live phyto vs pastes ect.

[bmaz123]

i live in australia and i was just wondering if there was an expiration period for things like 'rotifer diet' and other pastes ect?

also is there any advantage to using live phytoplankton as opposed to other products available?

thanks

[Ben]

I believe rots always thrive better on live phyto its cheaper but a bit more time consuming
Pastes / liquid diets should last for a while in the freezer dont know exactly how long though

[Luis A M]

Theoretically,live algae are better because they can improve WQ (NH3,O2),while dead algae do exactly the opposite.
But in practise,most breeders are ok with pastes.Which last years in the freezer.

[bmaz123]

ok thanks for that. would that mean i would have to change more water daily? and would any other additional maintenance be required?

[Ben]

Depends on what you are using it for

[bmaz123]

to feed rotifers, to feed larvae. what other applications are there?

[me2003]

There are paste with better profiles like rotigrow plus. Nanno 3600 works well also.
According to Reed it last 2 years frozen.
http://www.reedmariculture.com/product_rotigrow.html
Copepods,amphipods,brine shrimp,corals etc are other applications.
Some require live.

When raising rotifers a popular protocol is to do a 1/3 water change a
day. You run 1/3 of your culture water through a 53u filter to harvest rotifers
and replace the 1/3 with new saltwater.

Most people prefer paste to live because it is reliable and less work.
The rotifer harvest rate is good. From cost standpoint the labor
involved in growing live algae is to expensive.

Ammonia is a major issue if you do not do daily water changes.
Some use ammonia removal, I don't have any info on this.

It is a good idea to develop a protocol for your rotifer culture.
For example, put a portion of your culture in the refrigerator
daily in case it crashes. Cycle every 2 to 3 days with 2 to 3 cultures
in the refrigerator none older than a week.
If you have a lot of free time you can try to create resting rotifer eggs.

[bmaz123]

thanks heaps for the info, very helpful

[Greshamh]

There are paste with better profiles like rotigrow plus. Nanno 3600 works well also.
According to Reed it last 2 years frozen.
http://www.reedmariculture.com/product_rotigrow.html
Copepods,amphipods,brine shrimp,corals etc are other applications.
Some require live.

When raising rotifers a popular protocol is to do a 1/3 water change a
day. You run 1/3 of your culture water through a 53u filter to harvest rotifers
and replace the 1/3 with new saltwater.

Most people prefer paste to live because it is reliable and less work.
The rotifer harvest rate is good. From cost standpoint the labor
involved in growing live algae is to expensive.

Ammonia is a major issue if you do not do daily water changes.
Some use ammonia removal, I don't have any info on this.

It is a good idea to develop a protocol for your rotifer culture.
For example, put a portion of your culture in the refrigerator
daily in case it crashes. Cycle every 2 to 3 days with 2 to 3 cultures
in the refrigerator none older than a week.
If you have a lot of free time you can try to create resting rotifer eggs.

Counting your rotifers is also a step many miss that I feel is vital. It really does tell you a lot about a cultures health.

[Suzy]

Is this a good place to plug Brine Shrimp Direct? The owner is soooo nice.

[natureAddict]

ammonia problem? try chaeto or sea lettuce or whatever macro algae u have..

Just 2 days back i had an idea ....put a large piece of sea lettuce in my rot batch culture n i saw the ammonia drop from 8ppm to 0ppm in 24 hrs

Try it n let us know