Cultures for Live Food

[GHayes]

I have three different cultures going so that I can feed my tankmates live food.

1) Phytoplankton
2) Mixed Copepods
3 Baby Brine Shrimp

On my phytoplankton, how long should I expect to wait before I can harvest some? I started with 8 oz. of a weak culture from a coral store that was refrigerated. I kept it refrigerated for 5 days. I gently shook it each day. It still smelled fresh today. I took it out this morning and gently shook it before taking the lid off and letting it sit until this evening. I mixed up 1/2 gallon of 1.020 SG water and mixed it into the bottle from the coral store. The room it is in runs about 71° F. I took the air stone off and put the hose straight using a piece of rigid air line. I have check valves and flow adjusters on the air lines.
View attachment 20251204_235101_3EA3F42A-AE0F-44A3-95B0-FB28FCB0B480.mov


It usually takes three to four days for the BBS to hatch out. Once we get back from our trip to Indiana during the holidays, I will begin a rotating cycle on the BBS.

I used about 2 oz. of some mixed copepods I purchased, added enough extra salt water to make 1/2 gallon of culture.

I have airlines in all three cultures





.

 

[tbrown]

Is the Phyto a single strain?

 

[GHayes]

Is the Phyto a single strain?

That I am not sure of. I will see if I can find out.

 

[coralSLover]

I have three different cultures going so that I can feed my tankmates live food.

1) Phytoplankton
2) Mixed Copepods
3 Baby Brine Shrimp

On my phytoplankton, how long should I expect to wait before I can harvest some? I started with 8 oz. of a weak culture from a coral store that was refrigerated. I kept it refrigerated for 5 days. I gently shook it each day. It still smelled fresh today. I took it out this morning and gently shook it before taking the lid off and letting it sit until this evening. I mixed up 1/2 gallon of 1.020 SG water and mixed it into the bottle from the coral store. The room it is in runs about 71° F. I took the air stone off and put the hose straight using a piece of rigid air line. I have check valves and flow adjusters on the air lines.

It usually takes three to four days for the BBS to hatch out. Once we get back from our trip to Indiana during the holidays, I will begin a rotating cycle on the BBS.

I used about 2 oz. of some mixed copepods I purchased, added enough extra salt water to make 1/2 gallon of culture.

I have airlines in all three cultures





.

For phyto, expect about 5–7 days before your first small harvest at about 71°F. You’ll know it’s ready when the color noticeably darkens and you can’t easily see light through it. Your airline setup is perfect, and starting from a weak culture just means giving it a little more patience. Once it’s going, harvesting a portion every few days and topping back up will keep it stable. Everything you described sounds right and honestly, you’re doing a really clean job setting this up.

 

[tbrown]

That I am not sure of. I will see if I can find out.

Multi-Strain Phyto will typically eventually either outcompete and become 1 strain or crash and become nothing.

Companies like Reef Legends, Reef Nutrition, and Reef By Steele sell single strains for culturing.

 

[tbrown]

You'll likely run into the same issue with the mixed copepods. One will likely outcompete the other varieties.

 

[GHayes]

I have three different cultures going so that I can feed my tankmates live food.

1) Phytoplankton
2) Mixed Copepods
3 Baby Brine Shrimp

On my phytoplankton, how long should I expect to wait before I can harvest some? I started with 8 oz. of a weak culture from a coral store that was refrigerated. I kept it refrigerated for 5 days. I gently shook it each day. It still smelled fresh today. I took it out this morning and gently shook it before taking the lid off and letting it sit until this evening. I mixed up 1/2 gallon of 1.020 SG water and mixed it into the bottle from the coral store. The room it is in runs about 71° F. I took the air stone off and put the hose straight using a piece of rigid air line. I have check valves and flow adjusters on the air lines.

It usually takes three to four days for the BBS to hatch out. Once we get back from our trip to Indiana during the holidays, I will begin a rotating cycle on the BBS.

I used about 2 oz. of some mixed copepods I purchased, added enough extra salt water to make 1/2 gallon of culture.

I have airlines in all three cultures





.

For phyto, expect about 5–7 days before your first small harvest at about 71°F. You’ll know it’s ready when the color noticeably darkens and you can’t easily see light through it. Your airline setup is perfect, and starting from a weak culture just means giving it a little more patience. Once it’s going, harvesting a portion every few days and topping back up will keep it stable. Everything you described sounds right and honestly, you’re doing a really clean job setting this up.

Thank you. I watched several videos from YouTubers I have come to trust and a few I don’t know well enough:

 

[GHayes]

You'll likely run into the same issue with the mixed copepods. One will likely outcompete the other varieties.

Kind of like the yeasts in sourdough cultures, etc.

 

[afboundguy]

@GHayes I got 7-10 days between harvesting/splitting my phyto cultures and typically feed my copepod cultures every 2-3 days depending on how dense they are and how clear the water gets. Right now I have 6-7 strains of phyto and 6 different pods but I will probably be going down to 4 as I tried getting ambitious with some harder to culture species that require a lot extra work.

As mentioned if the phyto and pods are mixed bottles eventually one will win out. I would also think starting phyto with a mix would crash before a single species would be productive enough to get a culture going long term.

Make sure you sterilize the crap out of everything including the SW you use for phyto. You can either boil or use pool shock and STP to sterilize and then use rubbing alcohol on everything (including hands everytime you touch something). Sterilization = long term success with phyto cultures.

I am a bit psychotic with my live food but I also have a breeding pair of mandarins in my 35 gallon DT that had about 50'ish gallons total (now in the 70-75 total volume) and I attribute that to my dedication to live foods. I mainly enjoy all the work it takes as it "forces" me to be around the tank almost daily.

I tried starting a culture with a weak looking bottle of nanno a few weeks that I only bought to get free shipping with the new copepod species and it never darkened up. There are some great sellers (@ReefLegends and @Reef By Steele) that have nice dark single strain bottles that I use to start all my cultures.

 

[GHayes]

@GHayes I got 7-10 days between harvesting/splitting my phyto cultures and typically feed my copepod cultures every 2-3 days depending on how dense they are and how clear the water gets. Right now I have 6-7 strains of phyto and 6 different pods but I will probably be going down to 4 as I tried getting ambitious with some harder to culture species that require a lot extra work.

As mentioned if the phyto and pods are mixed bottles eventually one will win out. I would also think starting phyto with a mix would crash before a single species would be productive enough to get a culture going long term.

Make sure you sterilize the crap out of everything including the SW you use for phyto. You can either boil or use pool shock and STP to sterilize and then use rubbing alcohol on everything (including hands everytime you touch something). Sterilization = long term success with phyto cultures.

I am a bit psychotic with my live food but I also have a breeding pair of mandarins in my 35 gallon DT that had about 50'ish gallons total (now in the 70-75 total volume) and I attribute that to my dedication to live foods. I mainly enjoy all the work it takes as it "forces" me to be around the tank almost daily.

I tried starting a culture with a weak looking bottle of nanno a few weeks that I only bought to get free shipping with the new copepod species and it never darkened up. There are some great sellers (@ReefLegends and @Reef By Steele) that have nice dark single strain bottles that I use to start all my cultures.

Thank you for all that good info.

After talking to several reefers, my phyto may not take off as it was refrigerated when I bought it.

 

[tbrown]

Thank you for all that good info.

After talking to several reefers, my phyto may not take off as it was refrigerated when I bought it.

Refrigerated doesn't mean dead. That slows down the growth and keeps it from crashing faster. If it's still alive, it'll work even refrigerated, it just might take a day or two to "reactivate".

 

[afboundguy]

Thank you for all that good info.

After talking to several reefers, my phyto may not take off as it was refrigerated when I bought it.

I would suggest getting a single strain from either a local reefer who is a phyto-junkie or a reputable online vendor.

I keep 2 backup bottles of each of my strains and every 2-3 weeks I refresh the backup bottles that are refrigerated (my Galbana bottles stay room temperature as they don't do well refrigerated). I have restarted cultures with these backup bottles several times without issues most of the time and I shake them 1-2 times a day.

 

[GHayes]

Update on my phyto culture project

It appears that the phyto I bought had gone dormant due to being refrigerated. It was refrigerated when I purchased it. I looked up a couple of sites for info and they said to refrigerate it if not using it right away. Since I had to make the trip home and then order the Guillard's F2 to feed it, I refrigerated it. I let it sit out opened for about 8 hours before adding the fertilizer. It hasn't gotten deeper in color after four or five days.

I believe I will wait and order some live phyto online. Not sure whether to wait until warmer weather or chance it during the cold weather.

My fish and critters enjoyed the hatched baby brine shrimp. I will make some more after we return from our short little trip.

I went ahead and put the copepods in the tank so that they didn't die in the meantime.

I got my lights put on my jar and added a small air pump for circulation. Now to get a plastic lid so I don't have to worry about corrosion.

 

[afboundguy]

Update on my phyto culture project

It appears that the phyto I bought had gone dormant due to being refrigerated. It was refrigerated when I purchased it. I looked up a couple of sites for info and they said to refrigerate it if not using it right away. Since I had to make the trip home and then order the Guillard's F2 to feed it, I refrigerated it. I let it sit out opened for about 8 hours before adding the fertilizer. It hasn't gotten deeper in color after four or five days.

I believe I will wait and order some live phyto online. Not sure whether to wait until warmer weather or chance it during the cold weather.

My fish and critters enjoyed the hatched baby brine shrimp. I will make some more after we return from our short little trip.

I went ahead and put the copepods in the tank so that they didn't die in the meantime.

I got my lights put on my jar and added a small air pump for circulation. Now to get a plastic lid so I don't have to worry about corrosion.

I have phyto that doesn't start to darken up until day 6/7+. My Rhod Salina culture (hardest one I do) actually looks lighter then when I harvested and restarted a few days but then gets dark right at the end.

What strain are you trying to culture again? And I've had some that take two weeks to get going and I just add extra fertilizer around day 7/8 if it's too light so you could try that option as well but I would give it a few more days to darken up.

 

[GHayes]

Update on my phyto culture project

It appears that the phyto I bought had gone dormant due to being refrigerated. It was refrigerated when I purchased it. I looked up a couple of sites for info and they said to refrigerate it if not using it right away. Since I had to make the trip home and then order the Guillard's F2 to feed it, I refrigerated it. I let it sit out opened for about 8 hours before adding the fertilizer. It hasn't gotten deeper in color after four or five days.

I believe I will wait and order some live phyto online. Not sure whether to wait until warmer weather or chance it during the cold weather.

My fish and critters enjoyed the hatched baby brine shrimp. I will make some more after we return from our short little trip.

I went ahead and put the copepods in the tank so that they didn't die in the meantime.

I got my lights put on my jar and added a small air pump for circulation. Now to get a plastic lid so I don't have to worry about corrosion.

I have phyto that doesn't start to darken up until day 6/7+. My Rhod Salina culture (hardest one I do) actually looks lighter then when I harvested and restarted a few days but then gets dark right at the end.

What strain are you trying to culture again? And I've had some that take two weeks to get going and I just add extra fertilizer around day 7/8 if it's too light so you could try that option as well but I would give it a few more days to darken up.

Actually, I don’t know what strain it is. I will give it a little more time. It doesn’t smell bad.