How to automate a phytoplankton culture

[sixty_reefer]

How to automate a phytoplankton culture​

In this article I will illustrate how to automate a phytoplankton culture, automation has been the key to successfully achieving stability in our hobby and with phytoplankton I feel that is no different. There is many reasons on how this could be beneficial not just in tank use but also in aquaculture aiding a more constant input of the lowest tropic level known to us and if used in conjunction with a rotifer reactor this should be able to deliver a stable amount of rotifers to a fish breading system.

Phytoplankton Reactor Diagram

Assembly step by step​

To automate the phytoplankton culture you will a minimum of 1 dosing unit head.

the following pictures will be using two dosing unit heads although it can be just one if only partially automated or three if fully automated. Due to my current system being in the display I prefer to use the dosing pump to deliver the phytoplankton from the reactor to the display to avoid splashing on the wall and it looks a bit neater, the last step can also be achieved via gravity if the reactor is located in the sump were a few splashes won’t affect the safety of the use of the reactor.

Material list to build exactly what I have at the moment, there is several different ways that this ideology can be modified to perform the same way:

air pump
Dosing unit
Air line
Rigid air line
Fauna marine DIY reactor with a 800ml smooth surface bottle
Reservoir for salt mix
Natural sea salt
Fertiliser
Phytoplankton starter culture
K1 micro media or similar

Assembly​

step 1:

connect air line to the bottom of the reactor and use the provided check valve, this reactor got two air intakes one should be capped of with the supplied stopper and a additional check valve just to be safe.

Step 2:

Install the vessel as per manufacture instructions and remove the bottom of the vessel in a similar way to create a open top.

Step 3:

Add the lines from the tank to dosing unit and dosing unit to the phytoplankton culture, using heat try and create a hook kind of shape with the rigid air line.

the vessel lines should look like this

step 4:

Add a light source if mounted in the sump with a refugium light already in place additional light may not be required. The refugium light is normally sufficient.

step 5:

Add 500ml of a live phytoplankton culture of your choice and top up with a salt mix at 1.019 and fertiliser accordingly the volume of the culture.

Step 6:

Connect the line to salt water top up reservoir, I find that mixing it at 1.015 keeps a good balance to accommodate for evaporation in the culture, wile using the system further adjusting to the salinity of the top up salt mix may be required. The specific gravity of the top up salt mix will have to be adjusted depending on how much evaporation the vessel gets and how much phytoplankton is dosed daily.

step 7:

Add a few beads of k1 or k1 micro
This keeps the interior walls of the vessel clean and will allow better light penetration wile at the same time reducing maintenance to the vessel.

once all installed allow for 7 days for the culturing to strengthen and start setting your dosing unit. If the culture is already mature you should be able to start dosing from day 1.

It’s important that the same amount of phytoplankton out and top up saltwater in matches, if not the vessel will overflow.

As a safety feature one could add a third overflow line at the top of the phytoplankton culture in tevent of a malfunction and the top up saltwater mix is emptied in the vessel.

Allowing the system to adjust to the new phytoplankton input ​

For systems larger than 25 gallons I normally start at a low dose, 1ml per hour or 24ml per 24 hours and allow the tank to adjust and slowly increase the hourly dose until I achieve my desired amount. Smaller thanks should start with a slower dose.

The dosing amount has to be adjusted on the phytoplankton out and saltwater top up in always to avoid overflowing the reactor.

fertiliser:

I do 1ml manually once every 7 days, this could also be automated.

I started using the fertiliser below as I believe it contain ingredients that could be useful to a reef tank in the situation that the fertiliser is not fully depleted by the culture, this will happen with most types of live phytoplankton cultures automated or manually. The end user should always consider this and choose a fertiliser they would be happy to dose directly to a system.

saltwater top up water:​

In general I’ve always had more successful cultures wend using natural sea salt it mixes at a lower dkh and ph, not absolutely sure on the advantage although my last culture went 2.5 years without maintenance or crashing.

this is the salt I’m using now

once all is set up it should look something like this, I’m normally not fond of having gear on display although I don’t have a alternative in this build, hopefully this information is helpful.

Phytoplankton reactor in use ​

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Example of 20ml of rotifers culture dose connected to a automated phytoplankton culture



My very first prototype of a rotifer and phytoplankton culture


​

 

[Spare time]

I am curious why you have the k1 micro media in with the phyto?

 

[JoshH]

I am curious why you have the k1 micro media in with the phyto?

As mentioned in Step 7

step 7:

Add a few beads of k1 or k1 micro
This keeps the interior walls of the vessel clean and will allow better light penetration while at the same time reducing maintenance to the vessel.

I'm guessing the tumbling action provided by air and the media is what helps keep the walls clean.

 

[elysics]

Did you remove the information about which fertilizer you used?

The commercially available ones mostly just say they are inspired or adapted from f/2 or are f/2, without going into detail. Proper f/2 mixed with saltwater has 2-3 ppb copper iirc, which could accumulate if not used up

But I definitely want to set up something like this, just need to get more doses up and running, great indpiration

Edit, ppb not ppm, duh

 

[Spare time]

As mentioned in Step 7

step 7:

Add a few beads of k1 or k1 micro
This keeps the interior walls of the vessel clean and will allow better light penetration while at the same time reducing maintenance to the vessel.

I'm guessing the tumbling action provided by air and the media is what helps keep the walls clean.

Thank ya! For some reason I skipped that part lol

 

[JoshH]

Thank ya! For some reason I skipped that part lol

No problem, it's a lot of reading. But a great article, and definately something I'll be setting up when I move my display

 

[sixty_reefer]

Did you remove the information about which fertilizer you used?

The commercially available ones mostly just say they are inspired or adapted from f/2 or are f/2, without going into detail. Proper f/2 mixed with saltwater has 2-3 ppm copper iirc, which could accumulate if not used up

But I definitely want to set up something like this, just need to get more doses up and running, great indpiration

Hi yes, reason being I didn’t wanted to argue my personal views regarding the fertiliser on the article, I did mentioned that each one should use a fertiliser that they feel comfortable dosing directly into they’re system, the reason I say this is mainly due to some fertiliser will always be dosed to a system on a continuous culture or in a automated culture through the culture brine water.
In my personal view I don’t see the Guillards formula as a reef safe fertiliser, Guillards was developed to culture all types of phytoplankton including diatoms and dinoflagellates this will mean that some formulas may include silica and other nutrients like excess phosphates that will not be used by the usual species of phytoplankton that we grow therefore increasing the chances of ending up as pollutants or encouraging the growth of unwanted species in reef aquaria, the same views I have regarding miracle grow as a fertiliser although I believe miracle grow is fairly better as it displays the ingredients on the bottle, is fairly rare if at all to see a bottle of f2 with a label displaying the ingredients. for those reasons I’m not fond of it as I don’t really know what I may be adding to my system.
personally I use TNC complete (only available in the United Kingdom) the ingredients are listed below

From the above I know how much is available in 1litre of water and how much is if 1 ml goes into a 25 gallon system, the similar product to TNC available worldwide is Tropica plant growth specialised and the ingredients are as below

As you can see I find this two products safer as the dilution is fairly more safe and less phosphates content in comparison to other fertilisers. This are my personal choice for fertiliser although I would encourage anyone to research any product prior do dose it into they’re system.

 

[sixty_reefer]

I am curious why you have the k1 micro media in with the phyto?

Besides keeping the vessel clean from sediments it aids the phytoplankton to stay in suspense, it does take a few days to work as on the first couple of days it won’t sink.

 

[Spare time]

Besides keeping the vessel clean from sediments it aids the phytoplankton to stay in suspense, it does take a few days to work as on the first couple of days it won’t sink.

This is referring to the little plastic rings and not the bio pellets correct? I was a bit confused because I was thinking you had biopellets in the bottle.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Yes, referring to the plastic media, one of the advantages wend used as a filtration method is that it keeps the vessel clean I just adapted the method to improve the phytoplankton vessel.

 

[greyhame]

Very nice setup @sixty_reefer!

I am considering an automated culture setup as well… Would it be possible to combine the new saltwater into the culture from the existing tank water somehow, with a very fine filter (0.1-5 micro or so?)

I get my saltwater for the tank directly from the ocean so I’d need to filter it regardless if I wanted to use it for my culture.

 

[elysics]

Very nice setup @sixty_reefer!

I am considering an automated culture setup as well… Would it be possible to combine the new saltwater into the culture from the existing tank water somehow, with a very fine filter (0.1-5 micro or so?)

I get my saltwater for the tank directly from the ocean so I’d need to filter it regardless if I wanted to use it for my culture.

Short answer is no. You'd do more actual work cleaning/swapping that filter than if you just did the phyto culture manually. Algae and bacteria are just too small.

Works for zooplankton though, I use a coffee filter, even there it quickly gums up

If you want to use ocean water, get big barrels and use bleach, wait, then neutralize the bleach with the appropriate chemicals.

 

[greyhame]

Short answer is no. You'd do more actual work cleaning/swapping that filter than if you just did the phyto culture manually. Algae and bacteria are just too small.

Works for zooplankton though, I use a coffee filter, even there it quickly gums up

If you want to use ocean water, get big barrels and use bleach, wait, then neutralize the bleach with the appropriate chemicals.

Awesome, thanks!

 

[Jase4224]

Great write up!! I’ve had roughly this same design in my head for a while now. Cool to see someone actually doing it.

One question, could you add the fertiliser to the top up water?

If you had the fertiliser in the top up water and had a gravity drain like in your partially automated design than you could have a fully automated system with a single dosing head. This is how I’ve imagined setting one of these up.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Great write up!! I’ve had roughly this same design in my head for a while now. Cool to see someone actually doing it.

One question, could you add the fertiliser to the top up water?

If you had the fertiliser in the top up water and had a gravity drain like in your partially automated design than you could have a fully automated system with a single dosing head. This is how I’ve imagined setting one of these up.

Yes my very first one only used one dosing head for the top up and everything else worked with gravity. Back den I had a sump and was fairly easy to install a gravity feed culture.
Regarding the fertiliser I believe it’s easier to do it manually as wend mixed into the top up water reason being that for the fertiliser to be effective in the top up water you may need to take in account how much you dosing weekly and you may also require some sort of agitation to the top up vessel to keep the fertiliser evenly distributed.

 

[Jase4224]

Yes my very first one only used one dosing head for the top up and everything else worked with gravity. Back den I had a sump and was fairly easy to install a gravity feed culture.
Regarding the fertiliser I believe it’s easier to do it manually as wend mixed into the top up water reason being that for the fertiliser to be effective in the top up water you may need to take in account how much you dosing weekly and you may also require some sort of agitation to the top up vessel to keep the fertiliser evenly distributed.

Good point, probably depends on what fertiliser is used too.

 

[FizxVix3n]

How to automate a phytoplankton culture​

In this article I will illustrate how to automate a phytoplankton culture, automation has been the key to successfully achieving stability in our hobby and with phytoplankton I feel that is no different. There is many reasons on how this could be beneficial not just in tank use but also in aquaculture aiding a more constant input of the lowest tropic level known to us and if used in conjunction with a rotifer reactor this should be able to deliver a stable amount of rotifers to a fish breading system.

Phytoplankton Reactor Diagram

Assembly step by step​

To automate the phytoplankton culture you will a minimum of 1 dosing unit head.

the following pictures will be using two dosing unit heads although it can be just one if only partially automated or three if fully automated. Due to my current system being in the display I prefer to use the dosing pump to deliver the phytoplankton from the reactor to the display to avoid splashing on the wall and it looks a bit neater, the last step can also be achieved via gravity if the reactor is located in the sump were a few splashes won’t affect the safety of the use of the reactor.

Material list to build exactly what I have at the moment, there is several different ways that this ideology can be modified to perform the same way:

air pump
Dosing unit
Air line
Rigid air line
Fauna marine DIY reactor with a 800ml smooth surface bottle
Reservoir for salt mix
Natural sea salt
Fertiliser
Phytoplankton starter culture
K1 micro media or similar

Assembly​

step 1:

connect air line to the bottom of the reactor and use the provided check valve, this reactor got two air intakes one should be capped of with the supplied stopper and a additional check valve just to be safe.

Step 2:

Install the vessel as per manufacture instructions and remove the bottom of the vessel in a similar way to create a open top.

Step 3:

Add the lines from the tank to dosing unit and dosing unit to the phytoplankton culture, using heat try and create a hook kind of shape with the rigid air line.

the vessel lines should look like this

step 4:

Add a light source if mounted in the sump with a refugium light already in place additional light may not be required. The refugium light is normally sufficient.

step 5:

Add 500ml of a live phytoplankton culture of your choice and top up with a salt mix at 1.019 and fertiliser accordingly the volume of the culture.

Step 6:

Connect the line to salt water top up reservoir, I find that mixing it at 1.015 keeps a good balance to accommodate for evaporation in the culture, wile using the system further adjusting to the salinity of the top up salt mix may be required. The specific gravity of the top up salt mix will have to be adjusted depending on how much evaporation the vessel gets and how much phytoplankton is dosed daily.

step 7:

Add a few beads of k1 or k1 micro
This keeps the interior walls of the vessel clean and will allow better light penetration wile at the same time reducing maintenance to the vessel.

once all installed allow for 7 days for the culturing to strengthen and start setting your dosing unit. If the culture is already mature you should be able to start dosing from day 1.

It’s important that the same amount of phytoplankton out and top up saltwater in matches, if not the vessel will overflow.

As a safety feature one could add a third overflow line at the top of the phytoplankton culture in tevent of a malfunction and the top up saltwater mix is emptied in the vessel.

Allowing the system to adjust to the new phytoplankton input ​

For systems larger than 25 gallons I normally start at a low dose, 1ml per hour or 24ml per 24 hours and allow the tank to adjust and slowly increase the hourly dose until I achieve my desired amount. Smaller thanks should start with a slower dose.

The dosing amount has to be adjusted on the phytoplankton out and saltwater top up in always to avoid overflowing the reactor.

fertiliser:

I do 1ml manually once every 7 days, this could also be automated.

I started using the fertiliser below as I believe it contain ingredients that could be useful to a reef tank in the situation that the fertiliser is not fully depleted by the culture, this will happen with most types of live phytoplankton cultures automated or manually. The end user should always consider this and choose a fertiliser they would be happy to dose directly to a system.

saltwater top up water:​

In general I’ve always had more successful cultures wend using natural sea salt it mixes at a lower dkh and ph, not absolutely sure on the advantage although my last culture went 2.5 years without maintenance or crashing.

this is the salt I’m using now

once all is set up it should look something like this, I’m normally not fond of having gear on display although I don’t have a alternative in this build, hopefully this information is helpful.

Phytoplankton reactor in use ​

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

Example of 20ml of rotifers culture dose connected to a automated phytoplankton culture



My very first prototype of a rotifer and phytoplankton culture


​

Wow! I am impressed with your setup and instructions! Thank you for taking the time to make this, I am definitely going to give it a shot with my new setup!

 

[sixty_reefer]

Wow! I am impressed with your setup and instructions! Thank you for taking the time to make this, I am definitely going to give it a shot with my new setup!

Thank you

 

[BlingityBling]

Cool concept... I've only played with phyto for the past year so this really is of high interest. I'm currently doing a tank build now so I'm already trying to brainstorm a clean setup for the refugium. In the automated version maybe I missed it but I didnt see where or how you determined how fast your phyto was growing compared to the amount being dosed? My brain says if I dose too fast I'll always deplete my culture to a useless concentration and constantly have to restart where it's my understanding if not enough is dosed the culture would get so thick it may block light or restrict the movement and die as well? Just curious where the happy medium is and also assuming that the size of the bottle, light source, and the amount and frequency dosed has to factor in? Or am I way overthinking this?
On a separate note, I notice when I dose phyto heavy or frequently to my main display, it seems like the glass needs cleaned everyday vs every 2 to three days. Is there a relation to the algae on the glass and the phyto? Maybe just a goofy observation. Haha... All because my girlfriend likes mandarins and wants more in the new tank. So yeah, my sole purpose of phyto is to keep the pod population going as a food source.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Cool concept... I've only played with phyto for the past year so this really is of high interest. I'm currently doing a tank build now so I'm already trying to brainstorm a clean setup for the refugium. In the automated version maybe I missed it but I didnt see where or how you determined how fast your phyto was growing compared to the amount being dosed? My brain says if I dose too fast I'll always deplete my culture to a useless concentration and constantly have to restart where it's my understanding if not enough is dosed the culture would get so thick it may block light or restrict the movement and die as well? Just curious where the happy medium is and also assuming that the size of the bottle, light source, and the amount and frequency dosed has to factor in? Or am I way overthinking this?
On a separate note, I notice when I dose phyto heavy or frequently to my main display, it seems like the glass needs cleaned everyday vs every 2 to three days. Is there a relation to the algae on the glass and the phyto? Maybe just a goofy observation. Haha... All because my girlfriend likes mandarins and wants more in the new tank. So yeah, my sole purpose of phyto is to keep the pod population going as a food source.

For balance you may want to decide how much you want do dose a week and double that volume for your vessel, for example my vessel is 800ml and I dose around 350ml a week, the phytoplankton seems to keep a medium consistent without going fairly dark.
The glass relationship that you observe is due to phytoplankton wile still alive in your system will compete with film algae for ammonia aiding in the reduction of film algae that way, once it perish it will also release carbohydrates through the decomposition process feeding heterotrophic bacteria that also reduce ammonia levels in the system