Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

i have been growing triops with kits like this since i was a kid. i bought one of these kits recently and think its the best kit out there but the instruction manual has a lot of typos as well as some instructions i don't agree with based on personal experience. i have seen a lot of people complaining these kits don't work and are a scam so i am going to break down my advice. 1) never use tap or spring water. distilled water is only a dollar and change a gallon at any grocery or drug store and one gallon is enough to last the entire batch of triops life cycle. the instructions sort of suggest spring water as an ok substitute, but it isn't and cost about the same as a jug of distilled water so just get the distilled. the main reason these kits don't work is people just using tap water. 2) the warmer the better. the kits instructions suggest having the water's temp between 74 and 84 degrees f. the closer it is to 85 or 90 the more eggs you will have hatch. after they have had a few days to grow you can ease up on the temperature and they will live. use a lamp or place them near a window that is easily blocked with blinds to control the temp. 3) after a week when you take the nutrient pack out the water will start to get murky and eventually kill them if you don't do anything. you cant change all of the water in the tank but what you can start doing is scooping out a little water with a dixie cup and topping the tank off with distilled water thats the same temperature as the water in the tank. keep your water jug next to your tank so temps stay the same. scooping small cup of water and replacing it daily once the nutrient pack comes out will keep the water from getting soupy and nasty and add a few extra weeks to their life span. 4) if you don't want them to eat each other then don't underfeed them. people try and ration the included food packet in order to avoid running out of the food. after they are about five days old start feeding them teeny tiny pieces of chopped up carrot switched with fish every few days. little hunks of sardine canned in water have always worked fine for me and have the added bonus of me being able to share a lunch with my triops.