More pods.

[atoll]

My outside pod culture has exploded. I have millions of pods following on from last year. I will have live pods to feed until late summer at least now. So easy to culture nothing could be easier. All that's needed is a container, I use one of those under bed storage boxes, old tank water,a leaf of banana skin and a starter culture of pods from your LFS.
Add the old tank water.
Add the leaf of banana skin, leave in a bright position and leave to turn green.
Add the starter culture of pods and wait.
You can a 1/4 or 1/2 a teaspoon spirulina now and again to give it a boost.



And a quick scoop to feed my fish.

 

[ScottR]

Thanks for sharing Les! Going to send this to a friend.

 

[ScottR]

Curious about the banana peel and how you came to that. But potassium is never in short demand.

 

[atoll]

Thanks for sharing Les! Going to send this to a friend.

Here's a few more.

And

This is my how to.

 

[atoll]

Curious about the banana peel and how you came to that. But potassium is never in short demand.

Read years ago about somebody using banana skin to get green water for daphnia so thought it might work for marine pods.

 

[IKD]

Here's a few more.

And

This is my how to.

You sure that’s not mosquito larvae?

 

[ScottR]

Here's a few more.

And

This is my how to.

It can seriously freeze over and then they reappear? Wow. And no water movement. No wavemakers or airstones?

 

[atoll]

It can seriously freeze over and then they reappear? Wow. And no water movement. No wavemakers or airstones?

Correct.
The pod eggs drop to the bottom of the container and hatch when the warmer weather arrives. However, you can help boost them if you wish with another sachet of pods from your LFS once you get the water with a mid green colour.

 

[Brady4000]

First, thank you for posting a how to video!

I am not going to be able to help myself.. I am definitely going to try this!

Questions

-What do you do about water evap? Just top it off with tap?
-Do you even check the salinity?
-How often do you give them another piece of banana?
-how long have you kept them alive for?
-What’s the temp swings in the day? (I go form 100f+ (37.8C+) to 40-50s at night (4.4C- 10Cs) in the summer.
-I am guessing you keep it covered so bugs don’t get in it?


@Lowkey reefing check this out, might be useful for your Predator tank

 

[atoll]

First, thank you for posting a how to video!

I am not going to be able to help myself.. I am definitely going to try this!

Questions

-What do you do about water evap? Just top it off with tap?
-Do you even check the salinity?
-How often do you give them another piece of banana?
-how long have you kept them alive for?
-What’s the temp swings in the day? (I go form 100f+ (37.8C+) to 40-50s at night (4.4C- 10Cs) in the summer.
-I am guessing you keep it covered so bugs don’t get in it?


@Lowkey reefing check this out, might be useful for your Predator tank

Just top up with tap or better still rain water.
I don't check salinity, the pods are very forgiving.
I don't add more banana skin but I do feed a1/4 to a 1/2 spirulina powder every couple of days.
They reproduce all summer, cant say exactl6when the stop but around end of September here inbthe UK when it gets cooler.
I don't measure temp am in the UK
I just fish out the odd bug that gets in as I have no cover.

 

[Brady4000]

Just top up with tap or better still rain water.
I don't check salinity, the pods are very forgiving.
I don't add more banana skin but I do feed a1/4 to a 1/2 spirulina powder every couple of days.
They reproduce all summer, cant say exactl6when the stop but around end of September here inbthe UK when it gets cooler.
I don't measure temp am in the UK
I just fish out the odd bug that gets in as I have no cover.

Spirulina Powder Organic - USDA Certified - RAW Nutrient Dense Over 70% Protein Per Serving - Purest Source Vegan Protein - Superfood - Rich in Vitamins and Minerals

This stuff?

 

[atoll]

Spirulina Powder Organic - USDA Certified - RAW Nutrient Dense Over 70% Protein Per Serving - Purest Source Vegan Protein - Superfood - Rich in Vitamins and Minerals

This stuff?

Yep looks similar.

 

[CMMorgan]

 

[Lowkey reefing]

@Brady4000 bro they freeze over and then come back... wow thats insane

 

[atoll]

@Brady4000 bro they freeze over and then come back... wow thats insane

The whole of the seawater has never completely frozen only the top 2" or so.not sure how they would fare if the all of the water froze, never gets that cold here or at least for many years.

 

[Brady4000]

The whole of the seawater has never completely frozen only the top 2" or so.not sure how they would fare if the all of the water froze, never gets that cold here or at least for many years.

Don’t think I am going to be worried about this in Southern California. I was wondering more if it can get too hot lol

 

[Brady4000]

The one thing I am going to take from this post. I am never acclimating the bottle of pods again lol. Well that and now I am going to have a bucket of pod sitting in the backyard that I have to convince the wife is not me just making more trash lol.

 

[atoll]

Don’t think I am going to be worried about this in Southern California. I was wondering more if it can get too hot lol

Shade it for part of the day or attach it to your chiller lol

 

[Brady4000]

Shade it for part of the day or attach it to your chiller lol

Eh, I am going to let this experiment ride. I’ll post back here in a few months of how it turns out. Lol

 

[clhardy5]

I culture the same way! I didn't start with a banana peel....I just put in old filter floss.

I used:
Tub from home depot
Old aquarium water
one bottle of tigger pods
Phyto - Nano and Tetra - That I cultured from some I bought from Mercer of Montana

I top off with RO when I take some out to feed my tank - or give away to friends. I'm in Colorado, and when I started the culture it was freezing (below 32) and now gets up into the upper 80's. Pods were definitely slower to grow in the cooler temperatures, but still showed life. I haven't had them for the full winter yet, but the gal I copied this from would let the top freeze, and the pods would be fine! I wanted to find a way to cultivate that didn't require a whole lot of work - and this is it. I also have a 5 gallon bucket of 'back up' pods in my house, but they don't do as well. I don't really feed it very much at this point. They Phyto keeps reproducing? The bucket only gets about 1 hour of sun in the morning, and then sits in the shade.

Pods in Action Video