Who's growing pods and phyto at home?

[JasonVH]

Sorry about the prints, hoping for success!

It's neat how hardy the brine shrimp are. They handled the heat wave just fine- got to 100 I think. No idea how warm the tub got, it felt extremely warm to the touch and there was a whoosh of super humid hot air when the lid was lifted. May have been a different story had the tub been getting more sun, especially evening exposure.

The sudden major cool down over a couple days with the rain, the night dropped to 56.. no problem. Suspect day/night temp swings aren't an issue for them.

Good question about heating- haven't needed to use a heater yet. Been thinking about that as cooler temps are coming soon. It gets cold here- drops to low 30s, mid-high 20s. Probably move it to the garage. Your location shows as Orange, imagine your winters probably are mild enough that it's not much of a concern?

If anyone reading this- suggestions for heating plastic containers would be great.

I'm not sure how necessary the air pump is for the brine shrimp. It was added mainly due to the lid, summer heat plus apparently some of the algae in the live phyto needs to be suspended.

You too huh... outdoor tig culture aspirations! Two main reasons I wanted to try them: the adults swim. Perfect for fish fry. Second, apparently they're native to some California tide pools. So they should be able to handle our winters without too much trouble.. I hope. Summer may be a slight more of a concern as those tide pools are up north with water on the cooler side. However they still experience crazy swings as even the northern pools get hot at low tide. Haven't started a tig culture yet as the local source suddenly went unresponsive for several months by now. Hope they're okay.

 

[pledosophy]

I have done all of these side quests!

Phyto's are easy. Just really measure the fertilizer and don't over feed. Aerate softly, don't let it get to cold or hot.

Pods are incredibly easy, especially for the species you mentioned.

You could put a Brute trash can outside. Put in a bunch of rock, salt water, and cover it mostly from the rain. Some sun would be fine, but all day direct sun is bad. Toss in any food you like, some use chicken, other frozen foods. Anything is fine. Some people aerate, some don't. Top it off every couple of weeks. Pods are like the roaches of the sea. They are incredibly easy to grow, just takes time. Throw in some algae if you are getting sunlight.

 

[pledosophy]

Good question about heating- haven't needed to use a heater yet. Been thinking about that as cooler temps are coming soon. It gets cold here- drops to low 30s, mid-high 20s. Probably move it to the garage. Your location shows as Orange, imagine your winters probably are mild enough that it's not much of a concern?

If anyone reading this- suggestions for heating plastic containers would be great.

I'm not sure how necessary the air pump is for the brine shrimp. It was added mainly due to the lid, summer heat plus apparently some of the algae in the live phyto needs to be suspended.

Put the plastic containers in a 10g tank full of water. Heat the water in the tank with a regular fish heater.

Brine like air IME.

 

[Jimbo327]

I need to clean up my balcony before I can try to outdoor pod growing. The problem is that this balcony is only accessible through my master bedroom with carpet. I don't think she likes the idea of moving pods and water through our bedroom. So I'll start with the brine dish hatchery. She grows plants, so I can just put my dish next to her plants. Take baby steps. But I'm glad there are so many people with experience. I would love to grow tigger pods outside and feed to my tank. Supposedly tigger pods are hardy and can withstand some non-ideal conditions.

 

[pledosophy]

I used something similar to this when I was breeding seahorses to hatch brine daily. We weren't fancy then and mine was an upside down two liter bottle of sprite with a hose glued through the cap for water aeration. To harvest I'd just unscrew the cap and pour the brine into a net. Wash the cylinder and do it again. Had a few running at a time.

If you are using to feed fish it's best to use them in the first 24 hours. They don't really eat much after they are born so gut loading didn't serve a significant value. If you raise them to be older you can gutload before feeding to the fish.

They are pretty dirty though.

Two Liter Brine Shrimp Hatchery Cone & Stand

Two Liter Brine Shrimp Hatchery Cone & Stand

lumirlom.shop

 

[Jimbo327]

I finished printing 2 of them. It’s small…but should fit my needs. The eggs don’t come for another week.

 

[pledosophy]

You will get significantly less with that design, but if you don't need a lot, it's fine.

What are you breeding that you need to hatch brine?

 

[Jimbo327]

You will get significantly less with that design, but if you don't need a lot, it's fine.

What are you breeding that you need to hatch brine?

I'm not breeding anything. Just want to feed a nice nutrition snack to the fishes. I don't need a lot of brine, so it's probably perfect for me. And I can switch between the 2 dishes.

Not sure if the corals can eat it. But it's a nice skill to have if I do need to breed something. I think my clowns are paired up. And my mandarins might be heading in that direction once the tiny captive raised mandarin grows bigger.

 

[Cereal Killer]

View attachment 135638
I finished printing 2 of them. It’s small…but should fit my needs. The eggs don’t come for another week.

I also printed these but I enlarged the file so it holds more water. I have the AK Culturi-S Pro on order to grow pods and other animals.

 

[Jimbo327]

These printed dishes are small. I will try it out, and I can enlarge it. But if it worlds with less water, that would be better.

Wow, that AK Culturi-S Pro is pretty fancy.

 

[Cereal Killer]

These printed dishes are small. I will try it out, and I can enlarge it. But if it worlds with less water, that would be better.

Wow, that AK Culturi-S Pro is pretty fancy.

I used this setup for several years with great success. Then once I printed one about 50% larger it was producing more with less egg shells left behind.

 

[Jimbo327]

I like the "great success" part. So are you needing more bbs?

 

[Cereal Killer]

I like the "great success" part. So are you needing more bbs?

what do you mean by 'bbs'?

 

[pledosophy]

Not sure if the corals can eat it. But it's a nice skill to have if I do need to breed something. I think my clowns are paired up. And my mandarins might be heading in that direction once the tiny captive raised mandarin grows bigger.

Depending on the coral they will, it's small but many LPS would.

If you want to get into breeding clowns or manderins I would look at starting a rotifer culture. It is a bit more tricky then hatching bbs and will be your first food. Very dirty though, I wouldn't feed it to my reef.

BBS or artemia is a good food for some fish fry, but it is not good for much besides that IME.

 

[Jimbo327]

bbs = baby brine shrimp

 

[Jimbo327]

Depending on the coral they will, it's small but many LPS would.

If you want to get into breeding clowns or manderins I would look at starting a rotifer culture. It is a bit more tricky then hatching bbs and will be your first food. Very dirty though, I wouldn't feed it to my reef.

BBS or artemia is a good food for some fish fry, but it is not good for much besides that IME.

Really? I was told BBS is nutritious and great for feeding. I thought it'll be a feeding frenzy when I dump them into the tank, and the fish will go nuts. And it'll be good for the reef. When you say dirty, what does that mean? Like lots of nitrates? Or are you talking about the egg shell if not removed?

Rotifers look much more involved. Needing a phyto setup basically. I'm not sure I have enough time and devotion to keep the culture going.

 

[Cereal Killer]

I add Silcon to the batch of bbs. Mine would get nice and fat. Some were up to half inch long and very active.

 

[Jimbo327]

Got the bbs eggs. Added half a scoop of eggs in the hatchery dish. Gonna wait 24 hrs. Let’s see if it works.

 

[Cereal Killer]

Got the bbs eggs. Added half a scoop of eggs in the hatchery dish. Gonna wait 24 hrs. Let’s see if it works.

Do you have a light source above the dish. Mine ran for 18 hours from 6 am till 12am.Would often take about 36 hours for the first eggs to swim to the light hole for harvesting.

 

[Jimbo327]

Do you have a light source above the dish. Mine ran for 18 hours from 6 am till 12am.Would often take about 36 hours for the first eggs to swim to the light hole for harvesting.

I put it next to my wife's plants and it gets about 8 hrs of light. It's been about 36 hours. I got some bbs in the dish. Not sure if it was a lot or not. Pretty fun. Baby brine is so tiny, I don't think my fish even saw it.