Liveaquaria Orbi Kreisel

[Scott Weinrich]

Last year, Liveaquaria had a sale on their Orbi kreisel tanks, so I scooped one up in case in case I ever wanted to breed anything again. Almost 20 years ago, I collected a dozen or so peppermint shrimp larva and raised them as side project from the seahorse breeding I was doing at the time. They weren't too difficult, so I figured I might as well give them another shot using the kreisel. The Orbi works great as a larval rearing tank with some minor modifications. My first batch of peppermints settled significantly more quickly than expected with the first few becoming juveniles at 22 days and the vast majority of the remainder settled by 25 days. I now have about ~100 settled peppermints and I'm waiting on the second batch I added to finish settling. My plan is to rotate different species as little breeding projects in this kreisel tank, so stay tuned for future updates.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

thats really neat! i got one also but used it for jellyfish

 

[Dontcrash]

Awesome project! I just bought one of these to give marine breeding a try and this gives me so much hope that'll work. I'm thinking about setting it up for sexy shrimp.

Could you share what modifications you have made to the Orbi for your project? I imagine the same kind of adjustments will be needed for the sexy shrimp.

You probably have various live food cultures for your Seahorses, what foods worked for your Peppermints?

 

[Scott Weinrich]

Awesome project! I just bought one of these to give marine breeding a try and this gives me so much hope that'll work. I'm thinking about setting it up for sexy shrimp.

Could you share what modifications you have made to the Orbi for your project? I imagine the same kind of adjustments will be needed for the sexy shrimp.

You probably have various live food cultures for your Seahorses, what foods worked for your Peppermints?

The main modification was a screen for the outflow from the kreisel. I used 3M 300lse double sided tape to attach a sheet magnet perimeter around the outflow area (with all the little holes). Then, I used the same type of double sided tape to attach 100 micron mesh to a matching perimeter of sheet magnet. This way, the screen was attached magnetically and could be swapped out easily for cleaning. The 3M 300lse tape is great for submerged use.

I also ran an air stone and a small heater in the outer filtration chamber. I think the airstone is important because the surface area for gas exchange is pretty small.

Sexy shrimp are on my list too! I might try those after I find homes for all the peppermints.

 

[Dontcrash]

The main modification was a screen for the outflow from the kreisel. I used 3M 300lse double sided tape to attach a sheet magnet perimeter around the outflow area (with all the little holes). Then, I used the same type of double sided tape to attach 100 micron mesh to a matching perimeter of sheet magnet. This way, the screen was attached magnetically and could be swapped out easily for cleaning. The 3M 300lse tape is great for submerged use.

I also ran an air stone and a small heater in the outer filtration chamber. I think the airstone is important because the surface area for gas exchange is pretty small.

Sexy shrimp are on my list too! I might try those after I find homes for all the peppermints.

Oh man thanks so much, this is perfect. I was wondering what tape would be safe to use. Those holes I figured would be the main issue but you've already figured out an elegant working solution.

 

[Calmwaters]

Last year, Liveaquaria had a sale on their Orbi kreisel tanks, so I scooped one up in case in case I ever wanted to breed anything again. Almost 20 years ago, I collected a dozen or so peppermint shrimp larva and raised them as side project from the seahorse breeding I was doing at the time. They weren't too difficult, so I figured I might as well give them another shot using the kreisel. The Orbi works great as a larval rearing tank with some minor modifications. My first batch of peppermints settled significantly more quickly than expected with the first few becoming juveniles at 22 days and the vast majority of the remainder settled by 25 days. I now have about ~100 settled peppermints and I'm waiting on the second batch I added to finish settling. My plan is to rotate different species as little breeding projects in this kreisel tank, so stay tuned for future updates.

Very neat!