Culturing Phytoplankton

CJO · Apr 11, 2011

Reggie said:
Under 'Culture Setup':

You meant 1.019 and 1.025, right?

Yes, definitely. Thanks for catching that. You get props for being the first to catch a typo!

CJ

Reggie · Apr 11, 2011

Question, which I'm sure you a lot would like to know as well: How much will the room stink if you are culturing phyto? :)
My guess is that it won't unless they start to die-off -- just like the commercial bottled ones?

As for Phyto2, they said that they try to help hobbyists as much as they but majority would rather avoid the hassle of culturing their own. As for killing themselves, I guess, it has something to do with 'outcompeting' each other.

CJO · Apr 11, 2011

I haven't noticed an odor at all, except if you sniff the actual culture. My wife hasn't mentioned an odor either. She has a very sensitive nose and wouldn't hold back from telling me if she did! I actually haven't noticed an odor when they have crashed either, but that may depend on how long you leave them after crashing.

I understand what they were saying about competition, I was just saying that I have never experienced it nor have the phycologists with whom I have spoken (including one from the largest grower of phytoplankton in the world).

CJ

Reggie · Apr 11, 2011

Thanks. So... will you start selling culture packs? ;)

CJO · Apr 11, 2011

I had somewhat considered it, but I would rather not. I would be competing somewhat with the people who helped me get started and I don't feel right about doing that. I do hope to update the thread with direct links to the products.

CJ

Reef Breeders · Apr 12, 2011

Try replacing chlorine with unscented bleach. There is a sitting time of 4-5 seconds, and it takes about a ml of water conditioner per liter to innoculate the bleach. (only use a drop of bleach, more will kill your entire culture. Also, a curly ebergy saving bulb in $5 fixture on both sides of up to 3 cultures works just fine for me. Im going to be going commercial with growing soon, so I will be using 5 gallon clear water jugs. I might try just using rodi water and no bleach, or I will run out of wc.

Electrobes · Apr 12, 2011

CJO said:
Nice. Did you use a similar procedure? It seems like most people are just lining up 2-liter bottles of Nanno in front of 48" fluorescent tubes. I like that the bucket is contained and reflects the light back onto the phyto. I still need to add some pics. Also, let me know if you have any comments, tip or tricks to add to the writeup.

CJ

You know I did have the cultures in a white bucket, but since I was making them during the summer I had a ranco attached to a fan. When the inner temp got too hot, the fan kicked on and it helped avoid crashing the cultures with overload.

Reggie · Apr 12, 2011

If you are reusing the culture vessels, you need to add chlorine until it is between 3-5 ppm.

What do you use to measure the chrlorine, the test strips?

CJO · Apr 13, 2011

anemonekeeper said:
Try replacing chlorine with unscented bleach. There is a sitting time of 4-5 seconds, and it takes about a ml of water conditioner per liter to innoculate the bleach. (only use a drop of bleach, more will kill your entire culture. Also, a curly ebergy saving bulb in $5 fixture on both sides of up to 3 cultures works just fine for me. Im going to be going commercial with growing soon, so I will be using 5 gallon clear water jugs. I might try just using rodi water and no bleach, or I will run out of wc.

The Plankton Culture Manual recommended against using bleach as most bleaches contain additives that allowed them to persist in the water for a longer period of time (the culture manual also says that you can just run air through the chlorinated culture water to remove the chlorine, but I've never had success doing it that way). If it works for you, that's easy and great.

If you are going to grow greater quanitities, you might want to look at using 5-gallon carboys instead. The glass is easier to clean than the plastic.

Instead of water conditioner, you can use sodium thiosulfate to remove the chlorine. This is fairly inexpensive and is what is contained in the water conditioner.

CJ

CJO · Apr 13, 2011

Electrobes said:
You know I did have the cultures in a white bucket, but since I was making them during the summer I had a ranco attached to a fan. When the inner temp got too hot, the fan kicked on and it helped avoid crashing the cultures with overload.

That's a great idea on the fan attached to a temp controller. I really didn't discuss temperature at all, but definitely should. I have mine in my basement, so didn't really have to worry about it. I'll add that to my list of updates.

Thanks!
CJ

CJO · Apr 13, 2011

Reggie said:
What do you use to measure the chrlorine, the test strips?

Yep, that's it! Now that I have the quantity I need down, I really don't bother to test at all.

CJ

Reggie · Apr 13, 2011

Thanks.

Which chlorine test strips do you recommend?

CJO · Apr 13, 2011

I just bought some from the local pool store. It doesn't really matter as you are more testing for the presence or absence of chlorine rather than a specific amount.

CJ

CJO · Apr 29, 2011

Updated with a few pictures.

CJ

iprayforwaves · Oct 3, 2011

I noticed when I was growing Phyto and Rotifers that if one of my cultures started looking "frothy", it would inevitably crash soon afterward. Learned to always keep a spare 2-liter filled with culture in the fridge to restart quickly if needed.

CJO · Oct 3, 2011

That's a good point. An easy way to handle this is to just add some more nutrients (micro algae grow) until you have a chance to start the next culture.

CJ