BrineShrimp Guy

JoandWilly what brand of cysts are you using? 36 hours indicates a low yeild brand or low temp for the most part. Other facters affect hatching, but these seem to be the ones that affect hatching the greatest. BSG

I have never used rock salt for BS, I have always used natural sea water, but if you use anywhere between 35-50g rock salt per litre you should be fine. You may also have to add bicard to bring the PH up to near 8.0 to improve your hatch rate if it is down. BSG

Try this link, it will tell you just how much salt there is in natural sea water. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_water When hatching brineshrimp, I use normal sea water. Water collected out of Tauranga can be in the range 1024-1.030 have the temp between 26-28 (prefer 28) and they will hatch within 18-24 hours depending on brand. I use exclusivley SFB. Note: do not use iodised salt to hatch BS, they won't hatch well at all. BSG

Well I got sick of our growing power bill caused by our lighting system. So I decided to modify my light. I took my 3’ Aqua One (over an AR850) with 2x150w MH + 4x18w F (small by most standards) and added 3 digital timers (internally) to it so I could stagger the way the lights came on. I know that not everybody has access or knowledge to perform this, but the effect on our power bill was for us, significant. The whole thing cost me $40 in parts and is saving me more than that a month in power. I am happy. And besides, I concur with some of the other arguments, there are some prices us marine keepers just have to bare. And for the hell of the argument, bring on the nukes.

The other thing to consider when running multiple pumps is heat. Every pump you add is in effect a heater. BSG

Along the front where you have the 2X8, I wood change the 2x8 timber (to expensive) for a peice if 2x4 steel box or H iron if you can get it) and just put a peice of MDF along the front to dress it. Don't forget to paint the steel with something like PA10 before fitting. Just a thought. If your not keen on any steel in your stand, your current design is good. BSG

Wonderworld Pet Centre had a similar problem in their shop. They fitted a large extracter fan with variable speed controller in the ceiling. This is a very cheap option, and filtered intake grills are available cheaply from Bunnings. BSG

That would make some of the most expensive fish 7& chips in NZ BS

I have built controllers in the past, for commercial and domestic applications. Seems most of the controllers on the market are to expensive for what they offer. I have been considering designing a controller. Apart from an adequately rated heating and chiller outputs (both 10 amps), resolution of 0.1ºC instead of 1ºC, what else would people like to see in a temperature controller? BS

Maybe I need to be specific about my application. I want to change what I am feeding brineshrimp to a live food in order to reduce biowaste within the culture tank and to increase nutritional value of the BS. Livestock in the culture tank is 10K+ BS/L. Infusoria are smaller than Rotifers, and some rotifers are preditor. Larger species of Rotifer are visible to the naked eye, Infusoria is not. I have to admit to not knowing what species of Rotifers are available here. I have started testing a start culture for Infusoria using a fresh water recipe; all I did was replace the fresh water with marine water. It is currently on it's second day, and stinks like heck, so in a couple of days I will put some of the culture on a slide and put it under the microscope. The next thing will be identfying them to see what I ended up with. BS

Thanks for that, I was specifically wanting Infusoria because of its size. Rotifers and Copepods are to large for my application. BS

Hi everyone New to this site, and trying to find some information. I can find lots of information about Infusoria, but it all seems to be about fresh water Infusoria. Does anyone know where I may be able to find information on Marine Infusoria. I thank you for your patience. BS