Spagetti worms (1 Viewer)

[Bakapuma]

I am in the process of finally setting up my Spagetti Worm Aquaculture Endevor and Concern (SWAEC). I am using a rubber maid containers with a mixed substrate, a single power head for circulation and a normal output pc. From time of set up to harvest will vary. I will keep this thread posted as things develope. For those who dont know, spagetti worms act like earthworms for sand beds. They are great at stirring and cleaning the substrate. They keep the sand bed clean of uneaten food and other bits of detrius. In most cases, substrate vacumming can be eliminated or reduced. My worms came as hitchhikers almost 3 years ago. Most web sites charge up $6 per a worm[/b]

 

[Guest]

Very Cool! Do you have any pics of your setup? What do you think the production volume potentially is? How and What are you feeding?

 

[Bakapuma]

I have one setup running, I went with a 96 50/50 light. I will post picts soon. My boy and I are going to add more sand today. When I was just using my 75gal reef setup, I was able to yeild about 50-100 worms a month. I am going to guess after 2-3 months, I should be able to sustain that output. The system is rather crude and food is cheap marine pellets and flakes. Once all of the kinks are worked out, I may increase the number of set ups.

 

[Bakapuma]

I added more sand last night. Once everything is balanced out, I will be adding my breeding worms. I think a fan should suffice for cooling when things heat up. Does anybody have a small drop in chiller they would like to loan or part with for cheap??????

 

[fins]

Very interesting...keep us up to date.

 

[Bakapuma]

SWAEC update for April 17th. This weekend I added some clean up critters to the worm farm. VT had a good selection. I added a hand full of various snails and herms. More worms have been added to the substrate. I will update as the (hopefully) population multiplies.

 

[Guest]

quite impressive! are you doing this all in your 75g?

 

[Bakapuma]

quite impressive! are you doing this all in your 75g?

I am using a sterilite container that is 36" x 24" x 12". I will post pict soon. It looks a little crude, but it will get the job done. I placed a fan to help cool the water down. It was hot enough yesterday to raise the temp to 81F. It has stayed at a constant 78, but with this excessive heat, I see it as an opportunity to test the cooling fan theory before things really heat up this summer. If this heat is any indication, we are in for a scorcher!!!!

 

[Bakapuma]

Fan worked, even with yesterdays heat, Temp at 78, lost a quart to evaportation but not bad.

 

[Guest]

This is so cool...I can't wait to see the picture!

 

[Bakapuma]

I have place the light to time on at night, and the fan to kick on by day. This should help balance out any temp changes. I dont feel a heater will be needed till winter, that is if we have one.

 

[MarkieB]

For some reason they have taken off in my bare bottom tank really crazy lately ! I can give you a little tip cause i actually know why!
I overstocked on snails and hermits and what happened was starvation.
I ended up with 30 or 40 empty snail shells!

Guess what! Those worms moved in! They love the safety on the shell!
You migt add a bucch of empty snail shells! It is really cool seeing all their little hairs moving all over the place cathcing food!

Snail shells I tell ya, get some!

 

[Bakapuma]

One of the cool things about the worms is that they are mobile and will move to a preferable location. Another coolthing are the worm tunnels they make in the sub strate. because this project is still in the early stage, i have not done a test to see how the population rate is. I am adding a few worms at a time from the main display to get a good breeding base set up. It is to early to tell progress at this point. I will do a radom test tonight and report on it when I am done.

 

[Guest]

What do the speghetti worms look like again?

 

[Bakapuma]

Here are few views

 

[Guest]

Are they the ones with the orange tentacles or white ones? I have some that build tubes, those have white tentacles, but I also have ones with orange thinner tentacles that don't have an obvious tube.

 

[Bakapuma]

I have the red kind that make the sand tubes

 

[MarkieB]

Mine have a VERY bright red body with grey tenticles!
Tube I can not say since I dont have sand.

 

[Bakapuma]

I have got worms, from my spot check this weekend it looks like the Barry White is working. All is well for the SWAEC. Once this breeding population is up, time for phase two. My question, is there enough demand for this little buggers?

 

[Bakapuma]

ok, tonight is the night to see what beens cooking in the worm farm. I should have some adults, I'll check back later.