[BlueRidge]

Anyone find a difference in using cider vinegar or plain white vinegar? I would think the cider would be a bit better for mite prevention and since it comes from apples FF's would like it a bit better?

 

[azure89]

I have never tried it myself but it seems alot more expensive than white vinegar, I would just try it in a few cultures and see if you get better results with it

 

[insularexotics]

I actually had more mold problems when I ran out of white vinegar and used cider.

 

[gio]

i use it its very good and last much better than the usual vinegar but has more of a smell i use Cinnamon to cut the smell and my FF's like it

 

[miko12]

i use it its very good and last much better than the usual vinegar but has more of a smell i use Cinnamon to cut the smell and my FF's like it

How much cinnamon do you use?

 

[BlueRidge]

I actually had more mold problems when I ran out of white vinegar and used cider.

Hmm...I wonder how that happened? White and cider have the same acidity. Maybe it was the sugar in the cider?

 

[SanduskySerpents]

Just wondering....How much white vinegar do you use? Do you still use water?

 

[shazzbott]

Just use half water half vinegar.

 

[Eric Walker]

I was useing half and half but the vinegar smell was VERY strong in my cultures. I cut back to 25% vinegar to 75% water. I still have no mold problems

 

[BlueRidge]

yeah i've always used 50/50 with white vinegar. I just always thought white vinegar was the choice because it was cheap.

 

[PeanutbuttER]

1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water. That's the ratio I use depending on how much water the media calls for. If it calls for 3/4 cup then half cup water to 1/4 cup vinegar.

 

[gundaman]

i wonder why one of my cultures grew mold even though i use the same recipe and same amount of white vinegar.

 

[Eric Walker]

try putting the culture in the microwave for 20 seconds after you add the excelsior and before you add the flys.

 

[marylanddartfrog]

As far as acid goes they are both five percent I have tried both with about the same sucess there is two main purposes for the vinegar one is mold control the other is to trick the culture into believeing there is fermentation going on and causes them to produce on a larger scale believeing there is a large sugar food supply.that is assumeing there is a large enough surface area for the larvae to dry upon

 

[charlesg]

I am using about 20% vinegar to water at present and I have not seen any mold issues. I used to do half and half , but it seems a waste when it doesn't seem to matter as long as enough is present to prevent mold. I have tried apple as opposed to white but never noticed a difference in fly's. Presently I am adding some blue green algae to the mixes and see how it turns out

 

[gio]

heres what i was testing last time

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/65551-testing-home-made-media.html

 

[charlesg]

That is great GIO,very good methods you used in determining results and creating your base line
I used to add banana but my cultures seemed to go very liquidy after awhile.
I use a bullet type mixer to blend everything together
At present I am using
Potato
Apple
brown sugar
vinegar
powdered milk
brewers yeast
topped with active yeast

and now the addition of spirulina
I never thought about adding the d3 to it like you had done that seems like a good idea.

 

[gio]

i used this method and it has proven to work with the d3 i believe it helps the FF's maggots get more calcium in them and maybe pass it on to their full adult form it has not been a proven factor but i helps the media with extra vitamins i look forward to a testing done in a lab and compare the results in the life span on the FF's and their "gut load" as we call it to verify the comparison

 

[charlesg]

An older thread I found on calcium supplements used with FF cultures

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/frogroom/31772-can-you-turn-fruit-flies-into-calcium-pills.html

 

[Ed]

i used this method and it has proven to work with the d3 i believe it helps the FF's maggots get more calcium in them and maybe pass it on to their full adult form it has not been a proven factor but i helps the media with extra vitamins i look forward to a testing done in a lab and compare the results in the life span on the FF's and their "gut load" as we call it to verify the comparison

Unfortunatly you are ignoring a lot of prior work that has already been documented with the flies. The flies do not utilize D3 (capitalize is important as that is convention for notating it if you are not listing it as the chemical name, d3 doesn't mean anything) so they do not take it up or use it for calcium metabolism. It ends up being digested either by the excreted digestive enzymes of the larval flies or by microbial action.

Along with this problem, the addition of vitamin mixes to the media is a disaster waiting to happen as the flies uptake and store tocopherols to high levels which then compete with vitamin A and vitamin D3 for uptake so even if you dust your flies, you end up with a skewed ratio which can result in conditional deficiencies.