Advice needed from folks culturing pods and rotifers

[Karen00]

Hello fellow saltines,

I purchased a bottle of mixed rotifers/pods and live phyto (it's not reef nutrition because my last was out of stock of what I wanted). The mixture contained pods: tisbe biminiensis and rotifers: brachionus privatizing and brachionus rotundiformis. The bottle had live phyto in it to feed them so I couldn't see them. It just looked like green water. I added about 3/4 of the bottle over the course of the few days after lights out and with flow off. The remainder of the bottle I used in a bucket to hopefully culture. The problem is I don't see anything in the bucket after adding them. I guess it's possible all of them went into my tank and there was only green water left so my question is... should I be able to see these without a microscope?

Also how do folks add these to their tanks. Just stick a net or glass in the culture container to grab a bunch and add to the tank or do you strain them first (and what micron strainer)? Also, does anyone know what temp to culture these at? It just says room temp on the site where I bought these and I have also seen room temp elsewhere but room temp is different to different people. I keep my house between 70-75. I added a small 10w constant temp heater to the bucket (meant for 2-5g) but it is too much for the amount of water I'm keeping in the bucket (it pushed the temp to about 93. I'm using an aistone for aeration and feeding live phyto from the extra bottle I purchased.

I contacted the company with these questions but haven't heard back yet.

 

[Woodyman]

Hello fellow saltines,

I purchased a bottle of mixed rotifers/pods and live phyto (it's not reef nutrition because my last was out of stock of what I wanted). The mixture contained pods: tisbe biminiensis and rotifers: brachionus privatizing and brachionus rotundiformis. The bottle had live phyto in it to feed them so I couldn't see them. It just looked like green water. I added about 3/4 of the bottle over the course of the few days after lights out and with flow off. The remainder of the bottle I used in a bucket to hopefully culture. The problem is I don't see anything in the bucket after adding them. I guess it's possible all of them went into my tank and there was only green water left so my question is... should I be able to see these without a microscope?

Also how do folks add these to their tanks. Just stick a net or glass in the culture container to grab a bunch and add to the tank or do you strain them first (and what micron strainer)? Also, does anyone know what temp to culture these at? It just says room temp on the site where I bought these and I have also seen room temp elsewhere but room temp is different to different people. I keep my house between 70-75. I added a small 10w constant temp heater to the bucket (meant for 2-5g) but it is too much for the amount of water I'm keeping in the bucket (it pushed the temp to about 93. I'm using an aistone for aeration and feeding live phyto from the extra bottle I purchased.

I contacted the company with these questions but haven't heard back yet.

Here's how I do mine. It's by no means fancy in any way shape or form, but it works. The pods populate and that's all I care about.

Buy yourself a bottle of Apex from reef nutrition. Get a 5 gallon container and fill to desired volume with some freshly mixed water. To keep it simple I use the same water as when I do water changes. You could culture them with a lower SpG (or salt mix) but I don't go through the trouble.

Dump in the bottle of pods, add a bubbler (with or without airstone) and use a valve to reduce the flow of air, I go with a trickle for the container I have (5 gallon aqueon, about 4/5 full) add some phyto to tint the water green.

Let them do their thing. Occasionally I'll drop in a few pellets or some of the food for my corals. When the tint goes back to clearish I dose more phyto.

When you need pods, suck them out into a bucket/container use a sieve to catch the pods and then dump the water and replace with fresh.

My pods are at room temp in my basement. ~65° currently. It goes from ~62-70 down there throughout the year.

Here is the sieve I use
Mercer of Montana 4" Zooplankton Sieve (53 Micron)

 

[Karen00]

Here's how I do mine. It's by no means fancy in any way shape or form, but it works. The pods populate and that's all I care about.

Buy yourself a bottle of Apex from reef nutrition. Get a 5 gallon container and fill to desired volume with some freshly mixed water. To keep it simple I use the same water as when I do water changes. You could culture them with a lower SpG (or salt mix) but I don't go through the trouble.

Dump in the bottle of pods, add a bubbler (with or without airstone) and use a valve to reduce the flow of air, I go with a trickle for the container I have (5 gallon aqueon, about 4/5 full) add some phyto to tint the water green.

Let them do their thing. Occasionally I'll drop in a few pellets or some of the food for my corals. When the tint goes back to clearish I dose more phyto.

When you need pods, suck them out into a bucket/container use a sieve to catch the pods and then dump the water and replace with fresh.

My pods are at room temp in my basement. ~65° currently. It goes from ~62-70 down there throughout the year.

Here is the sieve I use
Mercer of Montana 4" Zooplankton Sieve (53 Micron)

Thanks for this!! So are you able to see the apex pods in the bucket? Are they big enough to visually see? I'm trying to figure out if there are even pods in my bucket. LOL I'm going to purchase more so will grab some of those. I read that tisbe (which is the type I have) are tiny so I don't know if they're too small to see visually or there is nothing in the bucket. Haha.

 

[Woodyman]

Thanks for this!! So are you able to see the apex pods in the bucket? Are they big enough to visually see? I'm trying to figure out if there are even pods in my bucket. LOL I'm going to purchase more so will grab some of those. I read that tisbe (which is the type I have) are tiny so I don't know if they're too small to see visually or there is nothing in the bucket. Haha.

I can see the apex pods yes

 

[Karen00]

I can see the apex pods yes

Great, thanks! I don't know if there is anything in my bucket so I will try again with those pods.

 

[Woodyman]

Reef chili for scale! I'm about 1.5" from the bottom of the black trim on the tank. I need to top off as you can see from my water line at ~1"

 

[Woodyman]

1" frag square for scale on the up close shot.

 

[Karen00]

Reef chili for scale! I'm about 1.5" from the bottom of the black trim on the tank. I need to top off as you can see from my water line at ~1"

Thanks for this. Having a visual really helps. It's possible I dumped all of the pods/rotifers into my tank and the water left in the bottle that I dumped into the bucket (about a quarter of the bottle) might've been just green water that was leftover. Sorry, one more question... Do you remove some daily to feed your tank(s)?

 

[Karen00]

1" frag square for scale on the up close shot.

Oh yes, this definitely helps. At least I will know what to expect when I get these! Thanks!

 

[Woodyman]

Thanks for this. Having a visual really helps. It's possible I dumped all of the pods/rotifers into my tank and the water left in the bottle that I dumped into the bucket (about a quarter of the bottle) might've been just green water that was leftover. Sorry, one more question... Do you remove some daily to feed your tank(s)?

I do not. Usually 2-4 times a week.

 

[Sod Buster]

Put a 3d printed pod house in the bucket to keep the culture going. You don't have to dump any back in the bucket and can just swish the seive around in the sump. Years before pod houses, we'd use a nylon stocking wad tied up about the size of a Xmas ornament ball, cheap non microbial loofah & circle dish scrubbers, or a chunk of the foam that comes in sump baffles now. All worked to keep the next generation. The seive is so handy. Cut a hole in lid of an old salt bucket for me. It's froze to my deck atm, but you get the idea. Plop the pod parents back in and green the water up with some more phyto.

 

[Karen00]

I do not. Usually 2-4 times a week.

Awesome. Thanks!

 

[Woodyman]

Oh yes, this definitely helps. At least I will know what to expect when I get these! Thanks!

Yep get a fresh bottle and make sure you see them moving around before you take that bottle home.

I really like how @Reef Nutrition puts the production/package date on the bottle. This way you know when you get it how long it's been sitting!

I pick up a fresh bottle once a month and usually dump a little in each tank and the rest into the culture tank I have. Not cause I need to, but because I want to support my LFS and @Reef Nutrition for having great products!

 

[Woodyman]

Put a 3d printed pod house in the bucket to keep the culture going. You don't have to dump any back in the bucket and can just swish the seive around in the sump. Years before pod houses, we'd use a nylon stocking wad tied up about the size of a Xmas ornament ball, cheap non microbial loofah & circle dish scrubbers, or a chunk of the foam that comes in sump baffles now. All worked to keep the next generation. The seive is so handy. Cut a hole in lid of an old salt bucket for me. It's froze to my deck atm, but you get the idea. Plop the pod parents back in and green the water up with some more phyto.

The pod house is cool to have. I don't pick it out and swish it as often as I should in my tank. It's covered in pods though. I let them do their thing.

I have an icecap one it's behind the reef chili and reef blizzard in my photo.

 

[Karen00]

Put a 3d printed pod house in the bucket to keep the culture going. You don't have to dump any back in the bucket and can just swish the seive around in the sump. Years before pod houses, we'd use a nylon stocking wad tied up about the size of a Xmas ornament ball, cheap non microbial loofah & circle dish scrubbers, or a chunk of the foam that comes in sump baffles now. All worked to keep the next generation. The seive is so handy. Cut a hole in lid of an old salt bucket for me. It's froze to my deck atm, but you get the idea. Plop the pod parents back in and green the water up with some more phyto.

Thanks. I saw the pod hotels that people have made and posted here. I added a couple filter sponges with large holes until I could get a pod hotel going.aybe all the pods and rotifers have taken cover in the sponges. LOL I think I'm cursed when it comes to trying to culture pods. I have tried a couple times now. Haha. I have no trouble with baby brine shrimp but the problem with those is they keep rising to the surface of my tank (probably to get closer to the light). My gobies don't appreciate that so I stand there with a fine net to push the bbs down into the water column over and over again. I also add them just before lights out because I read they sink back to the bottom at night. So easy to hatch but a PITA in the tank. They're almost the perfect food. Haha.

 

[Karen00]

Yep get a fresh bottle and make sure you see them moving around before you take that bottle home.

I really like how @Reef Nutrition puts the production/package date on the bottle. This way you know when you get it how long it's been sitting!

I pick up a fresh bottle once a month and usually dump a little in each tank and the rest into the culture tank I have. Not cause I need to, but because I want to support my LFS and @Reef Nutrition for having great products!

Nice! Ya, I will try them. I actually did buy a bottle of their rigger pods but I used the whole thing in my tank. I think they were all consumed in two days. Haha.

 

[Sod Buster]

Woody has the solid method. In a month it'll be snowing pods like Xmas eve for those gobies. I'd bring jars to the LFS along with a gallon jug of phyto just to give away what I didn't need. Once you get the cultures ripping, it's surprising how much you can make. Guests look at you funny when your fridge is full of pop bottles w/ green stuff in them. "Yeah bro, the beer is on the left".

 

[Karen00]

Woody has the solid method. In a month it'll be snowing pods like Xmas eve for those gobies. I'd bring jars to the LFS along with a gallon jug of phyto just to give away what I didn't need. Once you get the cultures ripping, it's surprising how much you can make. Guests look at you funny when your fridge is full of pop bottles w/ green stuff in them. "Yeah bro, the beer is on the left".

Ya, I was excited when I got my first culture of bbs to work. It was snowing brine shrimp. Haha. The ultimate prize will be a healthy culture of pods. LOL

 

[Starganderfish]

I can definitely relate. It's really hard to get Tigger or other good-sized pods here in Aus. The ones I end up getting locally are usually Tisbe.
They're tiny.
I have to squint and look really closely in the bottle I get to see them and wouldn't know they were in there if I couldn't;t see movement. They basically look like specs of dust in the water.
I've added multiple bottles to my tank, have a refugium with Cheato and Ulva, a pod hotel in the display tank, and I still have no idea if there are actual live pods in the tank or not.
Tisbe are around 50-300um in size while Tiggers are 1000-1500um.
I'm trying to get some Calanoid or Cyclopoid pods locally which should be larger but still small compared to Tiggers.
Culturing is really hard when they're that small

 

[Karen00]

I can definitely relate. It's really hard to get Tigger or other good-sized pods here in Aus. The ones I end up getting locally are usually Tisbe.
They're tiny.
I have to squint and look really closely in the bottle I get to see them and wouldn't know they were in there if I couldn't;t see movement. They basically look like specs of dust in the water.
I've added multiple bottles to my tank, have a refugium with Cheato and Ulva, a pod hotel in the display tank, and I still have no idea if there are actual live pods in the tank or not.
Tisbe are around 50-300um in size while Tiggers are 1000-1500um.
I'm trying to get some Calanoid or Cyclopoid pods locally which should be larger but still small compared to Tiggers.
Culturing is really hard when they're that small

It's almost painful. I have gone through so many bottles for my tank and trying to culture in a bucket and no luck yet. I haven't heard of calanoid before. I'm going to look into those. I also didn't think about cyclopoid so that's a possibility. Thanks for mentioning both! I keep hoping I will find success with even just one type.