Another Phytoplankton Culture Tutorial

[DmitryB]

Autoclaving is generally the best way to go however that's not feasible for most hobbyists. Unless you're using smaller glassware. I use 1 gallon and 5 gallon carboys and unless you have a larger autoclave, its not going to work or fit inside a standard pressure cooker. I also don't like using chlorine to sterilize my seawater and resort to boiling. Its not going to kill absolutely everything, but crashes are few and far between. You just have to be careful about overboiling and precipitating your salt solution.

You can look at Rhodomonas wrong and it crashes. It doesn't refrigerate well either, you'll have to split on the day of harvest if you want to keep it going long term. I wash glassware with Alconox, and it it with either 91% alcohol or Star-san and let air dry.

With boiling, I just recall reading from various people that it's creates environmental issues in the house or something? Probably "precipitating salt solution" as you say. Do you boil for a certain amount of time? And do you use a dedicated pot for this? A glass container of some sort? I assume heating to boil in a microwave is not good? Or would that work as well? And do you sterilizing F/2 as well as the water? (Sorry for all the questions!)

I just looked at autoclaves and it's like $1000 at least.

 

[EnterName]

With boiling, I just recall reading from various people that it's creates environmental issues in the house or something? Probably "precipitating salt solution" as you say. Do you boil for a certain amount of time? And do you use a dedicated pot for this? A glass container of some sort? I assume heating to boil in a microwave is not good? Or would that work as well? And do you sterilizing F/2 as well as the water? (Sorry for all the questions!)

I just looked at autoclaves and it's like $1000 at least.

You can use a pressure cooker that reaches 15psi. The initial post of this very thread explains the sterilization process with some info graphics. You can't sterilize the F/2 fertilizer or you will destroy the included vitamins. That's why I like getting a fertilizer that is split into multiple solutions. One for trace elements, one for nutrients, and one for vitamins. Trace elements and nutrients can be sterilized but the vitamins have to be added after the sterilization process. If contamination is a concern a syringe sterile filters (0.22µm) get the job done.

 

[DmitryB]

Your culture looks like it didn't settle much at all. Usually the water is nearly clear and you only see green on the bottom.

So it's good?? How vigorous should the bubbling be? Mine is pretty light, probably no more than I'd use for pods. (Versus Nanno which is like boiling.)

 

[EnterName]

So it's good?? How vigorous should the bubbling be? Mine is pretty light, probably no more than I'd use for pods. (Versus Nanno which is like boiling.)

Why change something if it seems to be working?
Seems to be good as it is.

 

[BlueBayouReefHTX]

There are some big players out there that actually sterilize their f/2 medium. I've tried it and didn't really notice a difference.

 

[BlueBayouReefHTX]

With boiling, I just recall reading from various people that it's creates environmental issues in the house or something? Probably "precipitating salt solution" as you say. Do you boil for a certain amount of time? And do you use a dedicated pot for this? A glass container of some sort? I assume heating to boil in a microwave is not good? Or would that work as well? And do you sterilizing F/2 as well as the water? (Sorry for all the questions!)

I just looked at autoclaves and it's like $1000 at least.

Usually 7 minutes on a high boil is adequate. I actually use a large turkey fryer. But i've also done it on stovetop and used to boil water inside of a 1 gallon glass lowboy on the stove, sort of like a double boiler. That way it sterilizes your culture vessel as well. But i'm doing higher volume these days so that is no longer feasible for me.