# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Killifish >  Recycling BBS hatching water

## MCSim

Ok, since many of us hatch BBS (baby brine shrimp) for feeding fries, young adult fish and even adult fish, have you thought of recycling the salt water for another batch? I'm not gonna say now to hatch bbs as this can be found in many webpages.  :Smile:  What I wrote works for me very well. 

1) When harvasting bbs from the hatching bottle, stop the aeration and let the solution "rest" thus separating the empty eggs and freshly hatched bbs. You may wanna shine some light from the bottom to attract the bbs down to the bottom of the hatching jug.

I placed an empty container underneath the coffee filter. Make sure that the container you use can hold all the water in the hatching bottle. Best if you can use a "tall" one. I'll tell you why later.

2) open the air valve and let the hatched bbs drain into the filter with container. Standby your hands to close the air valve when most if not all the water with bbs are out of the bottle. This way is to keep the empty eggs in the bottle.

3) allow time to let the water drip into the "tall" container. This way, you can separate the water and bbs easily. I then transferred the bbs from the filter to another container filled with clean water. Use the turkey baster to "blow" clean water to wash those bbs stucked on the filter down into the container. There you go, bbs ready for feeding. No rinsing needed.

Walah! You have all the leftover salt water in the "tall" container for another hatching session. But "how long can I use the recycled water" you may ask. Well, I manage to use it for about 3 sessions before puring away half the mixture and top up with fresh salt water. *Do not* use the recycled salt water if it is cloudy. 

Since I'm on the topic of hatching bbs, I would also like to share some tips with you guys:
1) use aquarium grade salt with aged water to get higher hatch rates. I don't have luck with kitchen salt and tap water.
2) wash your hatching jugs everytime before use
3) recycled salt water will shorten the hatching time required 
4) I use a hydrometer (floating type, $3-5) to measure salinity of water mixture. I mix them in a clean pail then store them using mineral water bottle.  :Smile:  
5) use high grade artemia eggs, its worth the extra $, trust me on this. :wink: 

Hope all this info helps. Do let me know if it doesn't work, I would love to understand more about it. Thats it, enough of my BS.  :Smile:

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## gweesm1

Hi Kenneth,

Thanks for sharing with us. As I am a heavy brineshirmp user, this doesnt really work for me. I used about 8 (4 in the morning and 4 at night) spoonfuls (not teaspoon, about half the size) of brine shrimp everyday. The water turn very cloudy after 1 hatch.

I have tried this method with about 2 spoonful and works perfectly alright. This should work for most people, even those using marine salt.

Regards,

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## kc

Since we are on the BBS, I would like to share my experiences for those who still uses the tradition method of hatching.

I find that it take longer to get better hatching rate (using aquarium grade salt. For 24hrs, I got poorer hatching rate but if I wait for another 12 hrs, I got a much better hatching rate but then the amount I hatch is far, far less that what Sia Meng is doing. 
It means that if I starts this morrning, the bbs will be ready by tomorrow evening.

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## RonWill

> 1) When harvasting bbs from the hatching bottle, stop the aeration and let the solution "rest" thus separating the empty eggs and freshly hatched bbs. You may wanna shine some light from the bottom to attract the bbs down to the bottom of the hatching jug.


The light doesn't quite work in my case, those silly BBS still stay at the top. I just have to wait patiently till the water level drops!




> I placed an empty container underneath the coffee filter. Make sure that the container you use can hold all the water in the hatching bottle. Best if you can use a "tall" one.


I find men's hankies to work better and faster. The coffee filter takes forever to drip!




> 2) open the air valve and let the hatched bbs drain into the filter with container. Standby your hands to close the air valve when most if not all the water with bbs are out of the bottle. This way is to keep the empty eggs in the bottle.


The smooth wall of a coke bottle doesn't 'pull' the floating shells. Try this... find a coarse piece of sandpaper and roughen the inside in a horizontal stroke until you get a "brushed finish". You'll find most of shells sticking to the wall and by the time it's almost empty, there's nothing but pure BBS.

3) ... Use the turkey baster to "blow" clean water to wash those bbs stucked on the filter down into the container.
Wow! you have a turkey baster too? Cool! Where did you get yours?




> Walah! You have all the leftover salt water in the "tall" container for another hatching session. But "how long can I use the recycled water" you may ask. Well, I manage to use it for about 3 sessions before puring away half the mixture and top up with fresh salt water. *Do not* use the recycled salt water if it is cloudy.


I've just started to use marine salt for hatching and am into my 4th recycling. I'm kinda doofy when it comes to certain things, so I keep it simple... it's 3 heaping Chinese soup spoonful to 1 litre of aged water. Works like a charm so far.




> 1) use aquarium grade salt with aged water to get higher hatch rates. I don't have luck with kitchen salt and tap water.


I was using kitchen salt... but got tired of mixing fresh brine solution every other day.




> 3) recycled salt water will shorten the hatching time required


Yeah, I noticed that too.. together with better hatch rates. Wonder why this is so.




> Thats it, enough of my BS.


...and that's alot of good BS!  :Laughing:

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## MCSim

Sia Meng, perhaps you should try using a large hatchery. I found an article about hatching bbs in numbers (sorry, forgot the URL). Darren and I gave it a shot and it turned out well too.

We used a unuse fish tank (1.5ft x 8") and black out 3 sides of the tank using black tape or was it called duck tape. Eh, don't tape the whole length, leave a third of it as clear. Now you have 2 sections when looking at the tank, in end is clear and the other dark. 

We then use a piece of black acrylic, drill at 1" hole (1/3 of height) and fitted a PVC pipe joint on the hole with a cover (on the clear side). Silicon this black acrylic into the tank between the clear and black portion of the tank. 

Now the tank would have 2 sections, 2/3 in total darkness and other 1/3 clear. We inserted an air tube (use more if you can to eliminate "dead" spots) in the dark section and used "suckers" to hold them in place. 

Remove PVC cover, filled the tank up with salt water. Close cover, throw in lots of artemia eggs in the dark section, start strong aeration, and keep that going. 

To harvast, we cover the dark section totally with another black acrylic. Stop aeration and let everything settle. We placed a 7W light with refector (those used for down lights in false ceiling) and angle it to "point" at the PVC cover. Once we checked that the solution has settled (lift up the acrylic cover), switch on the light and remove the PVC cover.

Magic show begins and the freshly hatched bbs will introduce themselves *slowly* by swimming through the hole (attracted to the light) and ready to be harvested. Do give them some time ok?

Well, this method usually holds more than a weeks' supply for me with the advantage of recycled water.  :Twisted Evil:  Yeah, the eggs would be trapped at the dark section and easily removed with coffee filter or get a handkie from Ronnie. :wink: 

Please pardon my poor description, if anyone is interested to see it in person, just let me know.

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## RonWill

> Sia Meng, perhaps you should try using a large hatchery. I found an article about hatching bbs in numbers (sorry, forgot the URL). Darren and I gave it a shot and it turned out well too.


YES YES YES! Dang it!!!, that was one of the articles I was searching for too! I remebered seeing it a loooong while back and I couldn't find the page anymore.

Like yourself, I wanted to experiment with hatching BBS from a half dark/half light tank, with the natural migration of hatched BBS swimming towards the 'collection' area. I've done up part of the work on a plastic tank but didn't know how else to continue.

What I know is that I'm a cheapskate and instead of black acrylic, I have a piece of thin plywood painted matt black. If only I know what to do with it now...




> Please pardon my poor description, if anyone is interested to see it in person, just let me know.


Kenneth, YES! can I peep at the contraption?... I'll be more than pleased to sponsor that hankie! :wink:

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## MCSim

Ronnie, those darn black acrylic cost me $4/piece. Hey, you're sure welcome to take more than just a peep.  :Smile:  Neh.. I don't need the hankie, just bring your digital camera!! Picture says a thousand words eh? I'll PM you my contact.

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## gweesm1

I thought of trying as well when I saw the article months back. This will take up a tank space which means I have to cut down on 1 species. :sad:

This remain me of a hatchery sold by Watercircle Hydroponics Pte Ltd situated at Tyrwhitt Road. However, this hatchery is quite small. (use for feeding seahorse)

The shape of the hatchery is round in shape and only the center part is exposed to light. (looks like a flying saucer) When the BS hatch, it will swim towards the center. 

This shop sells lot of marine stuffs and also hydroponics kits for hobbyist. Interesting place to visit.
http://www.watercircle.com.sg/

Regards,
Sia Meng

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## simplon

hi all,

just curious..... what does it mean when the water is cloudy? i do recycle the water.... but only use it for about 1 more time.... 

jason

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## MCSim

Hi Jason, cloudy water will give you the impression of that water is a little "white", you can hardly see the other side of the hatching bottle.

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## stormhawk

Sia Meng, I think I know which hatcher you were mentioning about in your earlier post about a brine shrimp hatchery sold at Watercircle.
Is it the hatchery made under the Hobby brand? It's a German aquatic products brand and I've seen the hatchery myself at Biotope once. The box says you don't need to use aeration, just saltwater and add the eggs and the nauplii will swim towards the centre upon hatching. 

There was another hatchery that was once mentioned on AQ. It was mounted within the fry tank itself whereby the nauplii once hatched will swim out of the hatcher and into the main body of water. Can't remember what's the brand name but it works on the principle that saltwater and freshwater are of different densities so it's perfectly safe to hatch the nauplii within the hatchery without having the saltwater leech out into the main tank.

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## MCSim

Jianyang, I have the chance to see one of it at work.. its made by Toms in China. Size iss as big/tall as a surface skimmer.

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## RonWill

> Jianyang, I have the chance to see one of it at work.. its made by Toms in China. Size iss as big/tall as a surface skimmer.


Kenneth, so does the contraption work? If it functions as described, then it'll be so much easier and just rig the hatchery in the growout tank... no more hassles!!!

I'd like to have a first hand look at it as well, so where did you see it again? Any idea of pricing?

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## timebomb

> I'd like to have a first hand look at it as well, so where did you see it again? Any idea of pricing?


Ronnie,

The device is known as a brine shrimp egg incubator. I have not seen it up close but I've seen pictures of it. I did a search and found 2 pictures. Here they are:




As far as I know, the product is not available locally. It's available only in Taiwan or some other country.

Loh K L

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## RonWill

> The device is known as a brine shrimp egg incubator. I have not seen it up close but I've seen pictures of it. I did a search and found 2 pictures.
> 
> As far as I know, the product is not available locally. It's available only in Taiwan or some other country.


Kwek Leong, I did a search with "brine shrimp egg incubator" and couldn't pull up any pics. Do you have the URL to those 2 pics? It looks darn interesting and looks viable for my next diy project! :wink: 

Which brings my question back to Kenneth... where did you see this incubator??

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## timebomb

> Do you have the URL to those 2 pics?


Ronnie,

Those 2 pictures were taken from a very old post on AQ. There's a site where a brand called Hobby markets something similar but the picture there does not tell much about the product. There's no description either.

Frankly, I'm sceptical about the device. I don't think it will work well. It involves having 2 different solutions in the same container. On the left (shaded in picture) is where the salt solution goes and the fresh water is on the right. How does the device prevents the salt solution from being mixed up with the freshwater?

Loh K L

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## MCSim

Ronnie, saw them at a LFS around commonwealth area. Lady boss told me they imported that set from US after seeing it in the magazine. Price they paid is about $40. Anyway, the packaging says "Made in China". Any idea who is Tom's local distributor?

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## stormhawk

My girlfriend saw this incubator thing for sale when she went to Korea for a holiday with her family a few months back. Apparently its not available for sale locally but since Kenneth has seen one in action, perhaps local suppliers are bringing the product in. I've seen the Hobby hatchery for sale at Biotope, price-wise I'm not too sure but I think it's roughly around 40+. The incubator works on the principle that since saltwater and freshwater are of different densities, they won't mix and the hatched brine shrimp nauplii just swim out of the hatchery and right into the fry tank direct to the waiting fry.

Kenneth, by any chance, do you remember the name of the shop you saw it for sale at?

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