spirulina powder

nemesis1337 · Post by **nemesis1337** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:59 pm

i received my spirulina shipment today and anxiously tried it out. thing is when i put it in the water the powder turns brownish. what does this mean? does it mean the algae are dying or is that how it is supposed to be?

YuccaPatrol · Post by **YuccaPatrol** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:26 pm

The powdered spirulina is not alive nor will it come to life in your aquarium. Usually, it is dried using a spray drying process which almost instantly dries the algae by spraying tiny droplets into a column of heated air.

The color change is normal.

I bet your shrimp are loving it!

ernopena · Post by **ernopena** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:38 pm

I bought this 100% spirulina powder from Whole Foods Market in West Hollywood for $19.

Instead of sprinkling a tiny dash of powder on the surface where the shrimp have to come up to find it, I prefer to mix it in water and get it down to them...

I take a small dixie cup and a shot worth of COLD distilled water, and mix in a lump of spirulina powder roughly the size of an adult shrimp. The water turns a dark blue-green color with foam on the surface. It never turns brown, even if I let it sit for an hour. The powder does not dissolve, instead the algae particles just hang in the water.

I then slowly pour the blue-green spirulina water into my shrimp bowl, a little on both sides away from the rocks where they hide but into the same two spots every time. The cold water helps the particles go down to the bottom to the shrimp. The foamy emulsion remains at the surface along with some spirulina particles.

Within a few minutes, the whole population of shrimpies emerges from the rocks and swarms around the tank feeding on the spirulina particles. Some eventually go to the top where they graze on those particles.

I feed them now every MWF in the morning. Every sunday, I toss in a half a Hikari Veggie Tablet for additional protein.

This is just my guess, but maybe the brownish color comes from other additives. Maybe your powder is not 100% spirulina? does your shrimp still eat it?

Shrimp&Snails · Post by **Shrimp&Snails** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:20 am

I use this spirulina....

http://www.lifestream.co.nz/productinfo ... winfo&ID=1

It also doesn't go brown but now i've checked the site i'm a little concerned about the *rich in iron* part. I have used this to make critter crisps (which my shrimp, snails and fish loved) and occassionally feed my shrimp some but i'm a bit worried now.

nemesis1337 · Post by **nemesis1337** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:27 am

thanks thats a great idea to feed the shrimps, just wondering would the lower temp give the shrimps shock of any kind or are they still fine? mine doesn't turn brown if i put it in a bottle mixture but in the tank, after 3-4 seconds i see it slowly turning brownish fading. i think it is because the powder is being dissolved into the water.
i was thinking though, shouldn't spirulina be enough in terms of protein content? i know variety is key, but i thought spirulina has one of the highest content of protein.

Shrimp&Snails · Post by **Shrimp&Snails** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 2:42 am

I mix mine up with a little tank water. My bamboo shrimp is in filter frenzy heaven when I add a little.

tapmxt1 · Post by **tapmxt1** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:29 pm

That is food/drug grade... for $19/bottle.

Or you can get $11/pound on internet.

Neonshrimp · Post by **Neonshrimp** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 2:19 pm

Spirulina sounds like a great food for the shrimp but can you tell me if I should feed as much as they will eat in a certain time? I do not want to pollute the water or feed any unwanted organisms.

Thanks.

badflash · Post by **badflash** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:06 pm

Unless you really need to for some project, I wouldn't go to the trouble & expense. I get cans of spirulina flake food. I just grind it up finely and feed a pinch. Bigger pieces are more likely to be eaten. My filter feeders love this.

ernopena · Post by **ernopena** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 2:15 pm

Some people will disagree with this, but in my few months of experience, it isn't the leftover spirulina that fouls up the water, it's the resulting shrimp wastes that do. I think that's the reall reason why it's recommended to feed only a tiny protion that's gone in 1-2 hours. You don't want to your shrimp to be poop factories unless you've got a great algae population also in the tank.

I have 20+ opae ula in my tank, and the amount I feed them seems to be gone in 3-4 hours. I've had no problems with spikes or water quality, but then I also do a 20% water change every 2 weeks.

nemesis1337 · Post by **nemesis1337** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 3:47 pm

i don't think anyone's mentioned this yet...but MAN DOES IT SMELL
its not nasty smell, but 'pukable' smell lol...