brine shrimp hatchery/paul b

[cracker]

Ok Folks, I plan to build a brine shrimp hatchery based/copied from pics of Paulb's design. I have a 5.7 gallon tank I acquired. I like Paul's idea of hatching the eggs in one section then blacking it out. There is a black partition with a hole drilled thru it. The other side is lighted and the babies are drawn to the light, they swim thru the hole sans the shells. My question is how big should I drill the hole and how high do I place it? Now Paul is taking care of business I'm sure. Maybe You would care to give any OP's. The pic of his hatchery is "I think" around page 75 of his tank turned 40 years plus thread. Now I'm willing to do the research to try what works best. Like proper circulation, lighting etc. However I think the size and placement of the hole is critical. Here is a pic of what I have so far!

 

[DaveK]

I like what your doing. I hope that once it's all working you keep some of those very difficult fish PaulB has in his system.

 

[Paul B]

Nice looking hatchery. Now you need to make one side black. You can paint the outside. The hole can be 3/8" and put a short clear tube in it like 3/4" (also not critical or important) Make it flush on the egg side so you can make a door because you need a way to close that hole and open it. The hole can be about 1/3rd down but it is not critical. I built a sliding door that I can pull up.
Add the shrimp to the black side, airate for 36 hours, remove the air, put the black cover on and light the clear side. The shrimp will swim through in 20 minutes. The ones without cell phones may take a little longer as they won't know the time. Make sure no light penetrates to the black side. When you paint the black side, extend the paint an inch or so over the clear side or the light will go through the glass to the dark side and the shrimp will see the light and go to it. They are very stupid.
Siphon out the shrimp. In a few weeks you will need to fill it with fresh water and add some bleach. A bacterial slime will eventually grow there and the eggs will not hatch so you need to do that occasionally.
Good luck

 

[cracker]

Hey Paul, Thanks so much for the reply! I would have drilled a much larger hole. Also I have the paint didn't consider extending the black out past the partition. there would be light leaking thru the silicone around the edges. Ok I got a plan! Will let Ya'll know how it works out! Thanks again,

 

[Paul B]

If those little sneaky shrimp see any light, they will head for it.

 

[cracker]

Well in my eagerness I didn't cut my panels just right and have light leaking around the edges. I also used up all my black acrylic. Time to regroup! I'm eyeballing one of my neighbor's black rectangular garbage cans.

 

[Blue Space]

Put the garbage can down and slowly back away...

 

[cracker]

Well I just can't take Bob and Dianna's garbage cans. After all they are real good Folks. But I did pick up a 10gl from young Jacob up the street. The 10 year old worked me out of 5 bucks! So I think I can use the frames to cover the siliconed edges and hid the light from shining thru. So I'm back with the acrylic panels I have!

 

[cracker]

Hello, I got 2 coats of paint on the outside of the tank. I can still see a little light though. I think this thing is going to be way too big for my needs. Unless I plan to raise octo millions of babies! Hey ,that's what research and development is all about! lol

 

[Paul B]

I just used black acrylic. They sell it in pieces by the pound. But not in Florida that I am aware of

 

[cracker]

I can buy colored acrylic but I have to buy a big piece etc, so I'm always on the look out for such. I see now why You used acrylic. spray painting the glass, keeping the seams tight etc. Hey I'm having fun with this ,so

 

[Paul B]

Thats the key, having fun. It's a hobby and supposed to be fun. If it were not, we would call it work.

 

[cracker]

Hey Folks, My 1st attempt at the hatchery worked about OK. I got a few of the little devils but the lighted side was too big to siphon effectively. I will more add more of eggs next time. Over all the hatchery works just fine! It's design is horizontal instead of the usual vertical type.