bbs hatchery problems.... seawater?

[martink]

So as the title suggests ive been having real issues with bbs not hatching and im not sure if its my tapwater which is very soft or that all the salt i have is dead sea salt or celtic salt, so I decided to try actual sea water, which is as easy to pick up for me as salt is, and is the correct salinity supposedly. maybe anybody may have criticism for this hair brained scheme but I thought i would try as ive tried a lot of different things the last few weeks (except new eggs - but i got one decent hatch so im confused). ive followed just about every faq online.

 

[Apistoguy52]

Odd. I wouldn’t think it’s the soft water….mine comes out of the tap very soft, no hatch issues. What temp are you hatching at? Sufficient aeration? The only time I’ve ever had hatch/hatch rate issues is when I found a 10 year old can in the garage freezer…10yr = 10% hatch rate in that failed experiment

Added note, I use heaping table spoon of rock salt to approx 1.75L of water

 

[martink]

i messed up the temp once but i have it in an old ext filter cannister with a heater, just the old upside down 2litre soda bottle thing in there, 26-28 degrees celsius. airation is usual bubler regular no airstone.. I bought the eggs on ebay but no bad reviews or anything. ? I must be doing something but I dont know what...ive been changing it up maybe i was just super unlucky and did something differently wrong everytime.i mean its been 2 weeks now i got one hatch. noticed that one batch had hatched but not exited the shell so lots of little pink blobs on shell, which i read was not enough salt, but I was using a lot. if they hatch in sea water ill just use that going forward.

 

[Ben Rhau]

How much salt were you using?

 

[Ben Rhau]

30%????? It’s 25 grams per liter, use a scale.

By the way, the saturation point of NaCl dissolved in water at room temperature is 5 molar (about 24% by mass).

 

[martink]

haha well ok i never did that but ok ill use the scale thanks

 

[Mike Wise]

Sea water should be fine, but make sure it has the salinity recommended on the egg container. Normal ocean salinity is lower than what is needed to hatch bbs. I use synthetic marine salt and a hydrometer to get the salinity correct. I use 2 L bottles and have no problems.

 

[martink]

Sea water should be fine, but make sure it has the salinity recommended on the egg container. Normal ocean salinity is lower than what is needed to hatch bbs. I use synthetic marine salt and a hydrometer to get the salinity correct. I use 2 L bottles and have no problems.

Yeah sea water was fine, good until i stabilise my own mix at least. Ill buy hydrometer i think.

 

[anewbie]

I never needed a hydrometer or fancy this or that; i just use non-idoine table salt and put in the amount on the label with the eggs. I then set it in a corner in the room wait a day and start feeding the fishes. My tap is tds 120 gh 7 kh 3 if that matters.

 

[martink]

T

I never needed a hydrometer or fancy this or that; i just use non-idoine table salt and put in the amount on the label with the eggs. I then set it in a corner in the room wait a day and start feeding the fishes. My tap is tds 120 gh 7 kh 3 if that matters.

yeah the last time i did it was straight forward, this time was a nightmare. I just gave up and went to get seawater just so I didnt need to worry about the fish not eating. so im getting the meter for peace of mind really.

 

[Mike Wise]

I use synthetic sea salt only because I got it cheap and has more in it than NaCl, like buffers, etc. My tap water is naturally soft, less than a third of yours. Your harder tap water has natural minerals that do the same. As for the use of a hydrometer, I found salt grain size and moisture content can vary the salinity by about 10%, which can mean success or failure in hatching bbs. Mine is the plastic box type that costs about $17. I feel it's cheap insurance.

 

[Apistomaster]

I've long been a fan of using marine water salt mixes instead of plain salt.
About a tbs/l. I think it obtains optimal hatch at ideal ambient conditions.