where to collect amphipods/sand in LI

[Paul B]

I just got back from the south shore where I was at my friends house on the water. I picked up a load of amphipod infested seaweeds which I just put in a live bearer trap hanging in my reef. In a couple of days I will remove most of the seaweed which will die in the tank. I just want the bacteria and amphipods along with anything else that is alive.
Tomorrow I will go to my boat which is on the north shore and collect again.
You can't have to much life in a tank and you have to take advantage of it if you can

 

[beastium]

The site said 1:30A would be low tide and Leed's pond preserve just had seaweed and snails sprawled out over a pretty exposed muddy shore.
I just got a little cup (all I had, was just going to check it out) of sand, oysters, ~20 snails. I only was able to see two amphipods, but I think they might be in the folds of the seaweed so I'm gonna let it sit in my tanks for a little to see.
How big are amphipod larva?
What is this series of cells on the oyster shell??

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Pretty awesome tho haha the snails are tough. Up and at it as soon as you drop them in. I put a bunch in my gf's tank and have the sand and the rest in the container til tomorrow afternoon/night to put into my sump. Hope they survive.

 

[beastium]

Sorry for the huge pic, I wish you could just upload pics to MR. But I'm not talking about the barnacles, the tooth/leaf like things on the right of the shell?

 

[Paul B]

The water is still a little cold and the place will be full of amphipods in a couple of weeks but I have been collecting amphipods and already have a load of them. I had my boat at Leeds Pond yesterday because that is where I hang out. I didn't collect because it was not low tide, and the water is freezing so I ain't going in it yet.

 

[Arati]

Thought I would mention DOM's rope trick. walk aloong the dock looking for rope hanging into the water. lift the rope above your bucket and make the OK sign with your hand with the rope in the circle created by your thumb and pointer finger. squeeze and pull or strip off the the water and pods into your bucket and return the rope to where you found it.

 

[Paul B]

If I hang a frayed rope from the dock in my marina, there will be five lbs of amphipods on it in a week. I usually do that to collect them. They are all over the fenders on my boat also.

 

[beastium]

I was at Leeds pond preserve today and collected a bunch of mud, snails, and seaweed, and added it to a 30g sump of a new setup with 55g display for which I had just mixed SW.
I unintentionally collected too many snails so I had to go bring most of them back to the water.

Did a water change in said sump leaving just enough water to cover the sand/mud. Soo many amphipods too and some other small strange looking crustaceans.

I am running UV and breaking in a skimmer bc there is a lot of cloudiness going on here. The tank is for my girlfriend's dad and he insists on using the UV. While I would not, it could be safe to do so. There isn't much in the water column that's important is there? I think the surface dwelling bacteria that I need will reproduce fine. Do I need to feed this?

I will add LR and get a new light soon. Gonna swish the seaweed, where most of the amphipods chill, on to the rock and toss the seaweed. Hope this works. I feel like there's enough fresh thriving bacteria in this mud that I can add fish as early as next weekend, but wondering what portion of the bacteria present will thrive when I tune the tank for a warmer habitat. Also concerned I may have dug too deep (2", but smelly?) and gotten some hydrogen sulfide or sulfate is it, but I did do a huge water change before turning on the return pump. I'm glad I did this though. If it wasn't for you Paul I wouldn't have thought of this haha, thanks for having done this for years. Hoping for the best. If I collect again for my reef tank I'm going to just do the seaweed thing for the pods bc there are too many snails in the mud. At low tide today I've found that the most pods were a little inland where there is little flow and rocks with avg. Diameter 1.5" amongst seaweed.

Anyone need mud snails?

 

[Paul B]

Mud from Leeds pond is very fine and will build hydrogen sulfide in a day. It should not be deep at all. Almost nothing. You can feed them flake food. The snails love flake food and will be all over it. That sea lettuce will turn white and corrode in a week or so. But that mud is to deep. I have been keeping those things all my life, and I am old.
If you got any Japanese shore crabs there (which are the ones you see by the hundreds under the rocks) they will live forever but be careful they can't climb out, because if they can, they will. They also eat flakes.

 

[beastium]

Damn

 

[beastium]

It does cloud up way too easily. I am debating whether to remove it all and start from scratch or add a top layer of sand to retain the life

 

[Paul B]

Today was a beautiful day so my wife and I went out with my friend and his wife to anchor where we always go a few yards off a tide pool in the Long Island Sound. I went to this spot yesterday and collected more amphipods that I could fit in my tank so I wasn't really collecting today. Just checking out the killer amphipods and other sea life. Our wives stayed in the boat and spoke about women things, I have no idea what that is, and don't want to. My closest friend and dive partner narrated this Spielberg film. These are videos and it was an underwater camera so you have to put your volume up.

 

[reefer4eva]

I use to collect them in northport right off the shore.i use to get about a dozen of these tie them together and used a weight to keep them down and to stay in place...I guess it's just a cleaner approach to collecting them

 

[Paul B]

Yes it is, but I also collect the mud for the bacteria so I really don't need a clean method.

 

[beastium]

Paul how do you transfer bacteria from the mud without clouding the water or do you just cloud the water

 

[Paul B]

I only use a spoonful of mud. I usually just put some mud in a container and put it in my tank. Then in a few days I can remove the mud as I just want the bacteria. I also shoot some of it under my UG filter just for kicks.

 

[reefer4eva]

Those mud snails are probably one of the best janitors in my tank and they lay eggs like crazy due to the higher water temperatures they are use to..I highly recommend them! Although I know a lot of members wouldn't feel the same..I never ever had a problem with them

 

[Paul B]

They have been in my reef for over 40 years. But not the same ones

 

[mfs1855]

Paul:

I'm a new member with a new tank and really enjoy your threads (and the article you wrote). I noticed that you are gathering pods right down the street from where I live.

You mentioned it's a bit of a walk from where you park your car.
The associate where I live owns a beach right there where you can part your car.. I think you can actually walk over on the shoreline at low tide as well. Additionally, at this beach at low tide there are some great pools with thousands of snails, pods, etc. You man want to check this location out as well.

If you are interested, let me know when you plan on going again and we can make arangement to check out the beach / park closer.

Regards,

Matt

 

[beastium]

I was at Leeds pond last weekend at PM low tide and I think it was a mistake to add mud during this time of year. No amphipods were visible. My phosphates have went up to 0.09 since last week around the same time I added deep blue phosphate removal pad, so it prob would've been a much higher jump. Paul would u have advised against collecting in early May?
I'm thinking there was a lot of dead matter in there. Going to test for nitrate and ammonia now.

 

[Odysi]

I have gotta try this sometime