Brine raising techniques: quips? Comments? Does it help?

[plantweanie]

Moderator: this seemed the best place to post, but feel free to move it if there is a better location.

My brine technique for comments or improvements

5g hex aquarium
room lighting
air pump with air stone
1g 1.027 SG pre-mixed salt water
No filters

1g h20 added for hatching. lights are on in the evening, leaving natural ligt for the rest of the day. i don't separate the eggs from the brine until day 2 after first signs of hatching. Phyto feast, enough to color the water on day 2 (after siphoning some brine for the fish that is), and a couple of drops of garlic juice pressed from my personal harvest (natures little immune builder I say!). air pump on only when there is light.

By day 4 the phytofeast is pretty much gone and the water clear. airstone off to clean the bottom, 1 g 1.027SG added. Switch to mix of Phytofeast and red Jungle Artemia food, enough to make the water green-gray with garlic and a few drops of Omega 3 dog suppliment, airstone on 24/7 to keep the oil mixed. by now the brine are large enough you don't have to squint to see them. Then I feed them to the fish every few days, feeding the brine the phyto/garlic/Atrmia food/Omega mix when their water clears, until there are no more brine to siphon. This took 2 weeks the first go around.

The older the brine, the more they are colored, even when the water clears. This little tidbit actually caused identification of a couple of live brine in the reef tank, swimming around (I thought they would be dead!!!) 3 days after they were supposed to have been eaten by the fish (is this a bad thing?).

So, oh gurus of the reef world: Am I doing a good thing or am I just making myself feel better. If this effort is not beneficial to the fish, I will just do quicky hatchling brine treats from time to time rather than the whole process. I am but a sponge soaking up your knowledge.

[leebca]

Hard to say just where this post belongs. It is raising food for fishes, I take it, so here is about as good of a place as any.

The culturing of brine shrimp has been well documented. I have done it in the past. Ultimately, since they are of such poor nutritional quality, it isn't worth it to me to bother anymore. I was however, as enthused as you are now.

The best loading of the young brine shrimp is not to allow the food to 'disappear.' In fact, the rule is to make small additions frequently to maintain the proper food density. It is quite a science that sort of stumbles when trying to convey the 'right density of food.' A standard means of determining food density is to view the clarity of the water in a standard tube and compare that to a chart. This is a subjective 'turbidity' measurement. The chart translates the density to estimates, (since the original observation is subjective). Any other approach would be too complex for a hobbyist and even stretching the patience of professionals.

A more scientific approach would be to use the provided density of the food you use, add it to a known quantity of water, do your own color/turbidity chart using a standard tube, then target maintaining that level of food density. The next question to answer is, 'What is the right density of the food for optimal growth and loading?'

The 'right density' of food is now lost on me. I used to know it. There is some variance with the kind of food used. You can research sites that provide much info on this. But the point of all this is that you don't allow the food density to make the swings from 'turbid' to 'clear' as you have indicated.

Your efforts are to be congratulated. Just so you know for sure, the fish aren't getting good nutrition from this source, despite your efforts.