Yeah, I had been thinking about the balance thing last night, and figured out all the configurations I could use with a 6 hole head. 2, 3, 4 and 6 will balance fine.
I am waiting for the truck now, as the box is out for deliver today. They always come at 5pm though, which is depressing. LOL
Using A Centrifuge
Moderators: Chris S., Pau, Beatsy, rjlittlefield, ChrisR
An update. The truck arrived, the tubes were the correct tubes, they fit the rotor holes and I tried a three tube sample spin down. That went very well. I had the balance right the first time, but my samples were hurried, as it was the end of a long day for me and I was bushed.
I took samples of some whitish clouded water in my microbe aquarium. I spun that down for 2 minutes. Samples from the bottom of a tube proved to be some very small motorized microbes I could not identify with my 40x lens. There were some clumps of non-moving ones that I presume were from the spinning process. Watching them for a couple minutes, they came back to life and started moving and eventually just motored away, to join the millions of others still free swimming.
That sample had no larger life in it. Today, after I do my paid work, I will take some samples from one of my moss Petri dishes that usually have nematode worms, stentors, rotifers, paramecium's and various other animals, and give them a ride on the merry-go-round to see what happens. I'm also trying to think of a way to spin some of the hornwort fronds in the tank to retrieve some of the Vorticella and Stentor that attach themselves to it.
I took samples of some whitish clouded water in my microbe aquarium. I spun that down for 2 minutes. Samples from the bottom of a tube proved to be some very small motorized microbes I could not identify with my 40x lens. There were some clumps of non-moving ones that I presume were from the spinning process. Watching them for a couple minutes, they came back to life and started moving and eventually just motored away, to join the millions of others still free swimming.
That sample had no larger life in it. Today, after I do my paid work, I will take some samples from one of my moss Petri dishes that usually have nematode worms, stentors, rotifers, paramecium's and various other animals, and give them a ride on the merry-go-round to see what happens. I'm also trying to think of a way to spin some of the hornwort fronds in the tank to retrieve some of the Vorticella and Stentor that attach themselves to it.
I finally got to do a real test. I took three samples from a Petri dish with some moss soaking in water. I put 1ml in each of three tubes and spun them down for 2 minutes each. From these, I could see a small green dot at the bottom, so I pulled the top water, supernatant, out of the first tube, then just the bottom pellets out of the other two and combined them with the third tube. I added enough water to balance them, then spun the two tubes down for another two minutes.
Everything came through in fine shape. It seemed to do no more damage to the living bugs than a ride on a merry go round. In fact, the sample held two Cyclopoida naupliar stage 2 bugs and two empty shed skins, still intact. There were a few nematodes and a number of Bdelloid rotifers getting around just fine.
Everything came through in fine shape. It seemed to do no more damage to the living bugs than a ride on a merry go round. In fact, the sample held two Cyclopoida naupliar stage 2 bugs and two empty shed skins, still intact. There were a few nematodes and a number of Bdelloid rotifers getting around just fine.
Here's a suggestion -- there would be 'way too much big thick stuff from the hornwort leaves in your spun-down sample. Try taking a scalpel and lightly scraping the leaves in water which you then spin down. (Of course, just a drop of the scrapings alone shoild have more than enough to work with by itself...)Mitch640 wrote:... I'm also trying to think of a way to spin some of the hornwort fronds in the tank to retrieve some of the Vorticella and Stentor that attach themselves to it.
JP
Hi Joe. Scraping them with the tip of a pipette as I slowly suck water in is what I have been doing. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Not sure why it is so chancy. Maybe they die back or bloom at different times I can't see.
The truth is, I have been so busy with my paying job that I haven't had the time to experiment with the centrifuge much. Plus, it has been below or near zero F. here for weeks, and the house is always cold. Not conducive to a relaxed environment where I want to play with hobby things. Easier to talk myself into watching TV with a nice warm blanket over me.
The truth is, I have been so busy with my paying job that I haven't had the time to experiment with the centrifuge much. Plus, it has been below or near zero F. here for weeks, and the house is always cold. Not conducive to a relaxed environment where I want to play with hobby things. Easier to talk myself into watching TV with a nice warm blanket over me.
Another update. Joe, I took some hornwort leaf samples, a pinch off of one clump of a section with the tweezers, then stuffed them into a centrifuge tube. Two pinch's actually, for two tube, so they would balance. Then added enough water with a pipette to bring the water level even. The wads of hornwort were about half way in the tubes, well off the bottom.
After a three minute spin, I ended up with two nice green pellets of sludge at the tip of the tubes, and the best part, the hornwort leaves stayed in the center of the tube. I have no idea why, as the wad was not really tight in the tube, I was able to just shake out the leaves later when cleaning the tubes, but the greenery stayed half way in the tubes and all kinds of lifeforms, from a large number of vorticella, to a dozen or so lacrymaria and lots of rotifers ended up at the bottom. Happy is me.
After a three minute spin, I ended up with two nice green pellets of sludge at the tip of the tubes, and the best part, the hornwort leaves stayed in the center of the tube. I have no idea why, as the wad was not really tight in the tube, I was able to just shake out the leaves later when cleaning the tubes, but the greenery stayed half way in the tubes and all kinds of lifeforms, from a large number of vorticella, to a dozen or so lacrymaria and lots of rotifers ended up at the bottom. Happy is me.