Citing Your Sources - How Far Should You Go?

I'm in a bit of a quandary. I'm not sure about how to cite sources for knowledge learned in childhood from unremembered sources. I'm also unsure how to cite first hand knowledge gained by trial and error. What should you do when you've learned something by word of mouth but can't remember who said it to you or if it has been said to you by many people, who said it to you first? If you are fortunate enough to remember who first told you something do you just cite their name and the approximate date they told you or must you dig back to the source, the person who came up with the concept and first published it or will the name of the person who told the person who told you be sufficient?

An article I recently wrote "How to Culture Rotifers to Feed to Your Live Coral or Fish Larvae" was rejected by Associated Content for failure to cite sources. My problem is this - I used general knowledge that anyone in the saltwater aquarium hobby would have picked up by word of mouth and knowledge of biology from classes in public school. I then experimented with that knowledge for almost four years to figure out the best way to raise rotifers in my situation. Much of what I decided to try came from logical deductions and a basic knowledge of biology and chemistry. Many things I learned the hard way - by trying them and failing.

How far should I have gone to cite my sources? Should I have written to the local reefing clubs to ask who first said they feed rotifers to their reef tanks in my presence? Should I look up my middle school science teacher and determine which textbooks we used 25 years ago and ask where he got the idea for us to experiment with rotifers and infusoria?
Or in cases like this one, should I just make up likely sources? Should I research on the Internet to find sources where I could have learned the same information if I hadn't learned it the way I did?

Or should I just be honest and add this addendum:

I came up with these techniques from nearly four years of experimentation while attempting to raise Percula Clownfish larvae on a budget. Taking the suggestions of a pet store employee, some overheard remarks at a reefers meeting, and a vague memory from junior high general science I tinkered with varying salinities, different aeration techniques, different containers, and different amounts and types of feed in my cultures to finally arrive at this point. Feel free to experiment for yourself. You might stumble upon a better method of culturing rotifers through trial and error but the method detailed above should give you a starting point which bypasses many of the ineffective things I tried.