Springtail - Charcoal only fail

[Philsuma]

For those of us that have kept Springtails in 16oz or so deli cups on nothing but charcoal chunks and water.....has anyone had success for a year ? Or more than a year ?

My smaller Charcoal only cultures last @ 3-6 months max. Do the springs pollute the charcoal with waste and cause their own die-off ?

I go mainly (Master cultures) with mixed soil and charcoal now. Larger size cultures too.

Thoughts ?

[BcsTx]

Phil I have predominantly charcoal cultures and I have had some last over a year. When they slow down I pour off all of the water (distilled) and add more water and they come back.
I have mine in medium sweater boxes.

[Philsuma]

I'm thinking the Charcoal chunks being washed every so often would definitely help as well.

[dtfleming]

Both of my cultures are in 6qt containers with charcoal, coconut husk and some crumbled up leaf litter. Seem to be doing well, I feed out one a week and spray or add water as needed.

[BcsTx]

I only use charcoal and water due to anything else attracts mites plus I only pour off water when seeding a viv or when production slows.
Just my method that has worked for me, I am sure there are more.

[boombotty]

I've had a culture going for 3 years in a 5qt tupperware with charcoal only that has always done great. I keep reading about springs putting off a chemical that keeps their population under control after awhile, but mine is always booming even after this long. I did start another culture a few months ago off of this one in a container twice the size, and they are doing even better in this. I feed dried mushrooms that I run through the food processor to turn to powder mixed with brewers yeast and they do awesome off this. I think the trick is to use larger containers, seems to work better.

[Philsuma]

Yeah....Isopods produce pretty decently in smaller culture container sizes, heck, even tiny flat 8oz deli cups, but springtails.....they seem to do much much better in a larger size culture container.

[jig1]

I have 2 springtail cultures with only charcoal that are both over a year old. They are in the clear plastic steralite containers. I have had good results with both. I use the "flood" method to feed out.

[frogfreak]

I have nothing a year old, but have cultures on Hydroton/Leca at 6 months. They are doing very well on this. I culture them in 32oz culture cups with a non vented lid and about an 1" of water in the bottom.

[Philsuma]

I think a year plus is a pretty high mark for gauging the success of a Spring colony. 6 months is a little "short" on the whole IMO.

[jeffr]

I have a culture almost 2 years old in a 190 oz container with larger pieces of charcoal. It outlasted all my other cultures which are in shoeboxes with a mix of coco, orchard bark and leaves

[DKOOISTRA]

Mine have both been going for about 2 years now. I did see a decrease when I closed the lid all the way, now I leave it cracked just a bit. I add mushrooms about 1x per week or so and they are consistantly booming. In fact there are times where I have let it "crash", (like now, when I went on vacation) after about 3 weeks or so there havent been any there, visibly. I've added the mushrooms and they have bounced right back. Like Beth I dont know what I'm doing, but its worked, so I keep doing it.
Derek

[Philsuma]

Derek...whats the container size and substrate composition ?

[Azurel]

i have 7 cultures 6 are charcoal that have been going since late Aug 2010. I add mushrooms once every week to two weeks as needed. I have not had as much luck to get them booming as I have using something other then mushrooms. The other culture is a mix of Eco Earth and bark, it does not boom as much as the other ones but I do like using it for seeding since the Eco earth springs blend in well with the substrate. I like mushrooms and have used them exclusively since seeing how well they make the springs boom.

These are all in Sterilite 6qt containers and the charcoal came from Josh's frogs.

[BcsTx]

Glenn (frogfreak) told me he uses nutritional yeast (you can find it at Central Market and Whole Foods)-it works great.
So much easier than mushrooms and cheaper than the active yeast (you buy nutritional yeast in bulk).

[DKOOISTRA]

Substrate is 100% charcoal, small clumps, no bigger than .5" dia. The water is just straight off the shelf store brand spring water. All the container is is one of those ziploc disposable ones, about 8" long, 4" wide, 4" tall with the blue lid. I bought the first culture 2 years ago, split it and have had it going ever since, the original bought one came in the ziploc container so I just duplicated it. I do keep them seperately from the fruitflies/other feeders, like I said in a past thread, right on the frog rack, pretty much right over a light. The lid on one side I don't press shut, I have noticed a difference when I close it up tight. When I first got them, I played with the food item in a couple splits I did. I was told by the guy I got them from that I could use potatoes, oatmeal etc... so I did make a couple that way, they bombed the mushrooms have worked well for me.
Derek

[JJuchems]

I use 16 oz Ziplock containers, the same as what Josh's Frogs ships out. I also use Reynold's food containers my deli meat comes in at Kroger's/King Sooper's/Owen's. I have cultures going on two years. I flush water out about every 3-4 weeks, and partials during feeding. I do not fully close lids, and leave about a half inch gap between charcoal and lid. I feed mine mushrooms and rice.

[guppygal]

I've tried various rotting fruits, mushrooms, rice, but the thing that works best for my springs is flake fish food. They just can't get enuf of it.

kristi

[JJuchems]

One issue with flake fish foods are snails. Snail eggs can survive the food processing and be introduced to aquariums. Given moisture and standing water in cultures this could occur in springtail cultures.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

[RichFrye]

And, any grain based foods are great for beasts that eat grain...like Grain Mites.