First time having a go at phtyo culturing

[atoll]

I bought a couple of reactors out of a UK forum classifieds last week. I intend to grow phyto and pods in them.

I had to find suitable lights for the phyto and hopefully I have done just that. 4X 30 X 8cm LED panels I have put around one reactor secured with cable ties. The lights are run off a phone type USB charger which you have to provide.

I left an area of the reactor open facing a window. The reactor is sitting on the window board up against the glass. The lighting will run for 12 hours a day and has its own built-in timer you set which is a bonus. Bought very cheaply from UK eBay but nodoubt availble in the US and Canada etc.

The reactor has a Oase 200 double air outlet to power air to the reactor. This is a very quiet airpump that is delivering plenty of air to the reactor.

Today my phyto arrived 500ml Marine Phytoplankton (Nannochloropsis Oculata). I filled the reactor almost half full with fresh seawater at 1.025sg and added 1/3 of the phyto just colouring the water a light shade of green. I add a few drops of phyto nutrients. Switched everything on and hopefully away we will go.

I am pretty new to growing my own phyto so it might be a case of suck it and see. Watch this space as they say.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

Looks pretty good. I havent grown phyto and neither do any of my lfs so this is very new to me. Hope it goes well for you!

 

[atoll]

Looks pretty good. I havent grown phyto and neither do any of my lfs so this is very new to me. Hope it goes well for you!

A case of so far so good
Fingers crossed I will eventually be feeding it to.pods in the other reactor. Or I will.set the other up for phyto. Not sure what I would do with 20ltrs of it though

 

[atoll]

Day 3 and the culture is definitely growing and getting greener even though I have been add over 500ml of RO and salt water. The reactor will soon be full of water and I will just add the phyto nutrients each day till its ready to harvest. I will then start up the 2nd reactor to grow pods in and use the phyto to feed them and also my tank.

 

[Subsea]

Atoll,
When I grew phytoplankton with lights on outside of reactor, periodically it became necessary to empty reactor and clean inside glass; a chore I did not relish.

While I know that red light spectrum is more economical for growing micro algae, I prefer white light to assist with identifying color development of phytoplankton culture.

I usually harvest 1/2 after 3 weeks. Go for the gusto, your system will like it.

PS: Initiallly, I overheated culture with too much light and increased air flow rate to assist with heat removal. If I remember correctly, recommended upper temperature was 82 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

[atoll]

Atoll,
When I grew phytoplankton with lights on outside of reactor, periodically it became necessary to empty reactor and clean inside glass; a chore I did not relish.

While I know that red light spectrum is more economical for growing micro algae, I prefer white light to assist with identifying color development of phytoplankton culture.

I usually harvest 1/2 after 3 weeks. Go for the gusto, your system will like it.

PS: Initiallly, I overheated culture with too much light and increased air flow rate to assist with heat removal. If I remember correctly, recommended upper temperature was 82 degrees Fahrenheit.

Thanks, the leds also have white (yellow) lights. I will have to clean the phyto reactor as you say. This is a steep learning curve for me and am trying to take it slowly following a few YouTube videos.

 

[fryman]

Your equipment looks fine to me. But Nanno by itself is better for rotifers in my experience, and won't do great as a single phyto for copepods. If you want an easy phyto & pod combo I recommend tetraselmis and tigriopus californicus, commonly called "tig" pods, or reef nutrition calls them "tigger"pods.

I strongly recommend cleaning the equipment weekly with something like citric acid, vinegar, or bleach. I also sanitize my media with heat or bleach and filter the air using vacuum cleaner bags. Most people in the hobby don't do this but ime it will get contaminated much worse otherwise.

Even if you have a good sanitization regime, contamination is inevitable. It's really more about keeping it under control.

Most hobby growers wind up eventually with some type of wild Synechococcus (a kind of cyanobacteria) taking over. Many are edible, some are not. A few are toxic. So while controversial my personal opinion is that you need a microscope to be successful growing phyto. It doesn't need to be a fancy or expensive microscope, but without one you are trying to farm blind; theoretically possible but way, way harder.

At your stage I recommend splitting 50% each week but that will need to change once it gets going. Healthy phyto doubles every day, maybe 2 at the most. If you split just 50% weekly it will look denser but alot of the phyto is dead and rotting, so it's not an ideal food for copepods and will feed alot of bacteria instead.

 

[atoll]

Your equipment looks fine to me. But Nanno by itself is better for rotifers in my experience, and won't do great as a single phyto for copepods. If you want an easy phyto & pod combo I recommend tetraselmis and tigriopus californicus, commonly called "tig" pods, or reef nutrition calls them "tigger"pods.

I strongly recommend cleaning the equipment weekly with something like citric acid, vinegar, or bleach. I also sanitize my media with heat or bleach and filter the air using vacuum cleaner bags. Most people in the hobby don't do this but ime it will get contaminated much worse otherwise.

Even if you have a good sanitization regime, contamination is inevitable. It's really more about keeping it under control.

Most hobby growers wind up eventually with some type of wild Synechococcus (a kind of cyanobacteria) taking over. Many are edible, some are not. A few are toxic. So while controversial my personal opinion is that you need a microscope to be successful growing phyto. It doesn't need to be a fancy or expensive microscope, but without one you are trying to farm blind; theoretically possible but way, way harder.

At your stage I recommend splitting 50% each week but that will need to change once it gets going. Healthy phyto doubles every day, maybe 2 at the most. If you split just 50% weekly it will look denser but alot of the phyto is dead and rotting, so it's not an ideal food for copepods and will feed alot of bacteria instead.

Thanks for the advice and tips. Much appreciated.

 

[atoll]

Day 6 and the phyto looking more green. I have topped the reactor up to the limit with more fresh salt water. I will continue to add phyto nutrients until ready to start harvesting it.

I have also added a starter culture of pods to the second reactor after adding some phyto to it to turn it slightly green.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

Day 6 and the phyto looking more green. I have topped the reactor up to the limit with more fresh salt water. I will continue to add phyto nutrients until ready to start harvesting it.

I have also added a starter culture of pods to the second reactor after adding some phyto to it to turn it slightly green.

looking good!