hey all, whats artemia salt used for?? my lfs has a heap on sale really cheap, but i have never seen it before.
artemia salt
- Thread starter devil san
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Artemia, or brine shrimp, is usualy used as a fish food. Some people state that it has poor nutritional value, so is best used only as a "treat" if used at all.
Artemia salt, however, is probably just normal table salt or similar used to hatch the brine shrimp eggs.
Artemia salt, however, is probably just normal table salt or similar used to hatch the brine shrimp eggs.
only the frozen or unfed live adult is not nutritional.dorkfish said:
the live baby that you hatch yourself is highly nutritional.
First of all, it's cheaper to make your own salt water for artemia.
I use 5 parts sodium chloride (evaporated purified water softener salt) and 1 part epsom salts, buffered with about 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per gallon.
Second, for the REAL facts on brine shrimp nutrition, see the information in the Artemia article on the United Nations site for live foods for the aquaculture industry, where you will find that live adult brine shrimp have plenty of protein as a percentage of dry weight (~58%) but because of the fluid content of the brine shrimp, you just have to feed enough to your tanks for the targets to get enough of that protein.
The aquaculture industry makes extensive use of nauplii, juveniles, and adults for many of the aquaculturing projects that produce food for our tables.
Gut loading, makes the artemia even more nutritious.
Tank production and use of ongrown Artemia
I use 5 parts sodium chloride (evaporated purified water softener salt) and 1 part epsom salts, buffered with about 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per gallon.
Second, for the REAL facts on brine shrimp nutrition, see the information in the Artemia article on the United Nations site for live foods for the aquaculture industry, where you will find that live adult brine shrimp have plenty of protein as a percentage of dry weight (~58%) but because of the fluid content of the brine shrimp, you just have to feed enough to your tanks for the targets to get enough of that protein.
The aquaculture industry makes extensive use of nauplii, juveniles, and adults for many of the aquaculturing projects that produce food for our tables.
Gut loading, makes the artemia even more nutritious.
Tank production and use of ongrown Artemia
I'm thinking that water softener salt is generally KCl, not NaCl... I think either can be used to regenerate the resin, so be careful.
I use Crystal Plus from Sifto. I buy them at Home Depot for $3.99 a 10K bag.
This is the staple salt I use for both my brine shrimp water and my home made formula for using in my fish only tanks.
This is the staple salt I use for both my brine shrimp water and my home made formula for using in my fish only tanks.
For those who are interested, the following artificial seawater recipe is taken from "Chemical Oceanography" by Frank Millero. It makes a recipe that matches 35 ppt seawater in terms of major ions, but does not try to match all minor and trace elements, most of which will be present as impurities in the major elements.
23.98 g sodium chloride
5.029 g magnesium chloride anhydrous
4.01 g sodium sulfate
1.14 g calcium chloride
0.699 g potassium chloride
0.172 g sodium bicarbonate
0.100 g potassium bromide
0.0254 g boric acid
0.0143 g strontium chloride
0.0029 g sodium fluoride
Water to 1 kg total weight.
In my case, I just use the chemicals listed in Red, as I use it in fish only tanks, and have made some modifications to get calcium and alk and magnesium at levels I want.
2400g sodium chloride (Sifto Crystal Plus water softener salt)
1350g magnesium chloride hexahydrate (not anhydrous)
400g sodium sulphate anhydrous
190g calcium chloride dihydrate (dowflake 77-80 or equivalent)
15g baking soda (I prefer to bake it 1 hr at 300F)
I dilute this mix to a s.g. of 1.026 and it makes ~ 32g. (I've never bothered to acurately measure the quantity as it doesn't really matter to me)
23.98 g sodium chloride
5.029 g magnesium chloride anhydrous
4.01 g sodium sulfate
1.14 g calcium chloride
0.699 g potassium chloride
0.172 g sodium bicarbonate
0.100 g potassium bromide
0.0254 g boric acid
0.0143 g strontium chloride
0.0029 g sodium fluoride
Water to 1 kg total weight.
In my case, I just use the chemicals listed in Red, as I use it in fish only tanks, and have made some modifications to get calcium and alk and magnesium at levels I want.
2400g sodium chloride (Sifto Crystal Plus water softener salt)
1350g magnesium chloride hexahydrate (not anhydrous)
400g sodium sulphate anhydrous
190g calcium chloride dihydrate (dowflake 77-80 or equivalent)
15g baking soda (I prefer to bake it 1 hr at 300F)
I dilute this mix to a s.g. of 1.026 and it makes ~ 32g. (I've never bothered to acurately measure the quantity as it doesn't really matter to me)
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How do you know it's not there?
I guess if an expert like Frank Millero can come up with that chemical formula for scientific use, he must figure there is no need to add a form of iodine
Forms of iodine are probably there in the form of "contaminates".
I don't believe in iodine additions even in my reef tanks as the salt water mix already has some in it, and, whenever I feed my tanks, iodine is added to the tanks via that food.
My home made mix is for fish only tanks and hasn't the same needs as the reef tanks.
In 13 years of reefing, I haven't dosed iodine or any other trace element and my tanks haven't suffered for it, fish only or reef.
I don't really understand the concern by some for the addition of iodine, when probably the majority have never used it and had no problems due to not dosing.
Also, I've been unable to locate any documentation of any legitimate study to show that iodine needs to be added to our tanks.
I guess if an expert like Frank Millero can come up with that chemical formula for scientific use, he must figure there is no need to add a form of iodine
Forms of iodine are probably there in the form of "contaminates".
I don't believe in iodine additions even in my reef tanks as the salt water mix already has some in it, and, whenever I feed my tanks, iodine is added to the tanks via that food.
My home made mix is for fish only tanks and hasn't the same needs as the reef tanks.
In 13 years of reefing, I haven't dosed iodine or any other trace element and my tanks haven't suffered for it, fish only or reef.
I don't really understand the concern by some for the addition of iodine, when probably the majority have never used it and had no problems due to not dosing.
Also, I've been unable to locate any documentation of any legitimate study to show that iodine needs to be added to our tanks.