Hey guys 👋 this will be my last video for a few weeks. I'm heading overseas for work and won't have any internet access during that time. Looking forward to creating more content for you all in October ✌
More of cultivating live algea ! This topic is really important. Maybe more on how to keep maintaining your live culture like how often do we add more fertilizer or what do you do to maintain It ? Thanks!
Yeah that's a good idea, I'll definitely make a part 2 for this video at some point 👌 - but basically I feed the algae to the brine shrimp and once it starts getting low I just add in more saltwater + fertiliser to start the process over again
Thank you so much for making this video! I follow you on IG as well and remember asking about a microalgae video. We all appreciate this so much! With your tips, I've done so much better with my sea monkeys. Now I will be able to harvest microalgae too. Keep up the amazing work! You're awesome!
Oh wow, this is my first Super Thanks! Thanks so much :) I'm glad you're finding value in the videos I make. Good luck on your algae culturing journey :) Feel free to reach out if you ever have any questions
I was researching shrimp and stumbled upon your videos. .and I have to say. .you sir are amazing. Not only do you give all the information you need but also give some helpful side tips you've learnt along your adventure which no one I've seen seems to think of. Your delivery is absolutely outstanding, the way you talk is not enjoyable but also very easy to follow. . .as a fellow NZ I recently got my first sea monkey pack (went for the mars one) and following your tips and info they are flourishing and my obsession of these forever curious little sausages is growing more and more. Enjoy your time away and I definitely be waiting for the next upload 😅
Hey Robert! Thanks for the comment mate, I really appreciate it 🙏 I’m glad to hear you’re finding the videos helpful too! I’ll be doing review videos for the Mars & Magic castle tanks in October so look out for those :)
The reason the fertiliser comes in two parts is to avoid precipitation. For example, phosphate will precipitate if it combines with calcium or magnesium.
@@pico-cosmos Having looked up the formula (I'm a horticulturist and know nothing about aquariums), the F2 mix doesn't seem to contain any calcium or magnesium - the things that would most likely precipitate phosphate. There are a few trace metals like iron and molybdenum, but they are chelated by a compound called EDTA, so presumably are prevented from binding strongly to phosphate.
I started my micro-algae culture today based on your video. Awesome job!! I saw the Sea-Monkey sneak out. HAHAHA. I plan to remove equal water to what I put in and refresh the water from the Sea-Monkey tanks into the Mico-Algae tank. Any Sea-Monkeys from eggs that hatch will be transfered to a Sea-Monkey Tank. Also, I thik this provides a water change for the tank over time.
That microalgie microscope part where something is eating the lgae is really amazing. You are good at microscope-video making, maybe you should do it more, really nice, thanks.
It's great how simple you keep this, so many algae culturing videos are kind of complicated and intended for serious saltwater aquarium enthusiasts. I would love to see a followup video on how to take care of your culture once it's dense enough and ready for feeding. Like how to keep it active, alive, topped up, and just general pointers so that it can be kept as an indefinite food source for your Sea Monkeys!
@@pico-cosmoscrashing a culture is a frequent concern when culturing micro algae. Have you experienced any crashing issues due to contamination, not enough starter culture, etc? Thank you
@@heatherstyler Yeah I have had cultures crash. What I found is that algal cells will fall to a stagnant part of the culture vessel, where they begin to pile up and presumably die. I think the ammonia spike crashes the culture. I fixed the issue by culturing algae in an inverted soda bottle - the shape helps to keep all of the algae in suspension. I have a vid on ig :)
Great video (as always)! I am starting my own algae colony, and was wondering how often you fertilize the colony once it is established. Thanks for all of the great tips!
Unfortunately, F2 algae fertilizer doesn't appear to be available from Amazon Canada. Will the process still work without it? Or will other liquid plant fertilizers also work? (And are safe for the Sea Monkeys?) Thanks!
You can use a tiny bit potassium nitrate (saltpeter) and matchheads, then wait till You have the whole jar full of green to make sure that the nitrate was digested by the algae, it is basically the same nutrients that the algae fertilizers use. ironically if it wasnt for the water, that would be rocket fuel, fairly inexpensive saltpeter costs like 50 cents for a quarter of a kilogram
Great video. Is there any way of buying a starter culture of live Algae for those of us who are impatient or don't see any Algae growing for a long period of time?
I feed most of my colonies with live algae. One is a large tank that's 3 gallons (11 liters or so). They're all doing great. In your older colonies, do you do anything about the sediment and excess poop that builds up? I've been using a turkey baster to suck it up out of my large tank and putting it in a jar, which has become its own colony. Is there anything that will eat or break down this waste?
When I remove water from the Sea-Monkey tank before feeding them the algae I will usually remove waste at the same time to clean things up a little. The algae helps to break down the waste but I don't think it can ever keep up with the amount of poop the Sea-Monkeys produce 😅
How would I get live microalgae when I live in an inland urban area that has no ocean or saltwater lakes within hundreds of miles? Can I order them online?
Will exposing your tank to the outside air work to seed algae even if you’re very far from the sea? I’m sure there’s algae in the air here too, but maybe not the saltwater kind?
I couldnt find the f2 algae fertiliser on amazon. I only found a different one but it wasnt an A and B step. Can you just use an microalgae fertiliser of any kind?
Thanks again for the great video. I have purchased a phytoplankton culture kit, which contains a vial of highly concentrated phytoplankton. I will be using the kit to cultivate a little algae colony to feed my guys. However, could I add a small drop of the concentrated phytoplankton to my Sea Monkeys tank since the conditions are probably great for getting it to grow (I have a mini heater, air line and grow lights). I will still go ahead with the separate algae colony but I wondered if I could get a head start by adding live phytoplankton into the tank.
Hey John, is there any substitute for the fertiliser? I'm starting to raise some brine shrimps and I want to cultivate some algae for them but I can't find any algae fertiliser in my country. I appreciate your videos, they're really helpful
Do a search for F/2 which is designed for labs working with algae. If you can't get any you can use tomato fertilizer which is very similar just remember to heavily dilute it. I diluted a liquid tomato fertilizer with 10 parts of water for one of fertilizer, then take one drop of the diluted solution and add it to a liter of water and got good results with dunaliela salina algae
Hey mate, sorry I just saw this. You could possibly just try regular liquid plant food? I haven’t tried it myself but I think it would probably work similarly.
thank you for this info! i have started a new colony as an adult for the first time since childhood. they’re doing okay, but i’d love to increase their quality of life. in several of your videos you mention purple grow lights, anybody know if regular white grow lights work the same way? i currently have it on a 12 hr cycle.
Great video! Really, really excited to try it. One question though: How would one get some to start the culture? I don't have any growing in my current tank, and I can't seem to find anyone selling it. Is there any way to encourage it to grow in the tank to start a culture?
Hey John 🙂 So when you have finished culturing the live algae do you take out the heater, light and pump so you can start again on a fresh batch? If so is there a special way to keep the algae culture alive/healthy over the days/weeks it takes you to finish feeding it too the sea babies? Like does it have a used by time frame? Keep it sealed? Thanks so much in advance for your time 🙂
Hey, so I keep the heater and airpump in there 24/7. I feed this algae to many of my tanks, so as the volume gets low I just add more saltwater in there again and start culturing more algae. I'm not sure how long it would stay alive in there though, as I always feed mine to the brine shrimp within a week or so. If you want to culture algae and then keep it for a long time you can bottle it in put it into the fridge. This will keep the algae alive but slow down its metabolism. Just make sure you rotate the bottle one a day to prevent algal sells from falling and resting on the bottom of the tank :)
Can I just transfer green algae from an established freshwater aquarium? Should I I scrub some off the glass or just transfer some of the water to get an established colony going in my sea dragon tank? We will have a dedicated air pump for the aqua dragon tank and the area gets great indirect sunlight that seems to make green algae flourish on the sides/bottom (not stringy). The aqua dragon tank will sit right next to my larger aquarium without being near a cold window. We have 2 Danube crested newts and a mystery snail in a well established 30L cylindrical biorb freshwater tank with no substrate (for easier cleaning) and fake plants for an about 5 years. The algae naturally flourishes here these last few years since the move. So the substrate was removed for easier cleaning. No algae for years at our old house. Thanks for any advice on this idea
I might look into doing this for my half-gallon tank, updated on the 10-20 year old eggs, they are doing great. There are 6 or 7 in there including at least 1 mating pair. They do seem bigger but that could be due to the curvature of the ocean zoo tank making them appear bigger, but looking top down they still seem a bit bigger. Where as the new eggs I hatched in my half-gallon tank seem I guess, normal brine-shrimp sized. I did get those off amazon also and not Transcience so I don't know if that makes a difference. I am now debating if I should move them over or keep them separate. If I do move them over should I have to do any kind of acclimation or do think they would be find just moving right over?
Thanks for the tutorial. How long does the live algae live for before having to make a new batch? Also do you need to keep the temperature at 26 degrees even after it’s made?
You can keep the algae in the fridge for a few weeks after you’ve cultured it 👍 it survives quite well at cold temperatures. Just make sure to shake the bottle in the fridge once a day so that it doesn’t settle on the bottom of the container
Thanks for your quick reply. Do you also happen to use a salinity tester? If so can you please recommend one and what should the salinity be in the sea monkeys tank?
@BuddyXR6 nah I don’t use one because brine shrimp have such a huge tolerance to a very wide salinity range. I usually try to have my tanks & algae at around 25ppt ish, but I don’t pay much attention to it
love these videos, I really like how a lot of your videos have info that is hard to find in most places. I was wondering, what do I do if I have a new tank with no algae at all? how do I get it then?
You need a starter culture of some kind to get the culture going, so my advice would just be to wait until it shows up in your Sea-Monkey tank 👌 opening windows and keeping the tank warm will definitely help
I have two questions if I may: 1. What do you do when your colony reaches that 'more than you know what to do with' stage? Do you transfer some into a new suitable aquarium, or is there any methods to help them not overcrowd the population? 2. If someone doesn't already have an algae culture in the tank, is there anywhere else to get some? Any places online? Note I don't have Sea Monkeys (maybe in the future), so this is more out of curiousity than any urgency.
What's in the water conditioner? If I want to upgrade the tank to a bigger one would I need to buy many conditioner packets which I think would be pricey
At my petco I they sell phytoplankton in a plastic bottle the brand is seachem and the item is called reef phytoplankton and I found out that micro algae and phytoplankton are the same thing, the bottlesays it’s a mix of green and brown phytoplankton and I was wondering if it is ok to use and it also doesn’t say live on the bottle so idk if it will work or not because I do not have the time nor space to grow live micro algae, I love your videos and you have guided me through my sea monkey journey and you’re amazing keep up the good work.
Do it have to be the same aquarium salt you used in the video? And do i need to use algae fertiliser too? I'm just curious. I like your videos anyway 👍
Brine shrimps are amazing just they they swim and grow to how they keep staring at me its honestly interesting its almost they are too intelligent for they’re size!
Hey John. Great job on the videos. Your tips have been a massive help. I have a question though. I’m planning to start a nannochloropsis culture and am wondering is it necessary to run the pump 25/7 for them. I’d like to be able to turn it off when I go to bed. Will this kill them?
Nannochloropsis is a non-motile algae, so without agitation it will eventually fall to the bottom of the tank where it may die. Turning your pump off at night will still probably be ok, but constant agitation 24/7 is ideal
Thts is an old video, but i’ve been wondering i have a small algae culture right now and im trying to culture it and proliferate it for this summer when im getting sea monkeys, but the ones i have now are freshwater, for the last 2 days i’ve been slowly adding small amounts of sea salt trying to acclimate it but im not sure if it will die or not, is it worth the effort? by the way i also don’t think it’s micro algae because its just about 40-50 small blobs of green and the rest of the water is just cloudy
Does it have to be a purple grow light? I have a bunch of white grow lights for seedlings laying around that I was hoping I could use instead of buying a new one.
I saw a seller selling green water online and I was wondering if I buy them do I feed my sea monkeys alternatively with the growth food or move entirely to the green water?
@@pico-cosmos Thank you. By the way, I come from economic-crises-hit Sri Lanka where the inflation rate is quite high. So I wanted to ask you whether you know of a cheaper alternative to the "f/2 algae fertilizer A and B"? To be specific, do you know of a "Chinese" alternative?
Hello! I just went to my local creek to get water for an ecosphere. I was just wondering if I could add any sea monkeys in the ecosphere? I can add non distilled salt to the water if it will let them live in it.
It’s hard to say but Sea-Monkeys arent particularly easy to keep alive - they need quite specific conditions which would be difficult to achieve in creek water. If you wanted to try I would suggest adding in the Instant Ocean sea salt that I used in this video. It’s much better than regular sea salt
New subscriber. I have no idea if you've ever addressed this before. But can these guys be housed in a sort of larger aquarium? Example, 1 gallon tank. Just curious.
Could baby sea monkeys/brine shrimp survive in the jar you cultured the algae in as long as its salinity is ok I set up a bigger tank for raising my shrimp and used a jug of water from my outside pond (jug of green water)but i don't know if that meqns i don't need to feed the babies for a while
@@theguymadofgears that’s a good question! I’m not sure if the algae in my Sea-Monkey tanks originates from the ocean, or if there’s simply just saltwater algae species that float around. Do you have a Sea-Monkey tank at the moment?
I don’t want to buy so much equipment for the algae, but I still want to grow it. Can I get like some algae from a pond and use that as food? I know nothing about algae or growing aquatic animals.
I Collect Rain / Storm Water Collect in Cheap Small Paddling Pools (inflatable For Toddlers, Dogs ) Its good for Fish tanks (Better For fish) But needs A Rain Storm With Heavy Down Pour(s) / Flash flooding (Atmosphere Cleaning) You have more of a Chance of Getting Micro algae Due The Atmosphere it Purging itself
A very good video, iam gonna try it my self but anyway is it possible to sell some because my Tank have been growing very well but I don't see any algae and it has been 2 months and 1 week since I hatch my Sea Monkeys.
Is it not feasible to just use the grow lights on the sea monkey enclosure so the algae grows in there well to begin with? Why grow a separate dense container of it?
I'm starting to create my little algae farm, however feeding my sea monkeys their growth food for now. Realize their poo is getting very long and they're starting to stick to it as well as the tank through it. I try to cut the waste off but they just get more stuck to them. Is something going on in my tank that is causing this? I read something about increasing my tank's salinity levels but unsure if this is the right course of action.
Hmm that’s a tough one. I’m not entirely sure what causes sticky poop tbh :/ Sometimes my Sea-Monkeys have long poop trails but it never causes any issues. If I was in your situation I’d do a small water change, but that’s a little complicated as it involves mixing up your own saltwater
Maybe a silly idea but the brownish algae growing in my freshwater fish tank won't survive in salt water or help me get algae growing for my sea monkeys, right?
my main issue is getting the micro algae in the first place. I don't live near any saltwater where it would be growing naturally, and it hasn't started growing in my tank by itself after almost a month after starting it. maybe I can ask an aquarium store if I can have some from their tanks lol
No even the babies are much too large for any adult brine shrimp to eat. There is one Fairy Shrimp species which is large enough to eat babies though, do a google search of Branchinecta Gigas
Tanks will naturally find a maximum capacity, once it achieves this point the babies born into the tank won’t make it to adulthood. If you have a lot of adults dying in a tank then there’s probably another issue going on
Great video ! Unfortunately all of my sea monkeys died due to overfeeding lol sad day. I will be restarting and starting this new food source. Do you think its harder to over feed them with the live algea because like you said, other foods don't rot in the tank like the live algea does ? Thanks man!
@@pico-cosmos yeah im wondering the same thing lol I bought some supplies to start my live algea and ima use that instead of the powder growth food. Also, I wonder if we can find a freshwater algea starter kit so there's no need to take out water from the sea monkey tank so you don't oversalt it with feeding them the live algea
@@d.j.105 the problem with freshwater algae is that it probably wouldn’t survive once you put it into the tank, so it wouldn’t be all that different from feeding them dried food
Can you put a Artemia Salina a normal brine shrimp and an Artimia Nyos a seamonkey under a microscope side by side to see what the physical difrences are if there are any? Maybe Artemia Nyos is just fancy marketing.
I think the differences would be very slight if any. I've seen research papers showing the differences between different species and even under a microscope it's barely noticeable. IMO the "NYOS" thing is probably just marketing
This is the kind of small unknown channel that’s gonna eventually get hit by the algorithm and blow up . Keep up the good work.
Thanks Emilio! Really appreciate that mate :) hopefully the channel picks up a bit next year when I’m making videos more regularly 🤞
Your right
He was right lol
Well it hit my algorithm just last week and I’m loving it! ❤
Hey guys 👋 this will be my last video for a few weeks. I'm heading overseas for work and won't have any internet access during that time. Looking forward to creating more content for you all in October ✌
@h haha let me know what kind of videos you’d like to see on the channel later this year :)
Link for the heater
@@nodatastored684 www.amazon.com/DONGKER-Aquarium-Heater-Submersible-Thermostat/dp/B09SQ1GY4N
Stay safe and have a great adventure, John. Enjoy! - Tod
@@gulliblesbabbles thanks Tod! Will email you shortly mate 👍
More of cultivating live algea ! This topic is really important. Maybe more on how to keep maintaining your live culture like how often do we add more fertilizer or what do you do to maintain It ? Thanks!
Yeah that's a good idea, I'll definitely make a part 2 for this video at some point 👌 - but basically I feed the algae to the brine shrimp and once it starts getting low I just add in more saltwater + fertiliser to start the process over again
Is there any difference between salt water algae and fresh? I added some algae from my Betta (freshwater) tank and my entire colony died
Thank you so much for making this video! I follow you on IG as well and remember asking about a microalgae video. We all appreciate this so much! With your tips, I've done so much better with my sea monkeys. Now I will be able to harvest microalgae too. Keep up the amazing work! You're awesome!
Oh wow, this is my first Super Thanks! Thanks so much :) I'm glad you're finding value in the videos I make. Good luck on your algae culturing journey :) Feel free to reach out if you ever have any questions
"Brine shrimp"
@@tastybloodworms7217 don’t be mean dude
I was researching shrimp and stumbled upon your videos. .and I have to say. .you sir are amazing. Not only do you give all the information you need but also give some helpful side tips you've learnt along your adventure which no one I've seen seems to think of. Your delivery is absolutely outstanding, the way you talk is not enjoyable but also very easy to follow. . .as a fellow NZ I recently got my first sea monkey pack (went for the mars one) and following your tips and info they are flourishing and my obsession of these forever curious little sausages is growing more and more. Enjoy your time away and I definitely be waiting for the next upload 😅
Hey Robert! Thanks for the comment mate, I really appreciate it 🙏 I’m glad to hear you’re finding the videos helpful too! I’ll be doing review videos for the Mars & Magic castle tanks in October so look out for those :)
fish food - thats the real fun - watching your fish eat them !
"World's only instant pets!"
Fairy Shrimp and Triops: Am I a joke to you?
These tips are great. Watch your videos everyday as I got two tanks for christmas and it is my first time with sea monkeys.
Thanks! I hope these videos have been helping with your new pets :)
Your videos are wonderful resources for cultivating happy and robust brine shrimp colony. I definitely want to give it a try now. Thank you!
The reason the fertiliser comes in two parts is to avoid precipitation. For example, phosphate will precipitate if it combines with calcium or magnesium.
Thanks for this, I had no idea. Any idea why most F2 algae fertilisers come in a single bottle though?
@@pico-cosmos Having looked up the formula (I'm a horticulturist and know nothing about aquariums), the F2 mix doesn't seem to contain any calcium or magnesium - the things that would most likely precipitate phosphate. There are a few trace metals like iron and molybdenum, but they are chelated by a compound called EDTA, so presumably are prevented from binding strongly to phosphate.
I started my micro-algae culture today based on your video. Awesome job!! I saw the Sea-Monkey sneak out. HAHAHA. I plan to remove equal water to what I put in and refresh the water from the Sea-Monkey tanks into the Mico-Algae tank. Any Sea-Monkeys from eggs that hatch will be transfered to a Sea-Monkey Tank. Also, I thik this provides a water change for the tank over time.
That microalgie microscope part where something is eating the lgae is really amazing. You are good at microscope-video making, maybe you should do it more, really nice, thanks.
Thanks Thom! I’m still quite new to microscopy so I really appreciate that
It's great how simple you keep this, so many algae culturing videos are kind of complicated and intended for serious saltwater aquarium enthusiasts. I would love to see a followup video on how to take care of your culture once it's dense enough and ready for feeding. Like how to keep it active, alive, topped up, and just general pointers so that it can be kept as an indefinite food source for your Sea Monkeys!
Yeah I definitely need to make a video on this at some point 👌
@@pico-cosmoscrashing a culture is a frequent concern when culturing micro algae. Have you experienced any crashing issues due to contamination, not enough starter culture, etc? Thank you
@@heatherstyler Yeah I have had cultures crash. What I found is that algal cells will fall to a stagnant part of the culture vessel, where they begin to pile up and presumably die. I think the ammonia spike crashes the culture. I fixed the issue by culturing algae in an inverted soda bottle - the shape helps to keep all of the algae in suspension. I have a vid on ig :)
Thanks for this video! Not having a starter of microalgae do you think I could take some at the Sea? If yes how?
Great video (as always)! I am starting my own algae colony, and was wondering how often you fertilize the colony once it is established. Thanks for all of the great tips!
Every time I add new water into the culture I add a little f2 fertiliser too
@@pico-cosmos Thanks very much!
Unfortunately, F2 algae fertilizer doesn't appear to be available from Amazon Canada. Will the process still work without it? Or will other liquid plant fertilizers also work? (And are safe for the Sea Monkeys?) Thanks!
You can use a tiny bit potassium nitrate (saltpeter) and matchheads, then wait till You have the whole jar full of green to make sure that the nitrate was digested by the algae, it is basically the same nutrients that the algae fertilizers use. ironically if it wasnt for the water, that would be rocket fuel, fairly inexpensive saltpeter costs like 50 cents for a quarter of a kilogram
Ah this is super interesting! thanks for the tip 👌
Great video. Is there any way of buying a starter culture of live Algae for those of us who are impatient or don't see any Algae growing for a long period of time?
You can yeah - I’d recommend buying wither Nannochloropsis Oculata or Dunaliella
The forbidden Mountain Dew
what if you have dont algae to use when starting ?
This video is very informative I might start a farm for algae thanks :D
I feed most of my colonies with live algae. One is a large tank that's 3 gallons (11 liters or so). They're all doing great. In your older colonies, do you do anything about the sediment and excess poop that builds up? I've been using a turkey baster to suck it up out of my large tank and putting it in a jar, which has become its own colony. Is there anything that will eat or break down this waste?
When I remove water from the Sea-Monkey tank before feeding them the algae I will usually remove waste at the same time to clean things up a little. The algae helps to break down the waste but I don't think it can ever keep up with the amount of poop the Sea-Monkeys produce 😅
How would I get live microalgae when I live in an inland urban area that has no ocean or saltwater lakes within hundreds of miles? Can I order them online?
Will exposing your tank to the outside air work to seed algae even if you’re very far from the sea? I’m sure there’s algae in the air here too, but maybe not the saltwater kind?
how often to add fertilizer please
I couldnt find the f2 algae fertiliser on amazon. I only found a different one but it wasnt an A and B step. Can you just use an microalgae fertiliser of any kind?
I think so yeah. Recently I’ve been using a cheap generic liquid plant food and it’s been working well
Thanks again for the great video. I have purchased a phytoplankton culture kit, which contains a vial of highly concentrated phytoplankton. I will be using the kit to cultivate a little algae colony to feed my guys. However, could I add a small drop of the concentrated phytoplankton to my Sea Monkeys tank since the conditions are probably great for getting it to grow (I have a mini heater, air line and grow lights). I will still go ahead with the separate algae colony but I wondered if I could get a head start by adding live phytoplankton into the tank.
Once the algae are going strong do you have to feed it again with the fertilizer or just the once? Thanks.
Hey John, is there any substitute for the fertiliser? I'm starting to raise some brine shrimps and I want to cultivate some algae for them but I can't find any algae fertiliser in my country. I appreciate your videos, they're really helpful
Do a search for F/2 which is designed for labs working with algae. If you can't get any you can use tomato fertilizer which is very similar just remember to heavily dilute it. I diluted a liquid tomato fertilizer with 10 parts of water for one of fertilizer, then take one drop of the diluted solution and add it to a liter of water and got good results with dunaliela salina algae
Hey mate, sorry I just saw this. You could possibly just try regular liquid plant food? I haven’t tried it myself but I think it would probably work similarly.
thank you for this info! i have started a new colony as an adult for the first time since childhood. they’re doing okay, but i’d love to increase their quality of life. in several of your videos you mention purple grow lights, anybody know if regular white grow lights work the same way? i currently have it on a 12 hr cycle.
Great video! Really, really excited to try it. One question though: How would one get some to start the culture? I don't have any growing in my current tank, and I can't seem to find anyone selling it. Is there any way to encourage it to grow in the tank to start a culture?
I bought a spirulina culture on Amazon
I wonder if astaxanthin could be cultured the same way?
Asking because where I am - it's super expensive for a small amount (at £5 a gram!)
Hey John 🙂 So when you have finished culturing the live algae do you take out the heater, light and pump so you can start again on a fresh batch?
If so is there a special way to keep the algae culture alive/healthy over the days/weeks it takes you to finish feeding it too the sea babies? Like does it have a used by time frame? Keep it sealed?
Thanks so much in advance for your time 🙂
Hey, so I keep the heater and airpump in there 24/7. I feed this algae to many of my tanks, so as the volume gets low I just add more saltwater in there again and start culturing more algae. I'm not sure how long it would stay alive in there though, as I always feed mine to the brine shrimp within a week or so. If you want to culture algae and then keep it for a long time you can bottle it in put it into the fridge. This will keep the algae alive but slow down its metabolism. Just make sure you rotate the bottle one a day to prevent algal sells from falling and resting on the bottom of the tank :)
@@pico-cosmos thanks so much 🙂
Can I just transfer green algae from an established freshwater aquarium?
Should I I scrub some off the glass or just transfer some of the water to get an established colony going in my sea dragon tank?
We will have a dedicated air pump for the aqua dragon tank and the area gets great indirect sunlight that seems to make green algae flourish on the sides/bottom (not stringy).
The aqua dragon tank will sit right next to my larger aquarium without being near a cold window.
We have 2 Danube crested newts and a mystery snail in a well established 30L cylindrical biorb freshwater tank with no substrate (for easier cleaning) and fake plants for an about 5 years.
The algae naturally flourishes here these last few years since the move. So the substrate was removed for easier cleaning. No algae for years at our old house.
Thanks for any advice on this idea
Do I need to add those special salts? Or can I use sea salt, and do I need to use the algae food? 3:56
I’d recommend using everything I did in this video
@@pico-cosmos are they required if not how could i start?
@@8Bit_Studio Yes they're required
3:13 yooooooooooooo dis duuude finally called the brine shrimp 😁
I might look into doing this for my half-gallon tank, updated on the 10-20 year old eggs, they are doing great. There are 6 or 7 in there including at least 1 mating pair. They do seem bigger but that could be due to the curvature of the ocean zoo tank making them appear bigger, but looking top down they still seem a bit bigger. Where as the new eggs I hatched in my half-gallon tank seem I guess, normal brine-shrimp sized. I did get those off amazon also and not Transcience so I don't know if that makes a difference.
I am now debating if I should move them over or keep them separate. If I do move them over should I have to do any kind of acclimation or do think they would be find just moving right over?
As long as the parameters between both tanks are similar I don't think it should be a problem. I'd recommend doing it slowly just to be safe though
Thanks for the tutorial. How long does the live algae live for before having to make a new batch? Also do you need to keep the temperature at 26 degrees even after it’s made?
You can keep the algae in the fridge for a few weeks after you’ve cultured it 👍 it survives quite well at cold temperatures. Just make sure to shake the bottle in the fridge once a day so that it doesn’t settle on the bottom of the container
Thanks for your quick reply. Do you also happen to use a salinity tester? If so can you please recommend one and what should the salinity be in the sea monkeys tank?
@BuddyXR6 nah I don’t use one because brine shrimp have such a huge tolerance to a very wide salinity range. I usually try to have my tanks & algae at around 25ppt ish, but I don’t pay much attention to it
love these videos, I really like how a lot of your videos have info that is hard to find in most places. I was wondering, what do I do if I have a new tank with no algae at all? how do I get it then?
You need a starter culture of some kind to get the culture going, so my advice would just be to wait until it shows up in your Sea-Monkey tank 👌 opening windows and keeping the tank warm will definitely help
How would you grow algae without fertilizer or sea monkeys? I’m going to get some in a few weeks and want to have algae to feed
Thank you so much, John!
I have two questions if I may:
1. What do you do when your colony reaches that 'more than you know what to do with' stage? Do you transfer some into a new suitable aquarium, or is there any methods to help them not overcrowd the population?
2. If someone doesn't already have an algae culture in the tank, is there anywhere else to get some? Any places online?
Note I don't have Sea Monkeys (maybe in the future), so this is more out of curiousity than any urgency.
Also, for some reason I just can't grow algae in my tank. Would getting a live algae culture work, by putting that in the salt water solution?
Yup! As long as it’s a saltwater algae species like Nannochloropsis
Thanks for the tips!
What's in the water conditioner? If I want to upgrade the tank to a bigger one would I need to buy many conditioner packets which I think would be pricey
It’s mostly aquarium salts and Sea-Monkey eggs. What size tank do you want to make?
@@pico-cosmos 2 gallon tank
At my petco I they sell phytoplankton in a plastic bottle the brand is seachem and the item is called reef phytoplankton and I found out that micro algae and phytoplankton are the same thing, the bottlesays it’s a mix of green and brown phytoplankton and I was wondering if it is ok to use and it also doesn’t say live on the bottle so idk if it will work or not because I do not have the time nor space to grow live micro algae, I love your videos and you have guided me through my sea monkey journey and you’re amazing keep up the good work.
Do it have to be the same aquarium salt you used in the video? And do i need to use algae fertiliser too? I'm just curious. I like your videos anyway 👍
Brine shrimps are amazing just they they swim and grow to how they keep staring at me its
honestly interesting its almost they are too intelligent for they’re size!
Does micro algae grow in freshwater also? Do you have to grow it in saltwater?
I want to try to buy a starter culture online, is there a specific type of algae you would recommend for generic brine shrimp? Thanks John
Dunaliella
I'm not an expert but I always heard not to use airstones when making phytoplankton. Thanks for another great video.
One question, does normal kitchen salt work to make the live micro algae or do I have to have aquarium salt?
Gota be aquarium salt
Hey John. Great job on the videos. Your tips have been a massive help. I have a question though. I’m planning to start a nannochloropsis culture and am wondering is it necessary to run the pump 25/7 for them. I’d like to be able to turn it off when I go to bed. Will this kill them?
Nannochloropsis is a non-motile algae, so without agitation it will eventually fall to the bottom of the tank where it may die. Turning your pump off at night will still probably be ok, but constant agitation 24/7 is ideal
Thts is an old video, but i’ve been wondering i have a small algae culture right now and im trying to culture it and proliferate it for this summer when im getting sea monkeys, but the ones i have now are freshwater, for the last 2 days i’ve been slowly adding small amounts of sea salt trying to acclimate it but im not sure if it will die or not, is it worth the effort? by the way i also don’t think it’s micro algae because its just about 40-50 small blobs of green and the rest of the water is just cloudy
Does it have to be a purple grow light? I have a bunch of white grow lights for seedlings laying around that I was hoping I could use instead of buying a new one.
Could i use the green algae from my freshwater tank to start the culture or is that a different algae?
You can do it, but I’ve found brine shrimp do better when fed saltwater algae
I have a question, when i started my tank, the algae grew first before my sea monkeys , would that be a problem ? Thanks❤
I saw a seller selling green water online and I was wondering if I buy them do I feed my sea monkeys alternatively with the growth food or move entirely to the green water?
Hi Picocosmos, I love your content! ❤ By the way, can we culture Dunaliella veridis the same way?
Yeh this process should work for the majority of algae species 👍
@@pico-cosmos Thank you. By the way, I come from economic-crises-hit Sri Lanka where the inflation rate is quite high. So I wanted to ask you whether you know of a cheaper alternative to the "f/2 algae fertilizer A and B"? To be specific, do you know of a "Chinese" alternative?
@@jonathanperera5263 I've heard that regular liquid plant food also works. That should be available from your local garden centre :)
@@pico-cosmos Thank you very much!
Hello! I just went to my local creek to get water for an ecosphere. I was just wondering if I could add any sea monkeys in the ecosphere? I can add non distilled salt to the water if it will let them live in it.
It’s hard to say but Sea-Monkeys arent particularly easy to keep alive - they need quite specific conditions which would be difficult to achieve in creek water. If you wanted to try I would suggest adding in the Instant Ocean sea salt that I used in this video. It’s much better than regular sea salt
@@pico-cosmos okay i will try that!
@@pico-cosmos and i also meant to say non iodized salt!
If I get regular lake algae would that still be okay for sea monkeys? I’m from the uk if it makes a difference
It’s best to give them a saltwater algae species
Could you add the discarded water back onto the cultured tank, or would it throw the balance out?
Never tried it tbh so I’m not sure
cool idea!!!!!
New subscriber. I have no idea if you've ever addressed this before. But can these guys be housed in a sort of larger aquarium? Example, 1 gallon tank. Just curious.
Yeah definitely! You can go as small or as large as you like for a brine shrimp tank
What microscope are you using?
Does only purple lights work? I already have a plant light i was gonna repurpose
I don't have any stater for algae, Can I still grow it somehow?
Yup! Watch my video titled “green sea-monkeys”
How do u get algae from the sea monkey tank to grow it in the first place? Does it just grow from the sea monkey food we give them?
It grows from algae spores that are in the air naturally falling into the tank. It doesn’t come from the Sea-Monkey food as the food is dead
@ can i send u a picture so you can tell me if my tank is growing algae or mold?
@@pico-cosmos can i send u a picture so u can tell me if its algae or mold?
If it’s green or brown it’s algae. Very unlikely to be mold
@@pico-cosmos idk why my message is getting removed about me dming u
Awesome video!!!
Would algae growing in like. A flower vase work for a starter culture!
Next question: How do you sustain your Algae source? Do you just back-fill sea-salt water into the source periodically as the level of liquid drops?
Could baby sea monkeys/brine shrimp survive in the jar you cultured the algae in as long as its salinity is ok
I set up a bigger tank for raising my shrimp and used a jug of water from my outside pond (jug of green water)but i don't know if that meqns i don't need to feed the babies for a while
That jug of water probably has a freshwater algae species in it? Your shrimp need a saltwater algae species
Where do ciliates come from?
DUDE, THANK YOU!!!! You are AMAZING!!!!!
Glad you found the video useful :) Are you planing to grow your own algae too?
@@pico-cosmos 2:00 what if you live somewhere far from an ocean?
The only body of water near me is a freshwater river
@@theguymadofgears that’s a good question! I’m not sure if the algae in my Sea-Monkey tanks originates from the ocean, or if there’s simply just saltwater algae species that float around. Do you have a Sea-Monkey tank at the moment?
@@pico-cosmos no
Brine Solution 25grams Salt per 1L Water. @3:40
Yup! For me 25ppt is a great salinity to encourage them to live birth their young
I don’t want to buy so much equipment for the algae, but I still want to grow it. Can I get like some algae from a pond and use that as food? I know nothing about algae or growing aquatic animals.
Pong algae will be a freshwater species, you need saltwater algae for it to survive in a Sea-Monkey tank
@@pico-cosmos thank you!
I Collect Rain / Storm Water
Collect in Cheap Small Paddling Pools (inflatable For Toddlers, Dogs )
Its good for Fish tanks (Better For fish)
But needs A Rain Storm With Heavy Down Pour(s) / Flash flooding (Atmosphere Cleaning) You have more of a Chance of Getting Micro algae Due The Atmosphere it Purging itself
A very good video, iam gonna try it my self but anyway is it possible to sell some because my Tank have been growing very well but I don't see any algae and it has been 2 months and 1 week since I hatch my Sea Monkeys.
Do you live near the ocean, or are you inland?
I live near the ocean at Australia.
Hmm that's odd then. Perhaps try opening some windows to encourage air flow? Algae usually shows up in my tanks within a few days @@micahfoo3159
You always say purple grow lights. Does it really matter what color it is? I’ve been using a full spectrum grow light that I had from an AeroGarden.
Nah it doesn’t matter much - the purple grow lights are just more energy efficient 👍
Can I add algae fertilizer directly to the sea monkey tank?
Sea-Monkey poop is natural fertiliser, so you don’t need to add any more into their tank
Is it not feasible to just use the grow lights on the sea monkey enclosure so the algae grows in there well to begin with? Why grow a separate dense container of it?
can you use freshwater algae to start a culture?
I'm starting to create my little algae farm, however feeding my sea monkeys their growth food for now. Realize their poo is getting very long and they're starting to stick to it as well as the tank through it. I try to cut the waste off but they just get more stuck to them. Is something going on in my tank that is causing this? I read something about increasing my tank's salinity levels but unsure if this is the right course of action.
Hmm that’s a tough one. I’m not entirely sure what causes sticky poop tbh :/ Sometimes my Sea-Monkeys have long poop trails but it never causes any issues. If I was in your situation I’d do a small water change, but that’s a little complicated as it involves mixing up your own saltwater
Maybe a silly idea but the brownish algae growing in my freshwater fish tank won't survive in salt water or help me get algae growing for my sea monkeys, right?
Nah, you need a saltwater algae species
@@pico-cosmos Crazy those float around the air! I wonder if deeply landlocked sea monkey lovers have a harder time conjuring some. Thank you!
I would assume they probably do yeah. I live close to the coast so it’s quite easy to get algae here
my main issue is getting the micro algae in the first place. I don't live near any saltwater where it would be growing naturally, and it hasn't started growing in my tank by itself after almost a month after starting it. maybe I can ask an aquarium store if I can have some from their tanks lol
Is there a species of Brine Shrimp, reddish even with Green food that eats the baby brine shrimp or I'm seeing something weird
No even the babies are much too large for any adult brine shrimp to eat. There is one Fairy Shrimp species which is large enough to eat babies though, do a google search of Branchinecta Gigas
@@pico-cosmos that's what it looked like and was larger than normal
Question, do I have to remove my brown algae at the bottom of the tank? Or that food
I’ve never observed brown algae before, so I don’t know what that is 😬
@@pico-cosmos it's greenish
@@pico-cosmos called diatoms at times
Hey I can’t find the micro algae fertilizer can you put the name
F2 algae fertilizer - there are lots of different brands
Thank you very much
I’m starting a sea monkey colony
How often do we need to add the F2 fertilizer?
it should be only once when you start the culture
Yeah you only need to add it once. The only time you’d add more F2 is if you’re doing a new batch
2:38 BONK!
But what DO you do with a tank that is overpopulated or that has a lot of dying individuals?
Tanks will naturally find a maximum capacity, once it achieves this point the babies born into the tank won’t make it to adulthood. If you have a lot of adults dying in a tank then there’s probably another issue going on
What kind of micro algae were you growing in the video? Spirulina, chlorella or nannochloropsis?
Most likely nanno
Can you use this for aqua dragons?
im not an expert but i think yes as they are basically the same species
Great video ! Unfortunately all of my sea monkeys died due to overfeeding lol sad day. I will be restarting and starting this new food source. Do you think its harder to over feed them with the live algea because like you said, other foods don't rot in the tank like the live algea does ? Thanks man!
Yup! It's definitely more difficult to overfeed them with live algae. In fact I'm not even sure if it's possible 😅 Could be an interesting experiment
@@pico-cosmos yeah im wondering the same thing lol I bought some supplies to start my live algea and ima use that instead of the powder growth food. Also, I wonder if we can find a freshwater algea starter kit so there's no need to take out water from the sea monkey tank so you don't oversalt it with feeding them the live algea
@@d.j.105 the problem with freshwater algae is that it probably wouldn’t survive once you put it into the tank, so it wouldn’t be all that different from feeding them dried food
@@pico-cosmos yeah you're right didnt catch that
What do you do if you don't have any algae yet
Check out my video titled “green sea-monkey”
Yes you save my sea monkey thx
Do you have seamonkeys In the algae tank?
I forgot to add in salt what do i do?
Can you put a Artemia Salina a normal brine shrimp and an Artimia Nyos a seamonkey under a microscope side by side to see what the physical difrences are if there are any? Maybe Artemia Nyos is just fancy marketing.
I think the differences would be very slight if any. I've seen research papers showing the differences between different species and even under a microscope it's barely noticeable. IMO the "NYOS" thing is probably just marketing
Can you put them together in one tank? Just being curious is all lol
@@ExtraordinaryJam I have actually done it before, nothing interesting happens as far as I can tell lol
that's a bummer, oh well 😅
You said, "... more Sea Monkeys than you know what to do with!"
What DO you do with lots of Sea Monkys? Does the population eventually stabilize?
Population size will self regulate, largely dependent on available resources. Feeding them live algae is the best way to increase population density 👌
@@pico-cosmos Thanks! ☺️
As long u have another alternatif way to make microfood..u can keep sea mongkey life
Has anyone used Epson salt instead?