Phyto Culture

[goody]

This is my first attempt at culturing phytoplankton. I purchased a 16oz bottle of nannochloropsis. It's been 7 days and I was planning on splitting it today. Does it appear ready to harvest? I actually want to make a few bottles for my tanks and keep about half in the container add some newly mixed saltwater and more fertilizer to start next batch. Is there anything wrong with this method? Should I take all phyto out and sterilize container before next batch? Photo comparison of last Saturday to today.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[PatientZero]

I’ve kept cultures going for months with this method. For me, I eventually ended up with a contaminant green algae that I think came from my water source. I used a 3 gallon beverage container with a plastic spigot and just took from it each day to feed the tank.

[PatientZero]

Also, algae research supply .com had tons of cultures if you want to get t creative. They’re located in Carlsbad too so little chance of cultures dying in the mail.

[goody]

I’ve kept cultures going for months with this method. For me, I eventually ended up with a contaminant green algae that I think came from my water source. I used a 3 gallon beverage container with a plastic spigot and just took from it each day to feed the tank.

Thanks. So regardless of how much phyto I leave in the vessel, would I still add the amount of F2 fertilizer for 1 gallon (saltwater/phyto) culture?
Thanks for the tip on local source. I'm near Carlsbad. Do they allow pick up in person?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[PatientZero]

That’s what I did. I probably left a quart (of our 3g) to start the next culture. I figured a mature culture would be low in fertilizer anyway

[Drama D]

Nice. From my past experiences, I would take the time to sterilize containers when ready to split. I used rubbing alcohol, just rinse well with rodi before refilling. Prevents build up and growth on the walls of you vessel. Mel is really knowledgeable (g][ost), maybe he would be willing to share some tips and tricks. Also when storing bottles in the fridge, if you shake them up daily, keep the phyto suspended instead of settled at the bottom, it will stay fresh longer. If I didn't use any phyto in my fridge after 8 days, I'd toss it.

[[G]h0s'][']

Looks ready to harvest, goody. If you can make extra cultures, that would be a good failsafe as back up in case the main culture gets contaminated or just doesn’t take. Even with sterilization with bleach and neutralization with sodium thiosulfate, I still run into non viable cultures. Contaminants are everywhere, in our tap water, in the air, and even from our source cultures. If u can use an inline air filter, that can help. Either way, it looks good from here. Keep at it. I’ve failed at least 5 times before I buckled down and bought a good culturing book, microscope, and liaison with a couple hobbyists here in SD for advice and sharing notes. Also, thanks for the kind words, Dan, still a learning process even with some experience in my end.

[goody]

Looks ready to harvest, goody. If you can make extra cultures, that would be a good failsafe as back up in case the main culture gets contaminated or just doesn’t take. Even with sterilization with bleach and neutralization with sodium thiosulfate, I still run into non viable cultures. Contaminants are everywhere, in our tap water, in the air, and even from our source cultures. If u can use an inline air filter, that can help. Either way, it looks good from here. Keep at it. I’ve failed at least 5 times before I buckled down and bought a good culturing book, microscope, and liaison with a couple hobbyists here in SD for advice and sharing notes. Also, thanks for the kind words, Dan, still a learning process even with some experience in my end.

Thanks Mel! Currently only have 2 vessels and I'm using one for pods. I know you also culture pods so maybe you have some advice there as well. I will consider getting more vessels, but I'm not even sure I can use what I harvest before it goes bad. Is there an online air filter you recommend using?

[[G]h0s'][']

I was doing tisbe for a while but the seem to be much less hardy than the tigriopus pods. ‘Tiggers’ are quite hardy and I highly recommend culturing them with indirect light. I’ve read that their nice reddish orange colored carapaces are bit more nutritious. When I raised them in the dark, they were quite pale. When you buy them from say, reef nutrition, they appear dark orange most of the time.

[[G]h0s'][']

I’ve been using this in line filter for a while now. However, you have to use a little bit of RDI rigid line tubing to connect towards your soft airline tubing because it doesn’t really quite fit the tips.