Culture your own Phytoplankton!

[lebladp]

Hey guys, a couple people asked for a guide to how i culture my phyto, so here it is!

Materials needed:

Starter culture
(Got mine from algoid technologies
on amazon)

FTCo. Plankton Delight (10oz) - Live Phytoplankton:Amazonet Supplies

Guillards f/2 which is algae food
(Also on amazon)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00QJ...&dpID=41PWiW3iO9L&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

Syringe
A couple 16 oz empty soda bottles
Airline tubing
Rigid airline tubing or some kind of hard plastic pipette
Air pump
Plug in 24hour timer
Light source
(I use a simple fluorescent bulb fixture)
50% rubbing alcohol
Thumb tac

OK. First of all, you wanna take the bottle caps and drill a hole in each one for the air line to fit in. Then, with a thumb tac, poke a small hole in each to release air build up.

Next step is to take your empty bottles and pull of all stickers and paper. Rinse them out real well, then rinse out with alcohol. This is to kill off any bacteria that could harm your culture. Once you sterilize it real well, rinse out all the alcohol.

(This is step three)**
Next, you wanna fill about 1/3 of your bottles with live phyto. Fill the rest up with fresh salt water but leave about an inch of breathing room. Add 1 ml of the F/2 per 16 oz bottle.

After that, put the hard tubing or pipette in through the hole in the cap and attach your airline to it.

(You could just put your airline in it, but the advantage of using hard tubing is that it keeps the bottom mixed up and keeps the phyto from settling. If you use just airline tubing, you could shake the bottle a bit each day)

Attach them to your air pump and plug in your light to the timer close to your culture. I have my light running at 16hours a day, 8 hours of darkness (From what I've read, that's the best lighting schedule)

(Mine is probably 2-3 inches away, but i use a cool fluorescent bulb, which doesn't put off much heat. )

**Now, every 7 days, you'll need to split your culture. To do this, all you do is repeat step three.

You can reuse vessels as long as you wash and sterilize them again.

Phyto may be stored in the fridge for no longer than two months.

"Do not Freeze. Keep Refrigerated between 34 F-39 F (1-4 C). Phytoplankton will stay alive for up to 2 months in the refrigerator. Shake the bottle every day as aggregates at the bottom will smother and die off."


I'm two weeks into this, but so far, so good!!!

Any and all questions, comments and advice is welcome! Will keep updated!

 

[lebladp]

Day one

Day four

Day seven

Day nine

 

[lebladp]

Current setup

You can see you don't need much room to do this. Got it under my lil 39 gallon!

 

[BattlestarGalaxia]

Awesome!

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

I never thought to do something like this. Good use of space too. Amazing!! :lol:

--sophie

 

[lebladp]

I never though to do something like this. Good use of space too. Amazing!! :lol:

--sophie

Thankyou!

Going to move up to bigger containers this weekend!

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Thankyou!

Going to move up to bigger containers this weekend!

Good Luck!! keep us updated

-sophie

 

[lebladp]

Good Luck!! keep us updated

-sophie

Sure will!!

 

[lebladp]

Alright guys! Day 14! Just split my culture for the second time! And moved to bigger containers.

Before i split.

Put about 1/3 of the bottle full of phyto

Top off with fresh saltwater. Leave an inch of breathing space. And store any leftovers in a clean container in the fridge. Good for about two months depending on what type of phyto you're using.

And here it is! Next split is in 7 days!
As you can tell, one was a little thicker than the other. So for the thicker one, i only put 1.5ml of f/2 and the full dose of 2ml for the lighter one.
(1ml per 16oz, these are 33oz)


If you have any comments, questions or advice, let me know!!! Still a newbie at this!!

 

[lebladp]

Also if you noticed, i got lazy and reused the caps from the old bottles so i didn't have to drill any new ones. ****

 

[lebladp]

Lol*

 

[tyler206]

awesome

 

[GHill762]

So what are you using the phyto for?

 

[beaslbob]

I uses three 2 liter bottle for phydo and three more for rotivers. Plus I had 6 more for backup.
One local used a 5 gal bucket with the bottles around the edge and a light stick in the center.
I take a pint of tank water and nuke it (microwave) to a boil for a minute.
then harvest a pint of phyto.
pour 1/2 the phyto into another pint far and the fill that jar from a rotifer culture.
then add the other half of the phyto to the rotifer culture.
then add the phyto/rotifer mix to my tank.
then after the nuked water cooled add that to the phyto jar.
and add a touch of florida aqua farm's micro algae grow.
And of course rotate each day.
the phyto rotifers were to feed my filter feeders and corals.

 

[lebladp]

So what are you using the phyto for?

To feed my filter feeders and then start copepods in the future!

 

[Mgoc]

Can you safely store it for long periods of time? Maybe freeze it? Or would it loose it's nutritional value?

 

[Mgoc]

Great thread by the way!! Off to the pet store I go!

 

[lebladp]

Can you safely store it for long periods of time? Maybe freeze it? Or would it loose it's nutritional value?

I'm not sure about freezing, but, so say, you can keep it refrigerated for up to two months and they'll stay alive.

 

[lebladp]

Well guys, I've had a **** up.

I bought a blend of phyto for my starter culture, which including the strain T. Iso, so either its the T. Iso taking over or its all dead.

Not taking any chances so I'm chunking it and starting fresh with a new starter culture.

If it is dead, not sure what the cause was. Here's a few possibilities.

1. I used peroxide instead of alcohol to sterilize my new bottles.

2. The salt water i got from the lfs was more than likely contaminated with some kind of bacteria.

3. Or its just T. Iso, one of the strains in the phyto blend i used (brown colored) and it took over.


SO, from here on out, I'm going to use alcohol to sterilize everything, and boil the water before i use it.

And i have a new starter culture of just pure nannochloropsis on its way from Algagen.

Round two, here i come!

 

[lebladp]

Round two!!

Boiled my water this time, soaked bottles and airlines in alcohol, rinsed and let dry. And this culture is pure nannochloropsis. So, fingers crossed!!