How to sterilize saltwater

[WalleyeGuy]

Hello All, I am going to be trying to grow phytoplankton. I have grown the green stuff that is easy to grow before, I think it was called Nannochloropsis but I might be mistaken. I know at the time I got it from Mercer of Montana and it was pretty easy to grow. Being confident I was able to grow the stuff I then tried to grow some others, and those names escape me atm. One was a red and one was goldish colored. Those didn't go so well.

I did wipe the jugs with a strong bleach solution, rinse them several times, and even on the last rinse with rodi I had put a good dose of Prime in there and then inverted the jugs and let them dry. So I do not think my issue was a jug not being sterile. I think it was either my air line sucked up something and put it in there to cause the crash or it was the saltwater I mixed up in my holding system.

I got all new airlines atm and I even got some .2 micro filters used for brewing beers and such to put in the lines to prevent anything from the air causing the issue this next attempt. However I have an issue in trying to sterile the saltwater.

I am disable and have tremors and balance issues so working near a stove or with anything hot is out of the question. So I was thinking that I could use bleach in the water and then after an hour of it bubbling I could use Prime to remove the bleach. Does this sound like a viable option for me with my limitations? Any thoughts or reccomendations?

 

[MyFirstCar]

Question, how are you making your salt water? Dry salt and rodi?

 

[WalleyeGuy]

Sorry, I forgot to explain that part. I have 2 40gallon holding tanks. They are connected to a pumping system that lets me move water from one tank to another and then circulate water with a large pump. They are each connected to a 7stage rodi I can turn on/off as needed. So what I do is pump rodi water out of the lower tank into the top tank until full. Then I turn the valves so the top tank has a strong circulation and I add Tropic Marin Pro Reef salt mix until I reach a 1.024 specific gravity. I do this once a week as the top tank is attached to a Neptune dos pump as an auto water change setup. I can pump saltwater or rodi via a hose when needed for hospital tanks and such.

 

[Subsea]

I have never used Prime. It may work on chlorine. I can’t envision using bleach on anything that goes into a reef tank.

 

[twentyleagues]

Some types of phyto are just harder to grow, lots of reasons they crash. Are your salt mixing and storage tanks covered/enclosed? Sounds like you have a firm idea of equipment to help avoid contamination overall. I dont think its needed to sterilize new saltwater more so just insure it does not get contaminated after/during mixing. I have no idea what adding bleach to saltwater would do lots of chemical equations could go into or out of that. Maybe a better option would be using uv sterilization if you are really concerned about sterilizing the water.

I know a local guy that was/is growing about 7 different strains and a few types of pods. He had an issue with his temp control last summer and the grow room ( yes he setup a large grow tent like used to grow pot with air filtration and temp control) and the temp fluctuated about 10f and he lost 75% of his stock. Hes just starting to get back into being able to supply again.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Maybe get OP and guy in touch and he could offer some advice?

 

[Paul B]

So I was thinking that I could use bleach in the water and then after an hour of it bubbling I could use Prime to remove the bleach. Does this sound like a viable option for me with my limitations? Any thoughts or reccomendations?

For many years I have used bleach to sterilize seawater that I used to collect. In those days I was worried about parasites. (not any more) I would use one cup of "REGULAR" Clorox bleach to 50 gallons of water. It MUST be called REGULAR bleach. No scents, easy pour or anything else.

I killed most of my fish once by using "New Fresh Scent Clorox". But my dead fish had a nice fresh scent.

 

[WalleyeGuy]

OK, just an FYI - i have tried to start 4 phyto cultures and 2 pod cultures. Wish me luck.

at this point I made a 5 gallon bucket of saltwater with fresh RODI from my 7 stage system and then threated it with basic bleach (no fragrance or 'no splash' etc, just cheap plain bleach) and let that run for 2 hours with a small pump in there to keep things moving. Then after 2 hours, I treated it with Prime. I have used 5ml of bleach and Prime said that 10-12 ml would neutralize 1ml of bleach so I use 75 ml of Prime just to be safe since prime also said if in doubt you could use up to 5 times the recommended dosing. I let that circulate for an hour.

While the saltwater was bleaching then dechlorinating I prepped 6 1gallon glass jars that had been washed in strong bleach water, then rinsed in rodi a few times, then allowed to dry. As a final, just in case sanitation measure, I pour an bottle of hydrogen peroxide and rinse the jar with it then poured it into the next jug until all the jugs were rinse and drained. Then i took a small mount of the freshly made and sanitized saltwater and rinsed each just lightly and finally filled each jar with the water.

In 4 of the jars I poured about 12oz of starter culture for the phyto. Each jar got it's own single strain phyto. 1 was Rodomonas salina, 1 was Tisochrysis lutea, 1 was Tetraselmis chui, and the last one was Nannochloropsis oculata. Then I added 2ml of part 1 of Fritz f2 fert and 2ml of part 2 of Fritz f2 fertilizers. Then the jars got capped, the air pump turned back on, and the lights (6500k led) set on a running 12 hours on then 12 hours off.

I put the remaining 4oz of each of the 4 starters into a single bottle and shook it and then splint that into the two remaining jars for feeding copepods. 1 jar tigs and 1 jar tisbe.

Wish me luck and fingers are crossed :)

 

[hnguy]

The standard in microbiology is autoclave. For home users, a pressure cooker can work. Mushroom growers have used pressure cookers to sterilize their equipment and substrate for decades.

 

[WalleyeGuy]

The standard in microbiology is autoclave. For home users, a pressure cooker can work. Mushroom growers have used pressure cookers to sterilize their equipment and substrate for decades.

Thanks, My issue is I am banned from using the stove by my wife because I have tremors and balance issue from a brain injury. Few years back I stumbled and reached out with my hand to stop myself from falling down and ended up grabbing a hot stove grate and got a trip to the ER and a lifetime ban from going anywhere near the stove /facepalm... oh well, now I'm trying something different as an alternative.

 

[mcarroll]

This is a good use for bleach IMO.

No need for Prime either as long as you can aerate and be patient.

You can also be somewhat precises about the amount of bleach you add, so there isn't so much waiting and aerating at the end. No reason to overdo it.

 

[WalleyeGuy]

This is a good use for bleach IMO.

No need for Prime either as long as you can aerate and be patient.

You can also be somewhat precises about the amount of bleach you add, so there isn't so much waiting and aerating at the end. No reason to overdo it.

I have 1ml syringes, 5ml syringe, and 10 ml one as well. I bought big boxes of each after my accident/tbi because with tremors it is the only way to be accurate :) Nothing like a good tremor to be measuring a cap full and suddenly get ten cap fulls lol

 

[hnguy]

Thanks, My issue is I am banned from using the stove by my wife because I have tremors and balance issue from a brain injury. Few years back I stumbled and reached out with my hand to stop myself from falling down and ended up grabbing a hot stove grate and got a trip to the ER and a lifetime ban from going anywhere near the stove /facepalm... oh well, now I'm trying something different as an alternative.

I've also used bleach to do this and neutralized with sodium thiosulfate. It was successful. Bleach is pretty caustic though, so I should say to please also be careful using it!

 

[Mebbid]

Just pasteurize it on the stove in mason jars. Get a big canning pot and heat the jars of water up to 160 degrees for about 30 seconds.

Put the jars of water in the pot, ask your wife to turn the stove on and then off once they have cooked for long enough. Let it sit overnight to cool down and you can safely handle them in the morning at your leisure.

 

[alabella1]

I never even thought about doing this and I wonder if this is why my recent cultures have been failing. I'm going to have to try this when I start up my next batch.

 

[WalleyeGuy]

OK... Update time. I got everything set up and sterilized. Everything was completely clean and tested zero chlorine present. Yes, I went with chlorine bleach because it did the job and was far less dangerous for me to mess with than trying to build things when I have tremors. (also, my wife is not into leaving things sitting on a stove all day to cool - so pressure cookers and boiling was not a viable option) .

Everything was all set and I ordered 4 different phyto from 'Reef Legends' and when they came they looked ok. Now mind you I did not have a microscope to inspect them, so other than that they seemed to have good color and I thought I was good to go. I started each of the 4 cultures and they had about 2 hours off light before they went dark for 12 hours overnight. In the morning I woke to find them all dead.

I contacted the vendor and was told I had ordered the wrong stuff - I ordered phyto for feeding and not for cultivating becasue apparently they are different. That's fine, I goofed, I never even saw the "culturing' version on the website becasue I wasn't looking for that specific category. I thought simply ordering single strain was what I was supposed to be doing. Oh well, mistakes happen. That's a $75.00usd mistake on my part but I can try again.

I asked the vendor after talking with him what I could have done wrong and he stated it was because the phyto was not shipped overnight and came from feeder batches which wont work for culturing. He mentioned a type of a Hygger air pump for growing, and also asked what I saw under the scope. I said I didn't have a scope and our phone call was cutting in and out a bit and he sounded bust so I let him get back to what he was busy with and agreed to send pics via email of what was what.

I sent the pic which requested promptly on Sat and got back a msg to say use a different email for video (despite not having sent a video). I then sent the video the following day though too be honest I'm not sure why that was needed in the first place. I had asked simply which pump did he say I should buy, What microscope was I in need of, and what phytoplankton should I actually purchase so I know I am ordering the correct items. That was Saturday, and Sunday. Monday I asked what should I order from him, again Tuesday the same. Just looking for what I should order.

This afternoon, Wednesday, I finally sent him another email asking if he wanted to do business since I had not heard anything about what I should order. Silly me, apparently that was too big an ask - how dare I ask what I should order and pay again for... what sort of personal would actually expect someone to respond to them asking to spend money with you by asking what should I buy (heck I even asked if he sold the airpump as I would have bought that as well since i didn't remember the model he mentioned on the phone...)

He seems far to busy to answer email questions quickly or even be polite tbh. I sent the email today and got back a snarkyresponse saying he will answer "long" emails when he gets to it or offered the alternative to pay 150.00 an hour for immediate response... Sorry but I am not going to pay a 150.00hr consultation fee to be told simply what 4 types of phytos would be equivalent and appropriate to pay for a second time...


So now I am looking to buy and try again. I see that Top Shelf Aquatics has 3 of the four strains I bought that failed from Reef Legends. They however do not sell a specific version used for culturing. I was hoping to get some recommendations from others for where they sourced their phytoplankton for culturing from. I'm not concerned about price as much as I am getting a healthy sample that will reproduce. I know there are two version of green phytoplankton from Mercer of Montana that I have grown in the past so I could get those easy. I am looking for a suggestion of two others as I have heard Rhodomonas and Tisochrysis can be tough to grow. Any thoughts on what is worth trying and a source for them?

 

[BryanM]

@WalleyeGuy You might consider reaching out to ReefbySteele (R2R vendor here). Those folks have always been helpful to me, and I know the sell phyto, but they might be agreeable to helping someone else grow it.

 

[WalleyeGuy]

@WalleyeGuy You might consider reaching out to ReefbySteele (R2R vendor here). Those folks have always been helpful to me, and I know the sell phyto, but they might be agreeable to helping someone else grow it.

I found a really good person willing to advise me on the R2R market area :) Thanks for that suggestion - Kent at Reef by Steele was really helpful and willing to share info and answer questions. Great guy :)

 

[BryanM]

I found a really good person willing to advise me on the R2R market area :) Thanks for that suggestion - Kent at Reef by Steele was really helpful and willing to share info and answer questions. Great guy :)

Tis awesome!

Btw, I also have tremors. Just in case you were not aware, there's a procedure called DBS, or Deep Brain Stimulation, that I had done over Christmas last year, and for me it has changed my life in a good way...