Grindal Worms for Reef Aquariums

[SDK]

I have everything I need to get my culture started except the grid. Trying to understand. Do you put feed on top of the grid, or under the grid.

Sorry for the slow reply. It's been a crazy few months.

You can put the food on top of the grid and under the plastic, or under both...

Give it some time and worms will be all over the place soon enough. You should have tons of them on the grid no matter where you put the food. Just make a sandwich of food, grid and plastic on top and that is where they will congregate...

 

[User]

Awesome info- ordered a starter today and collected My supplies

Any idea if the coco fiber and oats etc would work for white worms?

Thanks

 

[SDK]

Yes, coco fiber and oats are both good for White Worms. You can also feed both nutritional yeast flakes which make them very healthy for the fish.

Keep the white worms in at least shoebox sized cultures and wetter than the Grindal worms. There is a guy on EBay who sells white worm cultures that do well without refrigeration.

 

[User]

Yes, coco fiber and oats are both good for White Worms. You can also feed both nutritional yeast flakes which make them very healthy for the fish.

Keep the white worms in at least shoebox sized cultures and wetter than the Grindal worms. There is a guy on EBay who sells white worm cultures that do well without refrigeration.

Sweet- awesome info

Much appreciated!!

 

[User]

Found the eBay seller of the temperate white worms and ordered a starter culture. He actually says he uses coco fiber as a base instead of soil on his ad.

Cheers!!

 

[SDK]

Good luck and let me know if you need help with either culture...

 

[User]

Good luck and let me know if you need help with either culture...

Will do. Thanks for the detailed tutorial

 

[User]

When rinsing the worms for feeding to the tank- it looks like your using tap water? Or is that RO plumbed to your sink?

Thanks

 

[SDK]

When rinsing the worms for feeding to the tank- it looks like your using tap water? Or is that RO plumbed to your sink?

Thanks

Hi- I use RO water that I keep in a small container by the sink to rinse them for feeding.

 

[bzb]

Good luck and let me know if you need help with either culture...

Interested in starting this myself - already got the food on order! Do you have a suggested vendor for the culture starter?

 

[SDK]

I have not purchased any recently enough to recommend a seller, but good luck and let me know if you need help with them...

 

[User]

Regarding feeding the works- you just put a few pinches of dry oats and nutritional yeast around the substrate? You don’t pre-soak?

Thanks

 

[SDK]

Regarding feeding the works- you just put a few pinches of dry oats and nutritional yeast around the substrate? You don’t pre-soak?

Thanks

Short answer is yes. If you maintain the overall moisture of the culture you don't need to have an extra step and mess of presoaking...

Finer points....

Try to keep the food somewhat centralized under whatever you are using (netting or plastic) to lay on top of the soil. That will concentrate a lot of worms where you need them to be for harvesting.

As the culture starts to boom you need to add more food. You will eventually get a feel for it. A general rule of thumb is if everything you add is gone the next day, you need to increase portions. If there is still food left after three or four days, you are adding too much. Try to have most of what you feed gone on day two, and feed every two or three days.

 

[User]

Short answer is yes. If you maintain the overall moisture of the culture you don't need to have an extra step and mess of presoaking...

Finer points....

Try to keep the food somewhat centralized under whatever you are using (netting or plastic) to lay on top of the soil. That will concentrate a lot of worms where you need them to be for harvesting.

As the culture starts to boom you need to add more food. You will eventually get a feel for it. A general rule of thumb is if everything you add is gone the next day, you need to increase portions. If there is still food left after three or four days, you are adding too much. Try to have most of what you feed gone on day two, and feed every two or three days.

Perfect, thank you!

 

[bzb]

I ordered a culture off the good ole ebay... been a few days and I don't see anything (the culture was... mostly soil).

How many days should I expect to see at least something?

 

[SDK]

I ordered a culture off the good ole ebay... been a few days and I don't see anything (the culture was... mostly soil).

How many days should I expect to see at least something?

It should be within a week or so, but a good culture should have visible worms when you get it.

The problem with receiving a really sparse culture is that it becomes a race between the mites and the worms to establish first. The mites usually win if the culture just looks like soil.

I would reach out to the seller at this point and at least forewarn him that your culture looks empty. His reaction should be to get another one in the mail right away.

In the meantime, if you see what looks like grains of salt proliferating on the food, toss the culture and sterilize everything...

 

[bzb]

Thanks - will reach out.

I'm not sure if I can discern between "grains of salt" and what the yeast flakes look like.

 

[SDK]

You will see mites appearing on top of the flakes and proliferating on the substrate around the food. Trust me, you will know it when you see it. They multiply quickly when they get going...

 

[fishybizzness]

Thanks - will reach out.

I'm not sure if I can discern between "grains of salt" and what the yeast flakes look like.

Let me know if it doesn't work out with the seller and I'll send you a starter culture. I'm about due to transfer some of mine to a fresh container and I'll be able to just put some in a flat rate box and mail it out. I was gifted with a culture from @Mjrenz and it's been a lifesaver for my fish and I wouldn't mind paying it forward!

 

[Larry L]

@fishybizzness How often do you find you need to transfer your cultures to fresh containers and/or media?