microscope for monitoring rotifers - cheap digital good enough?

[andrewkw]

Looking for a microscope to look at rotifers. I might use it for other reef related things but really that's it. Can I use one of those cheapo digital ones off amazon? Or should I spend about double that and get a "real" microscope? Keep in mind I am in Canada so everything on amazon.ca is more then .com lol. The cheapest non kid ones seem to be about $120 which isn't a ton of money but all the various supplies I am buying for potential fish breeding are adding up.

thanks

 

[ichthyogeek]

What are the magnifications on the cheapo ones? Rotifers vary in size, and it looks like they range from 100-1000 um (.1-1 mm).

 

[andrewkw]

they go to up to 1000x but I'd imagine the digital zoom is pretty crappy.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Hmm, I believe the standard microscopes has magnification lenses of 5x, 10x and 40x, and you really only need 400x for the small microalgaes like nannochloropsis I think.

 

[californiarob]

I use a couple cheap microscopes for contamination reasons to view rots and pods, rots especially the L strain range in size of 120-500um (micrometers), i have the standard table top versions and handheld version, the handheld 40X version works just fine for rots, attached pic below of boxes so you can see brands