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View Full Version : Detrivore kit from Inland Aquatics


MitchM
10-01-2010, 12:20 PM
Has anybody tried this detrivore kit from Inland Aquatics?

http://www.inlandaquatics.com/prod/prod_detrit.html

I'm considering a trip down across the border to pick one up.
They will ship to Canada, but with border delays cannot guarantee live delivery.

Thanks,
Mitch

gobytron
10-01-2010, 02:26 PM
shouldn't you just be able to have all of that in some good quality live rock?

MitchM
10-01-2010, 03:07 PM
Some of the animals that live in a DSB do not live in/on live rock.
I am looking to as as much diversity to my dsb as possible.

gobytron
10-01-2010, 04:24 PM
like which ones?

I'm sure i have all of these present in my system without having paid anyone beyond the price of good quality, fresh live rock.

MitchM
10-01-2010, 11:30 PM
As I understand it, there are hundreds of sediment dwelling worms that are very grain-size specific with regards to their preferred environment. One example is Rhepoxynius abronius. Although this amphipod is limited to the west coast of North America, I don't see any reason why there wouldn't be similar type organisms living in the more tropical type areas that our corals come from.
If these type of organisms live only in specific size sand sediment, I can't see them existing at all in live rock, no matter the quality.

Even though live rock can appear to make a dsb "live", I think that there is room for improvement with regards to diversity.

Mitch

naesco
10-01-2010, 11:45 PM
As I understand it, there are hundreds of sediment dwelling worms that are very grain-size specific with regards to their preferred environment. One example is Rhepoxynius abronius. Although this amphipod is limited to the west coast of North America, I don't see any reason why there wouldn't be similar type organisms living in the more tropical type areas that our corals come from.
If these type of organisms live only in specific size sand sediment, I can't see them existing at all in live rock, no matter the quality.

Even though live rock can appear to make a dsb "live", I think that there is room for improvement with regards to diversity.

Mitch

I think you are dead on Mitch.
That is why when a reefer wants to seed his tank it is a good idea to borrow some sand from an existing system.

MitchM
10-01-2010, 11:51 PM
...
That is why when a reefer wants to seed his tank it is a good idea to borrow some sand from an existing system.

...providing that existing system started with some sediment-only organisms in the first place.
Even grabbing some grunge from the bottom of an LFS' live rock tank might not work, as you may get some undesirable flatworm or aptasia populations.
Inland Aquatics cultures this stuff, and I haven't found any Canadian supplier that does the same.

Mitch

reeferious
10-02-2010, 03:24 AM
if it's diversity you're looking for you should really go to your local saltwater stores and ask them to give you a bit of their sands every once in a while. they have all those corals and things that come to them every so often from everywhere that their tanks and sandbeds are probably full of diverse lifeforms.

MitchM
10-02-2010, 05:02 AM
Hi Ken,

To give you an idea how specific some of the sand requirements are, the amphipod that I mentioned before requires a grain particle size of 0.113 mm. Not 0.110 mm, not 0.115 mm, but 0.113 mm. Unless a local saltwater store has a dsb with varying sand grain sizes and zero sand sifting creatures, I doubt that they will have some of the animals that I am looking for.
What I am looking for is a source where I can obtain more sand bed animals that would typically not be found on live rock.:smile:

Thanks,
Mitch

Delphinus
10-02-2010, 05:12 AM
Hey Mitch, I'm not sure I'm reading the page right .. the stuff IA is listing there seems reasonably common hitchhikers? Spagetti worms, mini-brittle stars .. bristleworms, stomatella, all seem reasonably common enough to find amongst hobbyists? (You could have any number of those out of one of my tanks if you wanted. Not so sure about peppermint shrimp or microstars though - unless he means asterina..)

Not that I would want to talk you out of getting some from Morgan, the guy's been in business a long time selling those "kits" so I assume he's onto something.. I was just curious if there was something I wasn't seeing..

shrimpchips
10-02-2010, 05:14 AM
There's nothing on that site that you can't get from another reefer - all of those organisms I have in my tank. As for the "assorted amphipods, copepods, etc", you're not really getting any of the specific burrowing detrivores per se. You could just be getting whatever zooplankton is crawling about their holding tanks.

I'm sure lots of people use these detrivore packages, but it seems that it's nothing that you couldn't carefully introduce (so as not to introduce pests) from any other local source.

MitchM
10-02-2010, 10:53 AM
Tony and Shrimpchips,
Yeah, that's why I was wondering if anybody had ordered from them. They have been in business for quite a while and are still selling the detrivore kits. I was wondering if people were happy with what they received.
There's also Indo Pacific Sea Farms in Hawaii.
http://www.ipsf.com/
They have sediment beds that are constantly exposed to open reef waters.

Mitch

Myka
10-03-2010, 01:30 AM
I also think you are bang on here (see bolded), but the critters listed in the link you provided are not the critters you are referring to as sand-dwelling critters for your DSB. I like your thought process, but you're not finding what you're looking for in the link you provided.

As I understand it, there are hundreds of sediment dwelling worms that are very grain-size specific with regards to their preferred environment. One example is Rhepoxynius abronius. Although this amphipod is limited to the west coast of North America, I don't see any reason why there wouldn't be similar type organisms living in the more tropical type areas that our corals come from.
If these type of organisms live only in specific size sand sediment, I can't see them existing at all in live rock, no matter the quality.

Even though live rock can appear to make a dsb "live", I think that there is room for improvement with regards to diversity.

Mitch

MitchM
10-03-2010, 01:41 AM
Myka,

I agree. The list seems limited. It may just be that to try to inventory ALL the different life contained in a sandbed would be challenging..
If you could even identify it all.
Inland Aquatics seems to have a good reputation south of the border though.

Thanks,
Mitch

shrimpchips
10-03-2010, 03:52 AM
The problem with what you're looking for (organisms that are highly substrate specific) is that you won't get diversity - their specificity of environment just won't allow for a wide range of creatures to be housed. Instead, you should try to hit up as many generalists as you can to increase species diversity in your sandbed/clean up crew.

My suggestion would be to collect sand from as many different sources as you can to get the maximum number of varities of sand dwelling creatures that are easily housed/cared for in small closed systems.

MitchM
10-03-2010, 11:16 AM
That's probably what I'm going to wind up doing - getting one shipment from Inland and one shipment from Indo-Pacific (I'll have to set up somewhere south of the border for a pickup).

Mitch