Hatching Brine Cysts within Refugium

[kimberly]

I have had a store bought container of brine eggs for some time. I was thinking about releasing the eggs into my 120 g refugium which will hopefully one day be seahorse tank (almost wall to wall macro algae in there now).

My main thought was to start a culture of feeder creatures (lots of copepods & other small critters in the 120g right now) that would hopefully get sucked up into the main tank (190 g) at a rate that would allow for continuous breeding of the brine in the lower tank (infinite live food supply).

All my reading to date has been on people hatching the brine cysts in 2 liter bottles so that they can get newly hatched napulii (sp.) to feed fish fry.

Will the refugium / future sea horse tank become overwhelmed by brine, or is there some other reason why I shouldn't do this?

If this sounds like a decent idea, then is dumping the cysts in a fairly well aerated portion of the refugium the way to go or should I rig up one of the 2 L bottle contraptions (I don't mind certain losses - looking for something that won't make too much mess and upset the wife)?

 

[rayjay]

I don't let any cyst touch my tank water as they have been known to harbor harmful bacteria that in a worst case scenario, can wipe out a tank.
Any reputable site will not recommend contact of tank water and cyst. (Brine Shrimp Direct has a note posted on their site regarding this matter)
While many hatch cysts in tanks, sumps and refugiums and have not problems, it's not worth the risk to me.
Next point will be how to feed the nauplii once they reach (if they reach) the second instar stage where they develop a mouth and anus. At this point they need green water or a reasonable substitute to feed on.
They will not survive to reproduce in your refugium or sump or tank.

 

[afishyonados]

rayjay is wise and insightful.

There are also decapsulated eggs for future reference.

Your idea is a sound one, just look into other forms of 'pods.

 

[rayjay]

If you have any live rock in the refugium or any part of the system it is connected to, then you will have mysid shrimp and various types of pods already in existence.
They will grow in numbers until limited naturally by the tank size and food availability and suitability.
Of course, when you put horses in there, they will decimate the main population and it will not be able to maintain the numbers the same as the pre horse days. You will have to augment the natural foods with either gut loaded live brine shrimp, or, feed frozen mysis to them, assuming you will only buy captive bred horses. (farm raised or pen raised, while they will eat frozen food, ARE NOT CAPTIVE BRED, and have the potential to carry any pathogens normally found in the area of the ocean waters where they are raised)