My water is from Wales . pumped to Birmingham at a PH 3.5 then converted to 7.5 for safety reasons due to our delivery pipes are a mixture copper/Lead/concrete & polycarbonate?
and has a GH 2 & a KH 1, So as you can see, very soft
The salt I use is cooking salt ( pickling salt /distilled rock salt ), this is almost pure sodium chloride except for a little anti-caking agent & the cheapest salt we put on our table. I don’t use Saltpan sea salt which is the same as artificial marine salts, or any other salt mixtures
My present culture mix
Table salt / Cooking salt = 20 gram per liter = SG 1.012
Magnesium sulphate = 10 gram per liter = SG 1.005
Sodium Bicarbonate = 2 gram per liter = SG 1.001
Calcium carbonate = 1 gram per liter
Depending on egg location, hatching b/s can be very variable. At this moment I’m using Siberian eggs from Kalundinskoe and from the Great salt lakes of Utah, If using San fransisco eggs I use a lower salt value to 10 – 14gm Per L/tr ……Although I have raised most of these shrimps in the past between – 1.006 to.0 1.025 …I find the a levels between 1.014 – 1.018 produce best results.
Temperature 20 / 32 C
PH 7 – 9 …………Higher value for Siberian / lower for San fransisco.
Hatching time 18 – 48 hrs give or take
( Now this is where I will start to sound a little crazy , .. this same culture mix (value) will be used for both the hatching and raising of the shrimps, )
Hatching
For hatching I use a 1 L/tr pickling jar 3×8 inch.. 1/2 filled with the culture mix ( 500ml )..To this I add 1/2 teaspoon of shrimp eggs a good air supply, enough to keep eggs of the bottom and maintain a Temperature by any means between 80 – 90f (27 – 32 Celsius).
Next stage setup a tall 5 L/tr Jar no more than 4inch wide & preferably round, like a pop bottle, And to this, we add 1.5 L/tr of freshly made up culture solution,… later, when ready, we add to this 1/2 L/tr of Newly hatched B/S, and yes, that means most of the hatching water too (but not the unhatched & dead eggs from top & bottom of jar).
this adds the necessary bacteria found in there native waters, that have been are cultured from the surface of the hatched & dead eggs to this natural bacteria we add a little dead organic food, in our case, a mixture of Spirulina & cracked bakers yeast,.. as both these organic foods and are none active in salt, they will quickly break down into bacteria which is the primary feed for the early young nauple, at least for the first 8 days & probably further, and if you have some form of living marine algae Like Nanacloropses, use this as an additional food from day 6 or 7 onwards.
Must warn you by the end of 4 or 6 day, your 2 L/tr culture will need an additional 1 to 2 L/tr of fresh culture mix, making in all 3 to 4 L/tr of hopeful growing shrimps & by the end of the 7th or 8th day. Your shrimps size should allow you to proceed to another container again holding 2 day aged culture water of 12 to 15 L/tr which again means you add all your growing shrimps + old culture water (excluding waste) to the new container. In this case a 24x8x6inch glass tank …My preference.
The reason I Prefer these narrow, but long tanks ( raceway ) is there ability to deliver food to all the shrimps through the use of a very strong jet stream of water, delivered by air 1 inch from the base of the tank ( which is where you apply your food ) this stream if judged right should arrive at the other end with enough strength to deposit food / oxygen & allow for Gunk / coagulated wast to settle out, ( this wast will be re-ingested later when shrimps reach a size where they actively go searching for food from the bottom ) this settling out improves clarity, and oxygen levels there for giving a better survival rate.
Food
The mixed feed I use for the production of bacteria & macro organics is based on 2 teaspoons of cracked yeast & 1/2 level teaspoon of Spirulina & 500ml jam jar of water, as said these compounds are none active in salt water there for are good bacteria producer and a bit of roughage,.. when not in use this concoction can be left in a fridge till used up, which normally takes 2-4 weeks for 1/2 teaspoon of eggs, giving 1-5 shrimps per m/l after losses………. All ways give the liquid feed ( Spirulina & cracked bakers yeast ) a good shake before use
the amount of feed I apply ( Spirulina & cracked bakers yeast ) is based mainly on observation, keeping solution slightly murky at all times , but occasionally allowing the water to clear when shrimp shape, will do no harm …when shrimps are young one to two feeds a day is norm …Get in the habit of watching !
Main Points
Lots of air to drive the CO2 out to keeps the PH up and add oxygen.
If the culture smells sweet fine, if smell of strong ammonia with a high PH, change a third of the culture water
In the early days of a culture a small amount of ammonia is no trouble to B/shrimps
By the way, even professionals will loss some 60 – 80% of there shrimps before harvesting
Good Luck!
I take no responsibility for what I say here as I’m still a mad man and know not what I say.
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© Hans Hillewaert CC-BY-SA-3.0
