Mr Cob Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Now that I have stable cultures of live rotifers I will be offering them for sale locally. My only goal here is to provide a local solution to live rotifers and to compensate for the cost of doing so. It's a pain trying to find rotifers and even more of a pain when you have to order them and pay $20-$35 for shipping.1) Live Rotifers $20/bag of dense rotifers2) RotiGrow Plus phytoplankton ice cube $4(the rotifers will have a dense concentration of rotigrow plus to keep them fat and help you start your 5gallon bucket off or kick-start your current culture)Great for breeders or anyone looking to feed their reef or finicky eaters.*I would estimate the cultures to be 500k-1mil live rotifers, but really I don't know, just hooking big bags up with a dense population of rots* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 Currently we have two brutes that produce way more rotifers than we need to keep clownfish babies fed. As a result of keeping this volume of live rotifers we are flying through the rotigrow plus phytoplankton at 10ml per day per brute. In order to keep them going at this capacity and to provide a local solution I need to compensate for the cost of the phytoplankton they consume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Currently we have two brutes that produce way more rotifers than we need to keep clownfish babies fed. As a result of keeping this volume of live rotifers we are flying through the rotigrow plus phytoplankton at 10ml per day per brute. In order to keep them going at this capacity and to provide a local solution I need to compensate for the cost of the phytoplankton they consume. Just grow your own phyto and feed it plant nutrients that are diluted down. I did this and made rotifers cost 10 bucks per 6 months. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 Great idea and sounds interesting but... have enough chores already and really don't feel like messing with any other live cultures. I'd rather pay to get some of my time back. If I ever do this full-time then yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Great idea and sounds interesting but... have enough chores already and really don't feel like messing with any other live cultures. I'd rather pay to get some of my time back. If I ever do this full-time then yes. Its a simple set and forget, no chore with it, you just suck out what you need until the bucket is almost empty then dump in fresh nutes diluted into water. I honestly found it easy and more stable cultures in the end compared to using rotigrow and such. I even went and got a shelf from home depot and put 1 bucket above my rotifers, after harvesting roti I opened the valve and fresh phyto water dumped in, I put a 90 elbow in the 5 gallon so I'd never take all the phyto culture. when it was too low to flow I added diluted nutes in and away it went. The joy I found in this was I used all organic nutes and was able to rule out the fertilizer thats found in rotigrow from mass phyto grows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 Thanks for sharing the info, we are big on organic foods.. so why not with the clownfish. interested in finding out more. Do you have a build thread for me to read? I will share this info with my wife... she has taken a part in all of this and is the brain behind improving the things I do. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Bio)³ Posted July 25, 2013 Share Posted July 25, 2013 Thanks for sharing the info, we are big on organic foods.. so why not with the clownfish. interested in finding out more. Do you have a build thread for me to read? I will share this info with my wife... she has taken a part in all of this and is the brain behind improving the things I do. lol I never built a build thread, but I can gladly help and give input. My system was thrown together and didn't look real pretty but it was for my own eyes so I didn't mind. It worked a lot like having a refugium above the tanks that grav feeds down to the DT. Only difference was I wouldn't be pumping water between systems 24/7, only opened the valves/turned on the pump when I needed. I'd pull 5 gallons of 1.019 SW mixed with the organic nutes (I used 12 ML/CC per 5 gallons to keep my growth slowed so the phyto didn't out eat itself before getting fed to the roti.) as it pumped up to the top bucket it would mix at the same time. Then after I harvested the roti (I didn't sieve I took out roti and water at the same time and then sieved later if i wanted to concentrate it down for a feeding, this allows me to avoid water changes because im always taking old water and giving fresh) after the harvest I opened the ball valve and let gravity pull the water down and set the roti grow to the original height. I know it sounds like a lot of work but once setup its as easy as a salt mixing station.All organic and lowers your cost to maintain any portion of it. Plus you gain the ability to sell live phyto cultures, which increases profit and helps the locals since just like rotifers its not as easy to find locally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted July 25, 2013 Author Share Posted July 25, 2013 Thanks a lot Bio, very informative. I could see us doing this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted July 26, 2013 Author Share Posted July 26, 2013 I decided to pack Rotifers in breathable bags...which means if kept cool in the frig they will have a shelf life of up to two weeks. Each day the culture will decline but this does give you some flexibility with getting your own cultures going or to have as a backup to reseed a current culture. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted August 2, 2013 Author Share Posted August 2, 2013 Now offering RotiGrow Plus ice cubes for $4. When we purchase RotiGrow we freeze it into ice cube trays. When we are ready to use, we pull a cube and leave it in a closed container in the fridge so that it can thaw. A single cube should last you about a week for a dense culture of rotifers in a 5 gallon bucket half full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted November 6, 2013 Author Share Posted November 6, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.