Large Scale Rotifer Production

[ClownfishHatchery]

I recently purchased a breeders broodstock of 9 breeding pairs. I want to build off of his success but also take production to the next level. I wanted to find out information on larger scale rotifer production. What do places like Sustainable Aquatics and ProAquatix do? I have seen a machine like the one below but there must be a cheaper option. Any thoughts?

High-Density Rotifer Production Systems $3000
Rotifer machine.jpg

Link to website with info on the machine

[Luis A M]

Unless your production rockets to huge numbers,you won´t need that.Just some few buckets

[ClownfishHatchery]

LOL... I already have my own 7 spawning pairs with 7 of the 5g buckets already so i really dont want to add 9 more 5g buckets for these pairs as well. There has to be a better way than 5g buckets.

[spawner]

I would suggest you just move your cultures into a 15 or 30 gallon conical tanks. Poly thanks are cheap and space efficient. Do the batch culture just as you do with your buckets but on a larger scale. We use to grow 100 million rotifers a day in a few poly tanks and do water changes on them every M,W, F. With little problems at all. Those systems are wonderful but you need to use at least 10s to 100s million rotifers a day to make them worth you while.

We use a screen stand pipe to make water changes easy, similar to what these machines use, just open the valve and let the water drain out, change 80% of the water, then fill it up and feed. Having a bag that fits a 5 gallon bucket for collections and clean outs is helpful as well.

What temperature are you growing your rotifers at?

[ClownfishHatchery]

Thank you for the reply and great info. Do you have a source for the 30g tanks? It seems like 2-3 of them should work. It will sure save me a lot of space.
Currently rot buckets are at 68-70 degrees. It was recommended that I raise them a bit to increase production, but I didnt want to have to add a heater for every bucket so I just have them at room temp, plus it saves on electric

Would you happen to have a pic or diagram of how your set up was?
Can you explain more about the standpipe screen and bags for the 5g bucket collections?

[spawner]

This is UNCW's system, it was the prototype of the AES system. UNCW built and tested the system for AES shortly after I left for grad school. 2001 or I think.



PolyTank makes wondeful tanks, you can buy them from a lot of dealers or direct. They are cheap and they can UPS smaller tanks. I think the 15 gallon and the 30 gallon. The 30 gallon is huge for you needs.
http://www.polytankco.com/cone-bottom_tanks.html



If you raise your temp to 26C you will double or triple your production, and your feeding rates and your food bill. I always like to have 2 in full production and one on standby in case you get a crash.

I'll try and get a picture of the screen stand pipes and bags online tomorrow. We can ship you a bag and a few stand pipes for what they cost us to build. We're building standpipes tomorrow anyway. I have new bags on order from SatiTech but I don't know how long they are going to take to make. I have them custom build them for us. PM me and I'll get you the costs.

[CoralAndFishDepot]

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