LED lights, live spirulina

[toomanyhandles]

Hi all-

I just set up two small tanks- one 1/2 gallon and one gallon. Canning jars with a small hole in the lid, into which I fit a little rubber stopper in which I drilled a small hole for airflow).

Shrimp added today, tanks have been cycling for about 6 weeks, started with new aragonite plus 1/2 cup of live sand I received when I asked craigslist if I could have a scoop from someone local who was setting up a marine tank : ) No need to waste an entire bag for this!

-Right now the jars are getting perfect indirect light in a windowsill, algae is growing, but that will change as the season progresses and the sunlight moves. I'd like to add LED light on a timer. This would also let me move them to other locations in the house.

I have spent some time on Amazon looking for small desk-lamp sized LED lamps, but not seen anything that seems right-sized for this size of habitat.
Does anyone have links to lights that they like?

-I have been keeping a small culture of spirulina growing for about a year- just in a 50mL tissue culture flask. It would be easy to feed a bit of this now and again, and it is alive unlike the dried spirulina powder, so likely a lot better for the water quality / less worries about over feeding.
Does anyone do this? Especially early on when I have some, but not a huge amount of algae growing. I'm not sure how well the spirulina will like the brackish water, I'll test outside of the shrimp habitats first...

Thanks for your thoughts!

Brian.

[Mustafa]

Hey Brian!

I think you're actually the *first* person in this forum who feeds live spirulina to his shrimp. It may work if you keep the feedings sporadic and the nutrient load low. Otherwise I can see how with enough light the Spirulina may actually decide to become a culture in your shrimp tank, basically turning it into a green water tank.

Can't help you with the LED light really...at this point all my "desk top" ornamental tanks get indirect sunlight/daylight. And there are offspring in all of them.

[jonesinfershrimp]

definitely going to follow this! cant wait to see what happens. good luck

[toomanyhandles]

So I did a test run, putting some live spirulina culture in 50% instant ocean.

It seems to be growing : ) so unless I had a gazillion filter feeders and shrimp, I would end up with pea soup.
So I won't try feeding live spirulina.

If you want to grow your own and freeze it (if that kills it 100%, I haven't tested) you can get $15 starter cultures from:
http://www.algaeresearchsupply.com
https://algaeresearchsupply.com/collect ... spiurulina

For the LED lights:

I looked at a few things. A goal was that they not be too big, and have a actual physical power switch so I could put them on a timer if I wanted to go that way.
I am trying this out:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010H2WSLE/

$11, has separate switchable blue and white LEDs, so at night you can leave the blue on for the plants but give the shrimp some dark.
I like it so far.

Just about 4 weeks in, first molts are happening!

[Mustafa]

Ah, yes you don't want pea soup. But interesting links for anyone who for whatever reason wants to grow spirulina.