquarium/refugium (my total volume is around 60-70 gal) you can use a higher flow rate of medium, but the bioreactor needs to be bigger as well. For instance, if you wanted to pump in 1 L of culture per day, then your bioreactor would need to be 10 L in volume, so as to get the same dilution rate of 0.1 1/day. Search google on chemostats, and you'll find tons of information on them. Also important, the higher the dilution rate, less of the medium that gets consumed. At a dilution rate of 0.1 1/d, I measured very low inorganic P leaving the bioreactor. That is, most of the P in the medium had been consumed by the algae. If I ran the dilution rate closer to 1 1/d or higher, the more of the inorganic P (and associate N) would not be consume and would also be pumped into the aquarium, which would not be desirable.
This algal chemostat has been running continuously since Feb 2017, and when I check the culture under a microscope, it is pretty much 100% Tetraselmis, which I find some what surprising. Tetraselmis must be pretty good at out competing other algae, because the setup is not very sterile. As long as the bioreactor does not get taken over by an algae that loves growing on the bioreactor walls, I will keep it going. If it does get taken over by wall growth at some point, I'll just sterilize the bioreactor (i.e., drop it in some boiling water) and start again.
I thinks that's most of the details. Feel free to pass this information around.
cheers,
joe"
This is all pretty fancy and intricate but I think I’ll stay with my bucket and phyto paste. I like to keep it simple. I bet the same results with a lot less stuff to clean and make sure it’s all adjust correctly.
You know what would be useful for most readers, is information on the various species of copepods they’ve been working with. There’s many species of copepods,some you wouldn’t want near your tank, they’re parasitic. A great deal of them.
Can everyone chime in on the species that you have cultured and as much information about them as you can so that others reading can choose the best species for their application. I think that would be beneficial.
Can everyone chime in on the species that you have cultured and as much information about them as you can so that others reading can choose the best species for their application. I think that would be beneficial.
Is there a "best" copepod for a display/fuge setup with little or no dosing of phyto? In a perfect world I'm sure several species would be desirable but will one out compete the others? Seems Tisbe and Tigger are mentioned the most. Add both to a tank or just one? Again, will one out compete the other?
Do you know if RG Complete and RG Onestep have the same dosing level?
Im going to restart my 2 cultures "S" and "L" and use the dosing pump method. Ill also do a 3rd bucket for pods.
I dont mind the daily harvest but the dosing manually a few times a day is kinda of a pain. I have the Reeds "5 gal bucket bubble filter" and that makes for a pretty clean bucket.
It is been in the 70's and 80's so I think I can pull this off in the next week to 2.
Down the road I might try the phyto reactor thing, then I wont even have to worry about the phyto to feed them.
Well, I’ve been working with Apex pods for around 4 months now. I’m also culturing tigger, tisbe and waiting on some Parvo copepods. I love my copepods. They’re the best secret weapon in breeding marine fish and other ornamentals.
My purpose with using Apex pods was purely for breeding, but I was curious and soon started harvesting some for my big display tank AND my broodstock tanks. I had been reading studies from multiple sources that I found on google scholar that talked about copepods and their nutritional profile as compared to rotifers and artemia. Worth looking into, it’s free.
Reed Mariculture claimed that the Apex pod is an ideal species to populate your sump and DT. My experience was exactly that. They took to my display tanks and populated in no time flat. Although they are a smaller species by about 50 to 100 microns when compared to others. This is the Copepod that I would recommend to others. I still recommend a side culture in a 5 gal bucket. Then you can boost the population more, even to just get started. Please email me as I can send you some great research I’ve collected. I’ve also got a Facebook page, @PaulsPodAZ, where I post pics and video of breeding and culturing projects I have been working on. Here’s a pic of some of my Apex pods. This is the kind of densities you can attain in a culture vessel and by feeding RG Complete from Reed Mariculture. Apex pods thrive on this microalgae concentrate.
This is Apex nauplii, newly hatched Copepod young that are used in breeding fish and other organisms. The smaller size is preferable, around 50 microns:
Here’s a pic of all age groups of Apex pods, nauplii copepodites, along with some adults:
Copepods are something that I am passionate about. I’ve been able to even sell or trade them for equipment or for buying more broodstock. You can contact me with any questions you may have. It’s easier to message me through Facebook messenger. Easier to chat and trade files and pics.
My purpose with using Apex pods was purely for breeding, but I was curious and soon started harvesting some for my big display tank AND my broodstock tanks. I had been reading studies from multiple sources that I found on google scholar that talked about copepods and their nutritional profile as compared to rotifers and artemia. Worth looking into, it’s free.
Reed Mariculture claimed that the Apex pod is an ideal species to populate your sump and DT. My experience was exactly that. They took to my display tanks and populated in no time flat. Although they are a smaller species by about 50 to 100 microns when compared to others. This is the Copepod that I would recommend to others. I still recommend a side culture in a 5 gal bucket. Then you can boost the population more, even to just get started. Please email me as I can send you some great research I’ve collected. I’ve also got a Facebook page, @PaulsPodAZ, where I post pics and video of breeding and culturing projects I have been working on. Here’s a pic of some of my Apex pods. This is the kind of densities you can attain in a culture vessel and by feeding RG Complete from Reed Mariculture. Apex pods thrive on this microalgae concentrate.
This is Apex nauplii, newly hatched Copepod young that are used in breeding fish and other organisms. The smaller size is preferable, around 50 microns:
Here’s a pic of all age groups of Apex pods, nauplii copepodites, along with some adults:
Copepods are something that I am passionate about. I’ve been able to even sell or trade them for equipment or for buying more broodstock. You can contact me with any questions you may have. It’s easier to message me through Facebook messenger. Easier to chat and trade files and pics.
Hey message me, I grow the S and L rotifers as well. It would be nice to chat. I’ve made my own compact culture system that you mentioned. RG Complete has multiple uses. You can raise a lot of copepod species on this stuff as well. I’ve never heard of RG One Step. Can you explain?
@lapin
You’re buying a doser, right? There’s a jaebo 4 channel doser that’s in the Apex pod culture Manual that I’ve been passing out. This is the one I’m getting. It’s a heck of a lot better with a doser. I’ve been using airline tubing and a container with RG, mixed with a little RODI to thin out and I gravity drip into my buckets. Lasts all day. Try that while waiting for your doser and see how it works. Doser is preferable of course, but not everyone has the extra money to spend. That’s what I’m good at, doing things cheaply, haha. This hobby will literally bankrupt u if you let it!
You’re buying a doser, right? There’s a jaebo 4 channel doser that’s in the Apex pod culture Manual that I’ve been passing out. This is the one I’m getting. It’s a heck of a lot better with a doser. I’ve been using airline tubing and a container with RG, mixed with a little RODI to thin out and I gravity drip into my buckets. Lasts all day. Try that while waiting for your doser and see how it works. Doser is preferable of course, but not everyone has the extra money to spend. That’s what I’m good at, doing things cheaply, haha. This hobby will literally bankrupt u if you let it!
Its something new from Reeds. Part of their RG line. It has more amino acids and things to fortify the roti in a more complete way. I have used their products for years when I lived 10 miles away from them.
Ya I'm going with the Jebao DP-4. Its cheap and people say it works if you can get over the long time it takes to program it. I didnt use drip lines last season. Manual feeding a few times a day. Dont mind the once a day harvest, but feeding by hand 3 or 4 times a day is hard for me to do. I used RG Complete until my phyto green water jugs took off.
I got the kits with the 5 gallon bucket "hang in" bubble filter. That makes for a very clean bucket. Not much to wipe of the sides all the time. Ya still need the roti floss but not so often.
Here is the set up from last season with the good old baby brine shrimp cone. Dont know if someone still make those or not anymore.
Simple
Its something new from Reeds. Part of their RG line. It has more amino acids and things to fortify the roti in a more complete way. I have used their products for years when I lived 10 miles away from them.
Ya I'm going with the Jebao DP-4. Its cheap and people say it works if you can get over the long time it takes to program it. I didnt use drip lines last season. Manual feeding a few times a day. Dont mind the once a day harvest, but feeding by hand 3 or 4 times a day is hard for me to do. I used RG Complete until my phyto green water jugs took off.
I got the kits with the 5 gallon bucket "hang in" bubble filter. That makes for a very clean bucket. Not much to wipe of the sides all the time. Ya still need the roti floss but not so often.
Here is the set up from last season with the good old baby brine shrimp cone. Dont know if someone still make those or not anymore.
Simple
Yeah man, there’s a place for brine shrimp cones. Check Florida Aquafarms’ website. Why do you grow rotifers? Do you breed anything or just dose to your reef? I started doing that as well as target feeding, just casually experi,eating with them. Man, my corals popped! Couldn’t believe it. I’m not sure if it was that or the introduction of phyto to my system, which I do frequently if not dumping in rotifers. It’s so much fun exploring this stuff. I was really bored with just trading corals. I have been in the hobby a long time but never really learned a whole lot, except what I read. By getting into growing zoo and phytoplankton it led me to try breeding various species of fish and other marine critters. I’ve even spawned the hermit crabs, which are weird because the look just like fish larvae and are free swimming. A lot of neat stuff. Check out my Facebook page (@PaulsPodsAZ) and drop me a message. I’d love to chat about current projects we both are doing and possibly share research & notes. I currently have a lot of species of broodstock. In addition to clowns, I also have many different species of fish and shrimp.
Its something new from Reeds. Part of their RG line. It has more amino acids and things to fortify the roti in a more complete way. I have used their products for years when I lived 10 miles away from them.
Ya I'm going with the Jebao DP-4. Its cheap and people say it works if you can get over the long time it takes to program it. I didnt use drip lines last season. Manual feeding a few times a day. Dont mind the once a day harvest, but feeding by hand 3 or 4 times a day is hard for me to do. I used RG Complete until my phyto green water jugs took off.
I got the kits with the 5 gallon bucket "hang in" bubble filter. That makes for a very clean bucket. Not much to wipe of the sides all the time. Ya still need the roti floss but not so often.
Here is the set up from last season with the good old baby brine shrimp cone. Dont know if someone still make those or not anymore.
Simple
Hey I checked on Reed Mariculture’s site. There’s no such thing as RG Plus. You’re probably confused. There’s RG Complete, which is the recommended feed. There’s also plain RotiGrow, which doesn’t have the ChlorAM-X. It’s also packaged differently and a little cheaper. You can also freeze RotiGrow into small portions which is a benefit that isn’t possible with RG Complete.
https://reedmariculture.com/product_rotigrow_onestep.php
I feed my new fish as much live food as I can while in QT, and feed my tank the same. I like smaller fish for some reason. Corals like roti too. Why eat dried or canned when you can eat real food. Same with fish and coral. I also do baby brine, white worms and am thinking about doing black ones .
I just built my new tank last fall. That was fun working with thick acrylic. My clowns just spawned for the first time. Got them 3 months ago. Reminded me of my fresh water days breeding fish. So I will start with the easy ones and see how it goes. Want to keep it simple and just see what will breed. Goal would be to get fish and inverts breeding in the main tank and have some fry live. Thats pretty far fetched and maybe not possible.
I would but I need to use email because for some reason I can’t post files. Looking into a Dropbox link soon but in meantime just message me with email or message me on Facebook which is easier for me. I’ve got several PDFs and other research I’ve dug up over time. If anyone if good with Dropbox, I’m having trouble sharing files because I can’t Create a link I it. I would appreciate the help if anyone knows.
Were these Amphipods? Because although some copepods will nest in the macroalgae. The two are very often confused. Copepods won’t munch on anything that big. Although they do have quite a varied diet. Phytoplankton is their first choice, but they’ll also eat diatoms, bacteria, and even rotifers with some species. You’ll love the book as it literally goes into any zoo or phytoplankton that can be grown by the hobbyist. Where did you get the book from? If anyone wishes to get the book, Plankton Culture Manual by Frank Hoff, the cheapest I’ve found is at brineshrimpdirect.com for 15$. DONT BUY THEIR BRINE SHRIMP EGGS! They’re infested with hydroids and they wiped out 9/10 dwarf seahorses i had just purchased for broodstock.
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