I've got my shrimp to survive for 2 weeks without external oxygen! Some of them even look like they are carrying eggs! They are hard to photograph,
and even harder to film, so you will have to take my word for it .
I drilled a hole in the brick, which took two drills and about 45 minutes, but I got through. I filled the brick with about a liter and a half of 2%
NaCl, a bit of CaCl2 and 3 grams of NaHCO3 (more than enough to precipitate all calcium). Also I added a very small piece of a A-Z vitamin pill.
I grew a bunch of brine shrimp, diluted the shrimp to have approximately 10 shrimp left and added them to the brick. I had them grow for a couple of
weeks and added phytoplankton a couple of times (oxygen hole still open). When I noticed the shrimp were growing, I closed off the oxygen.
In the mean time, they grew from about 2 mm to about 5 mm. Two of them are notably thicker and slower, I think they are carrying eggs. Tsjerk - 8-8-2019 at 09:06
I got baby shrimp! I was convinced all shrimp died, but somehow they were hiding. I have three big shrimp, a couple of small shrimp and the plankton
is obviously growing from the bottom up. It is more green than it has ever been.
I closed the air-hole a bit tighter with more plastic and tape. It is not 100% tight but I guess at least 99%.
The brick is on the North-West, there is direct sun (through a window) from about 09:00 till 11:00. Temperatures are around 25-30 during the day, and
around 15-20 during the night.
I can't upload a video of the shrimp as the quality needed to show them will require a video to big in size to upload.
This is the plankton is used:
This is a photo of the eggs:
The next post will contain a photo of the brick as the three pictures would
become to big for one post.
[Edited on 8-8-2019 by Tsjerk]Tsjerk - 8-8-2019 at 09:10
Photo of the brick:
The green on the bottom is new! The shrimp seemed to die but apparently they didn't and the plankton got time to recover.
If this system doesn't work I will think about a system where the plankton gets a compartment where it can get out but the shrimp can't get in. See
what that does.
[Edited on 8-8-2019 by Tsjerk]Ubya - 8-8-2019 at 12:34
in my opinion you should add some pebbles/rocks/sticks to add surface area, more algae and bacteria will grow, plus you add some diversity for the
shrimps, hiding places and maybe somewhere to lay eggs (i don't know if they like to attach their eggs ro a substrate or just let them float in the
water)Tsjerk - 8-8-2019 at 15:26
As far as I know, the Brine carry their eggs between their paws. |'m definitively in favor of making a more diverse habitat. My problem thought is
that the opening to the brick is 5-6 mm. Everything I wan't to do, I have to do through this hole. It is like putting up a ship in a bottle.
At the moment I'm happy with the thing being alive to begin with; Phytos' are growing and shrimps are not dead even after more than four weeks without
oxygen.
Edit: I will try to add some (sterilized) sand and grow some aquarium plant (small cutting treated with bleach). My biosphere is growing happily at
the moment as a bi-culture (plant/animal). There probably is a ton of bacteria in there, but things are fine as most of the organisms are selected by
the brine and the pH anyway.
Edit: Does anyone know of biosphere literature? I only know of Cody's videos; which is limiting....
[Edited on 8-8-2019 by Tsjerk]mayko - 8-8-2019 at 17:50
Awesome! I've been thinking about mini-ecosystems a lot recently. One thing I want to try is a Winogradsky column, which is basically collecting swamp
mud, enriching it with nutrients, and watching the microbial life develop over time.
Something I've gotten as far as experimenting with is a three-shelf plastic storage unit, with some plants in the top shelf and a small fish tank in
the middle shelf with a few nondescript pond fish I collected. I want to try out the bottom shelf for vermiculture but haven't gotten that far. On top
I have a small shallow tub of standing water to lure mosquitoes to lay eggs, and I dump it into the fish tank every time I see larvae. I want to
automate it (dump the mosquitoes every 1/2 a developmental cycle, water the plant chamber with fish water regularly, etc) Metacelsus - 8-8-2019 at 22:57
We did Winogradsky columns in my undergrad microbiology class. They're quite fun, and sometimes develop interesting colors (like purple sulfur
bacteria, for example). It's easy to make one from the plastic tube that tennis balls come in.
For extra fun, you can stick some electrodes in there and make a microbial fuel cell. We got about 10 mW of power when we did that (enough to light an
LED).Ubya - 9-8-2019 at 01:21
Edit: Does anyone know of biosphere literature? I only know of Cody's videos; which is limiting....
[Edited on 8-8-2019 by Tsjerk]
there's a commercial product called EcoSphere, it is NASA technology or something similiar
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosphere_(aquarium)charley1957 - 27-8-2019 at 08:56
Sorry I’m late to the show here, but Winogradsky columns are really interesting. I made two out of two liter soda bottles with wires coming out and
pressure gauges. One developed about 20 psi and then went dark and never did anything else. The other thrived, sprouted grass which lived for a couple
of years before it finally died. That column lasted about 10 years before the bottle cracked and it began to dry out. In the beginning it made a
little pressure which eventually dissipated. It always created a small voltage but not much as both wires were right on the bottom. My latest one is a
beach sand and seawater setup in a one gallon glass pickle jar. After several years most of the black spots that developed early on have disappeared
or lightened up. There is a large amount of diaphanous film above the sand and the colors are still evolving up and down the sides of the jar. Tsjerk - 28-8-2019 at 04:04
I had three large adult shrimp swimming happily with a bunch off eggs, but the all three died in a couple of days... I hope this is normal behavior
when they lay eggs, otherwise it might have been the heat... I think the temperatures inside were well above 40 degrees as a window fell shut because
of the wind. Outside it was over 30 degrees and my apartment is a bit like a greenhouse. karlos³ - 30-8-2019 at 11:11
Edit: I will try to add some (sterilized) sand and grow some aquarium plant (small cutting treated with bleach).
[Edited on 8-8-2019 by Tsjerk]
What are you planning to use as plants in that saline environment?
Aquarium plants probably wouldn't work so well, except maybe these Caulerpa macroalgae species? But these would require exactly a 3,5% saltwater.
Otherwise I assume you're talking about these stringy Cladophora algae, no?mayko - 14-12-2019 at 17:29
Necromancing your own thread, does that count as necromancing? My last culture died, probably because of the heat, but I think I can glue the pieces
together (yes, the glass brick broke when I tried to drill out the glue). I will put some pebbles in and I found some sturdy algae in a bottle of
water containing fertilizer, and looking at the amount of water that evaporated before it started to grow, I would say it can handle some saline.
. 