Eatfrenchfries

I've been trying to wrap my head around the need for mid-grow fertilizer. Maybe the Poseidon Reef System is too efficient with certain strains of phytoplankton.

Are you adding the mid-grow fertilizer kick to the Tetraselmis as well? I found that when I used too much culture to start a new batch that it would end up burning through the F/2 much faster, yellowing/clear.

I'll be there.

I wouldn't use sourdough starter but rather yeast instead for feeding cultures/ tank. Corn/wheat flour and yeast is good for bulk culture since there is so much trash involved. Its amazing how many land derived products end up in our fish foods. Great for active filter and suspension feeders but can be tricky to use on a singular pod culture. Best used in a bulk container for pods or artemia. Majority of yeast powders available will be only <20% usable with the rest being skimmed out by filtration or just falling out of suspension. The rest of it will be consumed if given to an appropriate pod species like tisbe or tig. Too much powder will trigger a bacterial bloom which is great if you have tig pods because they love anything in the water column. It'll be detrimental for other pods that require surface area. I believe the bacteria ruins the cysts they leave on surfaces. I personally don't use yeast to feed cultures but I do use it to feed my tanks. Used to be the old way of maintaing brine shrimp with selcon + yeast before better foods came around. Corals have a direct response to it. My leptogorgia didn't have the best response to brine, pods, phyto but it did react extensively to yeast + PNS. I recently discovered chat GPT because of Southpark and I must say this post made me laugh when I saw it was a real thing.

I've had a few questions on why my blend varies in color and isn't always your typical rich green blends but closer to brown most of the time. I culture X amount for contracts and Y for myself that sometimes there isn't always an even ratio in the blend. Why does it vary in color? I culture different strains of phytoplankton so, red + green + brown = brown Microalgae Strains: Isochrysis - a golden brown 3-8 micron size motile microalgae that is high in fatty acids making it an excellent feed source for filter feeders and gut loading zooplankton. Tetraselmis - bright green that get up to 10 -14 microns motile microalgae that is rich in amino acids perfect for feeding. Thalassiosira - brown beige ranging in 4 - 32 microns. This is a diatom that requires the addition of silicates to thrive. Beneficial in cycling tanks faster and highly variable as feed for marine organisms due to its large size. Nannochloropsis - emerald green 2 - 5 microns nonmotile microalgae. Nutritious feed but has a tough membrane for pods. Excellent source of pigments. Porphyridium - ruby red 6 - 10 microns nonmotile microalgae. Highly nutritious (growth) and contains phycoerythrin pigment used to make red filter feeders color pop. Rhodomonas - strawberry lemonade 9 - 36 microns nonmotile algae. Highly nutritious (growth) feed. Good for photosynthetic organisms and gut loading. Symbiodinium (zooxanthellae)- brownish dinoflagellates 6 - 13 microns harbored by photosynthetic organisms like corals, clams, and anemones. Potential to restore coral bleaching. Used as a technical feed for cryptic organisms that require photosynthetic exudates. Currently working with two lab grade and two I harvested myself. Synechococcus - forest green cyanobacteria 0.1 - 1.5 microns. Bulk abundant feed source that is fast producing. Used to cover initial larval stages across the board and a staple feed. Somewhat motile, it is believed to possibly compete with red cyanobnacteria found in aquaria. Diversity in cell size helps cover varying stages of zooplankton life while nutritional profile maximizes yields. I'll say covering cell size is more important than providing optimum nutrition when going for reef bugs. They're pretty hardy when it comes to food if the size is right. Nutrition helps when gut loading for feeding and keeping densities up without competition. (Pictures included are 7 of the microalgae strains listed above and one of the bulk pod culture after being freshly fed. ) Bulk Pod Grow after being fed Symbiodinium #2 Thalassiosira Nannochloropsis T Tetraselmis ( I know the post its say nanno but they've been repurposed, different green) Porphyridium Isochrysis Synechococcus (grown partially outdoor with manual stirring)

Dr. Octavius creating a miniature sun would be my go to. Short of that I'd go with good ol metal halides for growth and some Orphek atlantiks for the color pop. Orphek led bars are a favorite for the shimmer.

Would you be able to take a picture in white light for identification?

I figured I had the microscope dialed in but getting a digital camera just means more tinkering to be done. Promise I'll get better. I used to use a camera mount for my phone but must say a digital camera does help a lot. Just some pictures of the pods I'm working with. I can get the microscope to focus but the distance of the camera to the lens distorts the image. (Gotta love YouTube videos for troubleshooting) Parvocalanus crassirostris Tigriopus californicus Tisbe biminiensis Apocyclops panamensis *want to point out in the image with the parvocalanus copepod that the colored dots stuck to it is isochrysis / Thalassiosira (phyto). Overfeeding phyto too fast can ruin pod molts since it's too dense for the culture water. Parvocalanus has been my favorite since it behaves differently than the other pods as a visible adult. They float in the water column and use their antenna to detect motile phytoplankton. Using their short legs they quickly pounce (teleport) on to its prey.

@cjmdh KP aquatics is my favorite for seed rock. I use that to get a few different algae varieties and then I also use tyrees to get cryptic diversity. KP aquatics is where I sourced this algae from originally a few years ago. I've done my best not to lose any of the original rocks.

@John Vinson I would consider in the future but as of right now I am still developing the refinement process not to mention the formula. I could possibly give you a sample to try out for a few batches. *I do have an autoclave but there's a lot of technical effort involved in this process. I trust myself but even I'm not perfect.

Location: Portland- Raleigh Hills *local pickup only, no bulk orders. If picking up for a friend then I need that person to contact me directly to confirm. *No Shipping* A few heart twangs in having to break up my seed rocks but due to recent events I need to switch things up. *Will be gauging local interest before I break up the rock and take it to a swap in approximately two weeks time* Mainly for macroalgae collectors interested in possibly cultivating acetabularia which has a seasonal growth pattern of grow/die/repeat. Not suitable for most mixed reef aquaria. Care: high daylight (currently rocking 300+par), low flow (want it to be just outside of any flow zones you have but not stagnant). Flow will break the cups off the algae. Not enough and it will sag. Once you have a seed rock you'll be able to get growth spread as the macroalgae grows and dies spreading itself. Cups can be used to generate new cultures but difficult to successfully propogate from. Stems attached to rock is what you want. Prone to being wiped out by most herbivores since the calcification doesn't happen until the disk is formed. Even then the stem can be eaten but the disc can only be consumed by elysia slugs. Once your rock is seeded youll be fine. It will come and go in your care. Palatable to different organisms at different points in its life. *extremely delicate *high level of care *slow growing and sexual reproduction requires a mature/stable system to ensure the seed will spread. Recommendation: macroalgae exclusive tanks. (Protected waters) Picture: mermaid wine glass that came back growing on a snail shell. Would be awesome to do a growout with this one but extremely difficult. Directly message me if interested. Details to follow in coming weeks based on local interest.

What I'm bringing BRS dosing units x 2 3inch Reef Viewers What I'm looking for LED diodes.

I am a little familiar with Cody's labs. Running the same premise of algae + pod cultures outside but since I can't track outside contaminants I mainly use them for personal use. Over winter they'll freeze over but come spring the production speeds up on its own. Sunlight only + culture + food source (dead bugs, banana peel, greenwater) Mainly deal with infusoria, synechococcus, nanno, tig pods for outside cultures due to them being able to withstand fluctuations and temperature extremes. Plus they'll usually remain dominant. Tigs will go dormant until temperatures resume. (First time running this in Oregon and it's worked when months are warm. Current pods are hibernating. Used to keep this in California year round, just needed to shade it partially) Mainly I make my own F/2 media to have absolute production control. Not something for the faint if heart because one misstep could ruin future batches. Most prefer to buy it dry in bulk and mix it themselves. Hand making F/2 should only be done if you have an actual need to alter the formula. Doesn't add up to do it yourself when someone else can do it for cheaper and guaranteed. There's too much sterilization involved to keep it pure. Had a buddy of mine start mixing his own and that batch was contaminated during mixing so it crashed all his cultures in short order with some sort of cyano. One batch of my F/2 is mixed stronger than most for most phyto application. Second batch is made with room for silicates. Third batch contains heavy metals + ammonia. Fourth batch contains extra carbon sourcing. Everything is based on the standard F formula. I play with F/2 and F/3 for culturing purposes.

I culture Tisbe, Apocyclops, and Tigriopus pods. Also have amphipods if you want to go that route. Location: Raleigh Hills

Life just happens. Recently finished my contractor position in Portland so I have a lot more free time on my hands. If anyone is hiring let me know haha. Decided to dedicate a bit more time to get culture production up because meeting demand + working full time + school is just a nightmare. Realized that I was tapping out some of my own cultures to keep up with local demand after my own obligations so I made a dedicated system for zooplankton to get around that. Current production is about 65 gallons of zooplankton + 45 gallons of phyto split across three systems. Master Collection - dedicated glass flasks + air filters + air supply + controllable LED diodes + handmade F/2 for the continuous masters. Then there's a 500mL vial with filters for each cultures I swish daily to keep alive in case of scorched earth contingency. Running 3.5 years (1.5 with no critical incidents). Harvest every 5-7 days. Room temp is maintained. Minimal TLC P. Feed Supply (45g)- phytoplankton + zooplankton for feeding. Also used to grow things on a whim as needed since everything here is interchangeable: culture vessels + T5 + air filters + dedicated air pumps + 1/2 batch 1/2 continuous. This is the system I kept tapping which took a while for some of the less prolific pods to get going again. Harvest every 7-10 days. Temperature runs amok but nonissue because of diverse feeds. Running 7 months. I keep duplicates of all supplies/vessels to be able to do it on the fly and clean later. Surplus Supply- Last but not least is the newest addition which I will be sharing part of. One of my mentors in the area graciously thought of me when they had a spare 30g RO storage. Thank you very much my good sir. With this I'm basically using a portion of my Primary to seed this vessel and keep one dominant species from taking hold each week. The original plan was to have the vessel producing within a month but after successfully harvesting my pod cysts for the first time I've been able to cut that time in half. This will be the only vessel heated in my whole production line. The reason why is because pods will reproduce faster, but if they're reproducing faster than I need to keep up the feed or they will crash. Will not be changing with fresh saltwater often because I am collecting the detritus to feed my purple non sulphuric bacteria for snow. Hence why this system has 16 gallons of phyto dedicated to keeping #s but not enough to bloom. Leftover phyto from all my other systems will be pooled to do greenwater changes. Essentially just a 30gallon container I added a low air supply but still circulates though sometimes theres *no air at all hehe*, plenty of phyto + pods + heater. Ambient light comes from the phyto system which are 1/2 gallon glass milk jugs with two snug air holes for rigid tubing(air pushes in so anything going in is pushed out). LED grow light in the day spectrum. Harvest every 5-7 days for phyto and still haven't harvested the zooplankton yet but soon....... Would love to post videos showing the zoo cultures but sadly unable to. Pictures are a bit more difficult to capture due to their size. Just wanted to show that big or small it's all the same. Just the amount of sterilization involved changes. Obviously I go the extra mile to keep things pure since some strains to replace cost upwards of a $100 not to mention its more than a splash to start. Phyto shown in the pictures are tetra, iso, and dunaliella. Pods in system are apocyclops, tigriopus, tisbe, parvocalanus (just for show, they will either dominate if I maintain feedings of Thal/Iso or they'll die out from not enough). The other picture with the coke bottles was mixing enough F/2 to last me a couple months. I usually just make bulk without silicates and then I add in water glass mixed with RODI to the culture water. Also just something I thought was cool that a few people asked about when they came by were these reef "mugs" my girlfriend wanted for her nano tank. I designed a reef viewer with a hook handle that can hook on the side of a tank. Made a few that sold quick so if there's a demand I'll make some more. Currently in 3inch and 6inch sizes.

Peppermint shrimp for some reason like to ride cucumbers, slugs, nudibranchs, etc. They are attracted to the frills on the slugs and may pester them. Pestering is never good in reefing since it is very stressful. Possibly even kill. Elysia slugs are specialized eaters and and there are multiple types sold under the name "green lettuce slug/nudi." It is a slug and it is thought that in addition to being able to handle bryopsis they can produce energy for themselves using chloroplasts to survive eutrophic conditions and green water created by bryopsis spawning. Makes sense because it's only about 10% of their total energy and those waters would be inhospitable to most other organisms during such events. Like I said, they'll eat it but not target it. Kinda like an urchin. So if you keep up your maintenance + keep the slugs then over time they should eliminate the algae. Bryopsis though can regenerate from single cells so it may come back suddenly if your tank conditions shift to favor it again. Ideally you'd keep your swings, nutrients, and dominant exporter in check to prevent it from blooming again without chemicals or tampering with your rock. Another slug that inhabits my acetabularia seed. I pretty much do my best to continually rear the slugs for my macro tanks. It just gets hard when they grow faster than my current stash.

A biological solution would be sacoglassans like the elysia slugs. They are known to consume different types of algae at different points in their life. Young crispata favor fresh calciferous algae growth but they are known to be immune to the kahalalide f found in bryopsis (what renders organisms that attempt to eat it lethargic). They essentially will suck the chloroplasts out and use it to supplement their energy. There are different species of elysia that may be used, I only have expierence in keeping elysia crispata and diomeda. Slugs will grow over time and then lay eggs where they will slowly shrink and die. Then you'll have a bunch of little ones running around. This works because they'll eat algae they favor but won't target eradicate. They will get everywhere though so it'll help prevent it or snuff it out if you keep them going. If you're interested I can give you some young crispata when mine decide to kick the bucket. Or in a couple weeks I'll possibly be able to bring in a fresh batch from fellow reefers. Just be wary of peppermint shrimps since they'll shred the frills for some reason, large wrasse, and powerheads though they're smart enough to use it to their advantage for solar power. Slugs build a natural defense based on what they eat, bryopsis makes them icky. Those reef products you are considering erode away metabolic pathways for a lot of your reef macro + micro algae excluding green turf algae. It will upset your chemistry in a way to allow for something else to fill the void. This can be avoided if you can reduce eutropohic conditions during the cycle. No nastiness to deal with like you would worry about a cucumber or nudibranch kicking the bucket. They won't nuke just fall apart and add a bunch of nutrients so be wary in picking them up. Picture is of an elysia crispata that resides in my NPS growout. This is a second generation individual I produced.

Oof that's a tough one. I personally like RG complete because it comes with ph buffer and ammonia neutralizer. Helps to reduce foam buildup to prolong water changes. Foam is a sign of ammonia. I believe live/dead phyto feast is good for feeding but RG complete seems better for culturing purposes. Slightly cheaper as well. Reed mariculture owns reef nutrition so it's not like the quality will be different. I think RG complete contains other compounds as well for nutritional purposes. The phyto feast covers diversity. In the end. Pods aren't picky.

100% starfish. Asterinas are not good enough for a pair or let alone one unless you have an infestation. It's just not their preferred food. I found they prefer the process of subduing larger stars (preferably with the help of the mate) and keeping them alive while they feed will last about 1-3 weeks given the size of the star. If the shrimp aren't force feeding the star then it'll last less. I never cut stars up to regen. Not worth it when the shrimp can do it way better for less. Mostly chocolate chip starfish (have my own bulk supplier) and occasionally more ornate stars that were damaged in transit. Big ornate stars will last you over a month given your tank has the food to feed the star and the shrimps decide its easy to hold down. They'll need a nook big enough to pull the star since they'll start guarding it. They cut off the sensory tentacles and keep it on its back, female usually stays hidden but close by to feed and keep the star down. The male will drag food back and do a lot of the grunt work. Asterinas are used for the young if they can be made viable. I've attempted breeding them for a while. Currently missing the food source in their second to last molt. I'm considering dedicated a system to asterinas to cultivate larval forms to see if that's the trick. Feeding hearty meals mainly to keep the females molting and spawning. Picture included is my newest pairing taking down their 4th star together.

If in the future you are going to offload the shrimp I am interested. I have 4 males and 2 females. Looking to get some more to finish pairing the ones I have.

I think having a strong sir supply is important. Roiling boil should be big bubbles. Insane how much abuse the phyto can take. Small bubbles are the death of phytoplankton. I try to use air pumps rated for at least double my volume. 4x if I'm teeing off. Airline tubing I generally use clear tubes with low flexibility. Easier to see if they are dirtier and alcohol doesn't do the trick anymore. Black is nice because you won't have growth back up your lines. Airline tubing is cheap and replaceable. You're right. Pods eat an insane amount of phytoplankton. Especially if you're trying to keep your #s high continuously. Currently making 42 gallons of phyto with 2/3 of that dedicated to 60 gallons of zooplankton. Live phyto is the best main food but a good supplement I've found is dried spirulna powder, works if you're down on phyto or just boost your #s. A little goes a long way. Not worth culturing your own though. Just don't dose it to your main tanks. I learned the hard way. This works best for pelagic pods, the benthic ones appreciate filter food (roids, blizzard, chili. Just dirties the water fast). RG COMPLETE is a good backup as well Also feeding too much phyto too fast will clump and prevent successful molts. Mostly they just eat it really fast and starve). Another option is to just harvest the pods, replace with the same water you sieved and dial back the amount of phyto fed. I do it when the average temperature is too cold in my room. Cysts are resilient.

Generally the coral they host would be porites or cyphastrea. Porites you'll get some more of the other inverts. Cyphastrea just has the worms usual. Colored feather dusters will multiply on your Christmas rock. They may spread to other rocks in proximity but fish can eat them then. Generally the tan/red small common variety will outcompete the colorful christmas wormsover time. I suspect the coral may be vital to keep the original seed. I always end up with one or two colors over time. I have a few blue feathers but mostly tan throughout my rock scape after having a Christmas rock. It's a fun balancing act of NPS care on an SPS coral that appreciates light.

I should be there with a couple of BRS dosing units. Maybe some T5 fixtures and a few prototypes.

Depending what you have on your Christmas rock will relate to its difficulty. Feather dusters are great and do good with fine foods but some of of the shrimps may get picked off by your fish. The little crabs should be fine, if the coral starts to decline they may look for something else to colonize or die in their hole. Mine got picked off by the puffer when they fled their shelter. The organisms it comes with need care (fine food like phyto, marine snow, pods, etc). The porite itself is easy to keep. The hard part is keeping everything growing in balance. Coral has to grow at a rate that the symbiotic organisms won't overgrow it. Feeding the organisms may cause them to grow faster than the coral causing them to damage it. Spider sponges are a similiar premise in keeping the symbiotic organisms in balance. Lots of times one will kill the other inadvertently since the conditions needed to keep them both don't have much leeway. You should do it though. People keep them for quite a while before they lose some of the "Christmas" from their rock. Bit of an ebb and flow.