[APD] Re: Rotifers

[Thomas Barr <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

> me I didn't need any fancy equipment like a solenoid valve
> or a separate reactor, etc. (I wonder what his sales manager
> thought of this),

Might have been screaming, but I don't have a sales manager:)

> but I happened to have a freebie on hand.
> He also told me to inject CO2 on the "output" side of my
> Eheim filter by punching a tiny hole and sticking my CO2
> line into the green Eheim tubing. (His reason of bypassing
> the filter was to protect delicate tiny rotifer like
> microorganisms that live in the filter environment from the
> acidifying effect of CO.)

Rotifers do just fine at low acidic pH's etc. I can find them at a pH of 4.7
to 8+ here. Species often change, but the density is related to their food
supply, namely phytoplankton or other rotifers+phytoplankton and
predators/other. Some live in pools that vary from 6 to pH 10 everyday. So
they are pretty tolerant to pH and CO2 gas also. Many springs are very rich
in CO2. 

I really don't buy this argument one bit, the notion that the CO2 harms
these critters significantly and that their levels in a filter mean much to
the tank. 

If it did, think about it............an UV sterilizer would do a better job
than the rotifers or better correct? I mean Rotifers eat things, UV's would
kill them also(everything).

 Some clearing in healthy tanks as they age can be linked perhaps to the
rotifers helping to improve water clarity.  You could perform the same
function even better with Caldocerans, eg: Daphnia, water fleas. These
greatly outperform rotifers but often get eaten by fish since they are
larger. Or an UV.  
But this certainly is a minor detail as we deal primarily with attached
algae, seldom phytoplankton. One species will replace another if the pH is
lower beyond one's tolerance range.

There are too many holes in this argument I can see(UV would work better,
Rotifers are tolerant to wide and varying conditions, those similar to our
tanks and worse and the actual effects of CO2 bubbled in on the Rotifers)
and it'd be tough to argue around it.

> He said that the compression
> strength of the Eheim tubing material should be able to seal
> around my small drip irrigation connector to which I
> attached my CO2 line.  This worked really well.  After a
> year or so when I twisted the connector (I don't remember
> why I did this), a tiny leak sprung.  I could not get the
> hose to seal back around the connector due to a compression
> set.  I could have tried a different spot on the hose, but
> then I found Tom's reactor, which works very well.

The tubing methods work also and you can make a reactor out a separate 4 ft
length of tubing running the gas through in that manner with a powerhead.
No PVC etc, just a few feet of tubing. Same thing on separate circuit.
 
> Incidentally, my tap water contains a high amount of CO2
> (the local utility company lists it to be 50 ppm or higher
> depending on the source wells/treatment facilities in their
> drinking water report.)  Not knowing this, I did a 50% water
> change around 10:00 pm one night.  The next morning (around
> 6:00 am)  I found all my fish floating belly up (luckily not
> dead.)  My cardina japonica were all getting out of the tank
> climbing up a heater line, some lined up single file on the
> ledge, some already hopping on the floor to the delight of
> my kitty.  An emergency water change revived my fish and
> shrimp immediately.  Actually it took me a couple of times
> of this before I started checking on my tap water for an
> extra source of CO2.

Just make sure to do the water changes in the morning.
That's the best time anyway for a water change.

Generally folks pull up muck and NH4+ into the water column and healthy
active plants will pull more out and the O2 levels drops at night so the
combo of plants making O2 all day and the NH4 being supplied at the start,
seems to help the plants.

Later that night is a good time to look at the tank.
If you do a water change early am, add the nutrients back, have the CO2 up,
then the right before the lights go off later at night should look very
good.

Disturbing the substrate is a good way to lower O2 levels generally. Doing
this at the start of the day when the plants are going to be producing O2
all day is a good idea and the cooler water+ rich CO2 etc will help get them
off to a good start all day. At night everything is sucking O2 out of the
water. 

This is also the way to get a good looking tank for photo day.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

> 
> Tomoko

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