[chinoanoah]

I'm hoping to find out what my springtail culture should look like!

Thanks.

 

[frogparty]

It should look like culture media with a sh*tload of springtails in it

 

[chinoanoah]

Do you have a photo definition of a "sh*tload of springtails"?

 

[frogparty]

I've never taken a pic of them, but I'm talking thousands and thousands for your standard sized culture. You should be able to blow over the top and see hundreds jump

 

[gary1218]

 

[chinoanoah]

Wow. What do you feed, and how often?

 

[frogparty]

That's a photo of a sh*tload of springtails right there

 

[curlykid]

imagine letting a frog in there!

 

[motydesign]

Currently have six tropicals that are all about equally producing
Then two pink cxs so here they are.

So here is a turface sub I started with

A month or so later

Then tropicals kept on charcoal only fed yeast

Pinks on leaf litter

 

[billschwinn]

My Springtails look like that only in my dreams! Can you detail your care?

 

[motydesign]

Really bill????
Hmmm well I will take that as a compliment, but super simple.
RO water only obviously hard wood charcoal, feed dry active yeast as needed, store at 73F. Then wait
I see people adding rice and this and that and mushrooms.... All full of mites and junk. Yeast is clean they thrive on it and that's all I need.

 

[billschwinn]

Really bill????
Hmmm well I will take that as a compliment, but super simple.
RO water only obviously hard wood charcoal, feed dry active yeast as needed, store at 73F. Then wait
I see people adding rice and this and that and mushrooms.... All full of mites and junk. Yeast is clean they thrive on it and that's all I need.

I always have used tap water and the substrate is coco fiber. Would these facts explain bad production? I do keep at your suggested temps and feed just the yeast. Why only RO water? What bad effects can tap do? Thanks Bill

 

[curlykid]

don't mean to butt in, but tap a lot of times has chlorine added to kill organisms in the water, thus hindering the health of springtails.

 

[motydesign]

don't mean to butt in, but tap a lot of times has chlorine added to kill organisms in the water, thus hindering the health of springtails.

Yes chlorine is always added to municiple water. initially the chlorine is bad but that goes away in a few days, how ever it is the mixture of heavy metals that concerns my cxs, Cu and Zn Are not things I enjoy mixed in with the springtails (as you add water and it evaporates concentrations only increase.)
Modeling the effects of binary mixtures - PubMed Mobile

 

[yomamafat]

Here are my cultures - I threw in the isopods just for fun.

I hope you guys enjoy it!

http://youtu.be/K70hiyV2ibg

Happy Frogging!

 

[motydesign]

Now you have to share what a "custom powder mix" consists of? Probably won't use it, but I am curious hahhaha

 

[fieldnstream]

Here is one of mine, ABG with lots of crushed oak leaves, some coco cubes, and a few larger chunks of charcoal. I feed mushrooms (mircowaved), Omega One fishfood (color flakes and veggie), and yeast. I only use spring water. This pic was taken after seeding 6 tanks today (there are usually way more springs).

 

[kgb]

Most tap water also has a PH around 10-12.. which is very alkaline and terrible for insects and amphibians... RO is closer to 7 which is neutral. Even bottled spring water has a pretty high PH.

 

[yomamafat]

Moty: Sorry, I can't give it all away. I'll just say the final product is a sterile dry mix of mushrooms, rice, yeast, vegetables, etc. The same mix is used for all of my isopod or any springtail culture with very good results. The powder mix is 100% natural and almost 95% digestible by the microfauna the remaining 5% acts like a matrix and becomes almost like another substrate layer. Everyone's got their own custom powder mix anyway, and by the looks of the posts, they do just fine with practically anything.

 

[vjf000]

i have never had a springtail culture look that amazing