Check me please. New changes to my phyto culturing.

[dkelley]

Please double check my order of operations on my sterilization process. I have been moderately successful culturing phyto and pods. I want to up that to mostly successful so I am firing up my glass jugs again and going to grow Tisbe, Tigger pods, Nanno and Porphyridium cultures.

I was always “clean” but never went through the process of sterilizing water. So that’s the change I want to make.

Setup:
I have seven containers. Two for each phyto and tigger pods and then one for tisbe. Also I will have a single pump for each species of item for air circulation. With that I have also decided to get cleaner air by wrapping the pumps in Hepa certified vacuum bags. That should avoid those crappy little inline filters that clog quickly.

Process to sterilize:
I plan to make all of the water at one time. I plan to do the salt, water and some bleach to sterilize. Once that sits long enough I will pour some into each container and add F2 to my phyto containers so the F2 gets sterilized as well. Once ready I will neutralize the bleach with sodium thiosulphate inside the culture containers. I have rigid tubes in those containers and will run the air to mix the thiosulphate into the water. I’m curious if this is ok to do inside my culture containers because immediately after everything has been neutralized and tested for chlorine I will just add cultures to those containers directly.

Please let me know if this looks good. I have been successful but have never did the sterilizations. I have some starter cultures coming this week.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Personally I think its a bit overkill, I just add a bit of vinegar to everything and scrub for a few seconds, then rinse with tap water then final rinse in rodi water. I keep it as simple as possible, get it all cleaned in less than 5 minutes.

But I'm curious what you mean by testing for chlorine, why test for chlorine? You are using rodi water right? thiosulphate?

 

[dkelley]

Personally I think its a bit overkill, I just add a bit of vinegar to everything and scrub for a few seconds, then rinse with tap water then final rinse in rodi water. I keep it as simple as possible, get it all cleaned in less than 5 minutes.

But I'm curious what you mean by testing for chlorine, why test for chlorine? You are using rodi water right? thiosulphate?

Test just to be sure the bleach is gone completely. I don’t anticipate that being an issue using the thiosulphate to neutralize it.

In the past I wiped everything with isopropyl alcohol and wasn’t as successful as I would have hoped so I’m hoping for better odds now.

 

[lpramos]

Yes, isopropyl alcohol doesn't kill everything. You could use a bag in the jar.

I boil RODI using two of these: https://a.co/d/jjUuv6F
I store the water here: https://a.co/d/9qhVb6s
Add salt while the water is still searing hot and shake like a madman.
I don't know what method is better, but I don't need to worry about bleach, chemicals or tests.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I never do any sterilization. Not that I am saying that is a good thing or best practice, but I don't. The only time I loose a culture is if there is a extreme temp change, since my cultures are on the window sill. That or I forget to split them and add F2 when I do. I just rinse with hot water and a bottle brush. That being said if I sold what I cultured, that would be a different story.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Why not use any of the various sanitizer formulations available for food and beverage equipment cleaning.

I keep no rinse food safe sanitizers like sani-tab, star-san and steramine on the shelf for cleaning the meat slicer, grinder, and other kitchen equipment . Steramine is Quat based and I don’t see it being an issue for cleaning culture equipment. Star-San is phosphoric (and some other) acid and should also leave no residue and be safe.

I don’t think sani-tab is a good choice, it may leave residue even though it is food safe, it. Oils interfere with the culture.

 

[Stephers]

Couple things:
Have you ever grown Porphyridium before? Man, it's a pain in the butt. Is there any particular reason to want to do this one? It's very chunky and is very hard to clean up after, and I don't know of any particular benefit of it versus, say, Rhodomonas, which is way easier, IMO. And if you're strictly wanting phyto to grow pods, there's great strains that are not a pain in the butt.

As per your sanitation, I also bleach and dechlorinate all my water + fertilizer. There's no reason to test the chlorine after dechlorinating it as long as you measured everything correctly. Most of those dechlorinating calculators account for the sodium thiosulphate concentration neutralizing 4x the bleach you're actually using. I personally use bags inside glass jars. I add the saltwater + fertilizer. Add the bleach. Add on the bubbles. Wait 30 minutes. Add the dechlorinater. I add the culture in within just a few minutes after that. Been doing this over a year with no issues.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Again, if you use a standard food safe no-rinse sanitizer (quat or acid based), there is no need to worry about neutralizing bleach.

 

[dkelley]

Couple things:
Have you ever grown Porphyridium before? Man, it's a pain in the butt. Is there any particular reason to want to do this one? It's very chunky and is very hard to clean up after, and I don't know of any particular benefit of it versus, say, Rhodomonas, which is way easier, IMO. And if you're strictly wanting phyto to grow pods, there's great strains that are not a pain in the butt.

As per your sanitation, I also bleach and dechlorinate all my water + fertilizer. There's no reason to test the chlorine after dechlorinating it as long as you measured everything correctly. Most of those dechlorinating calculators account for the sodium thiosulphate concentration neutralizing 4x the bleach you're actually using. I personally use bags inside glass jars. I add the saltwater + fertilizer. Add the bleach. Add on the bubbles. Wait 30 minutes. Add the dechlorinater. I add the culture in within just a few minutes after that. Been doing this over a year with no issues.

Thanks Stephers. This is what I was looking for. For photo I also use bags as three of my containers are from Poseidon which is where I got started on this.

Thanks for the info. I should be on my way to more reliable cultures.

Also I read that porphyridium is the easiest of the red phytos. I mainly just wanted to try it out. It’s on its way already so I’ll give it my best go. That one will be new to me. The rest are not. I’m growing for pods and for tank use.

 

[dkelley]

Again, if you use a standard food safe no-rinse sanitizer (quat or acid based), there is no need to worry about neutralizing bleach.

Thanks for the input. I understand there are many options but I do know most people use bleach for sterilization based on the reading I’ve been doing.

 

[Kasrift]

Personally I think its a bit overkill, I just add a bit of vinegar to everything and scrub for a few seconds, then rinse with tap water then final rinse in rodi water. I keep it as simple as possible, get it all cleaned in less than 5 minutes.

But I'm curious what you mean by testing for chlorine, why test for chlorine? You are using rodi water right? thiosulphate?

I couldn't agree more with this.

@dkelley I've been culturing multiple types of Nanno and pods for three years. Two things that will make your life easier.

1). Buy some poly bags like this and just swap them weekly, saves you having to scrub jars and sterilize. I bought the Poseidon Reef Reactors, and they sell poly bags, but it was cheaper to get them on Amazon. Spartan Industrial - 12” X 18”... Amazon product ASIN B0BSP3VCG5

2). Pods don't care about dirty vessels. You could grow them in a 5g bucket with no heater or air and just add food for them. Nanno is also the easiest of the phytos to grow. I wouldn't worry about sterilization of the water or anything crazy, just wipe down with alcohol wipes for things like the rigid airline and lids. Boiling and sterilization of water is only really needed for sensitive species like Iso.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Thanks for the input. I understand there are many options but I do know most people use bleach for sterilization based on the reading I’ve been doing.

That does not mean it is the best or easiest.. it is just what gets passed around in the hobby as the way to do things. By all means, do whatever you are comfortable with but bleach is a PITA to deal with if you ask me.

 

[Stephers]

Thanks Stephers. This is what I was looking for. For photo I also use bags as three of my containers are from Poseidon which is where I got started on this.

Thanks for the info. I should be on my way to more reliable cultures.

Also I read that porphyridium is the easiest of the red phytos. I mainly just wanted to try it out. It’s on its way already so I’ll give it my best go. That one will be new to me. The rest are not. I’m growing for pods and for tank use.

I've done Porphyridium and two species of Rhodomonas. I don't think Rhodomonas is nearly as hard as it's made out to be. It just can't get terribly hot (think 80F+ but I've had cultures get into the low 80s and be okay) and it needs to be overnighted because it doesn't like to sit around. The cells are heavy and settle faster, which also means it needs lots of bubbles. But a regular air pump works fine for me with it. The cells also multiply a lot faster than other phytos IME. It just needs a nice clean environment to thrive. In fact, out of the two Rhodomonas I tried, Rhodomonas lens is a walk in the park. I think it's easier than T-Iso. Salinas is a tad harder and would be wonky for no apparent reason sometimes. Lens has been nothing but wonderful. It's harder to find, but Reef Legends carries it and their phyto is wonderfully pure. I highly recommend them.

Anyway, I hope the Porphyridium works out for you, but if not, consider the Lens for sure! I love that beautiful dark red!

 

[dkelley]

I've done Porphyridium and two species of Rhodomonas. I don't think Rhodomonas is nearly as hard as it's made out to be. It just can't get terribly hot (think 80F+ but I've had cultures get into the low 80s and be okay) and it needs to be overnighted because it doesn't like to sit around. The cells are heavy and settle faster, which also means it needs lots of bubbles. But a regular air pump works fine for me with it. The cells also multiply a lot faster than other phytos IME. It just needs a nice clean environment to thrive. In fact, out of the two Rhodomonas I tried, Rhodomonas lens is a walk in the park. I think it's easier than T-Iso. Salinas is a tad harder and would be wonky for no apparent reason sometimes. Lens has been nothing but wonderful. It's harder to find, but Reef Legends carries it and their phyto is wonderfully pure. I highly recommend them.

Anyway, I hope the Porphyridium works out for you, but if not, consider the Lens for sure! I love that beautiful dark red!

I will, I also am getting it from reef legends. I've met and dealt with Skylar on a few occasions and he's insanely knowledgeable, more so than I probably ever want to be about phytoplankton. lol It was a post on here from Skylar that led me to Porphyridium as being the easiest red so hopefully he was right. If it doesn't work I'll switch gears to something else. I know Nanno should work but I still would crash that around 50% of the time which made the whole culture thing just not worth the time so I'm going all in and doing everything I can to make it successful this time. Fingers crossed my crash rate goes down to single digits percentile, maybe even less than a couple percent.

 

[dkelley]

That does not mean it is the best or easiest.. it is just what gets passed around in the hobby as the way to do things. By all means, do whatever you are comfortable with but bleach is a PITA to deal with if you ask me.

Thanks BeanAnimal and I can completely agree with you. Just because people writ it, doesn't mean it's the best but it's what I have been studying and honestly I think it's going to be super easy with the bleach. I just wanted to know if my process was sound. I have about a 50% success rate using alcohol on phytoplankton so that's been an issue. I just would love to get more consistent on it. Hoping this goes well. I do appreciate the feedback for sure. I respect all of you that help so much on here. I don't have the experience as many of you have so I'm not insanely helpful yet but another few years and I can probably assist more to other users. So thank you!