Isochrysis culture regime...thoughts?

[taricha]

Hi everyone! Florida Aqua farms got back to me about the microalgae density measure. They replied, on quote;

"It can only be as tall as the stick the width does not matter. It is like 35 cm long."

Clearly this device is small enough to be hobbyist friendly...

yeah, I have one and used it. it's like a half inch wide, and dense cultures of t-Iso it only has to go down like 5 or 10 cm to disappear (I don't remember). Can do it in a coffee cup. Comes with a chart that tells you how many cells per mL for the different kinds of phyto at each disappearance depth.

 

[ThRoewer]

Algae Research Supply has a smaller version: https://algaeresearchsupply.com/col...n/products/algae-research-supply-secchi-stick

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Algae Research Supply has a smaller version: https://algaeresearchsupply.com/col...n/products/algae-research-supply-secchi-stick

Does it come with a conversion factor for various algae species?

 

[ThRoewer]

Does it come with a conversion factor for various algae species?

Not sure but I would think so. Or the conversion factors are in their booklet about culturing algae: https://algaeresearchsupply.com/products/algae-culture-manual

 

[ThRoewer]

Does it come with a conversion factor for various algae species?

They don't have it for Isochrysis or Tetraselmis. Only for Spirulina, Chlorella and Nannochloropsis.

 

[KC's CNC Creations]

They don't have it for Isochrysis or Tetraselmis. Only for Spirulina, Chlorella and Nannochloropsis.

by chance can you post the conversion for Nannochloropsis please? i made a Secchi stick out of 1/8th inch acrylic tonight, but i haven't been able to find a conversion for Nanno.

 

[ThRoewer]

by chance can you post the conversion for Nannochloropsis please? i made a Secchi stick out of 1/8th inch acrylic tonight, but i haven't been able to find a conversion for Nanno.

I didn't order it.

 

[Butcher333]

Cool beans. I was just looking to start adding glycerine to my Isochrysis culture myself. I read the same article you did.
Any updates to your success?

 

[User]

I'm planning on setting up a few pure algae cultures as well, probably Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis, and Isochrysis to have a better mix. But I'm probably going with 5 gallon water bottles or Kalwall tubes to get the volumes I need.

I was recommended to use 0.5 ml/L of regular household bleach to sterilize the water, wait 24 hours and then use thiosulfate to neutralize the bleach, and then check with a pool chlorination test kit that it is properly dechlorinated.

Any info on the kalwall tubes? The link takes you to thermal mass storage systems.

did you source suitable large volume cylinders? Something like 6”x 48” would be around 12 gallons which would be perfect for a large scale phyto reactor

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Cool beans. I was just looking to start adding glycerine to my Isochrysis culture myself. I read the same article you did.
Any updates to your success?

I have yet to attempt Iso culture. Sorry :(

 

[onlyfans]

Old thread I know, but hoping y'all help me out.

I was wondering if anyone has found or figured out a conversion chart for a secchi stick for Iso, Tetra, Nanno, and Porphy?

I've just started culturing and not sure when to harvest these four different algaes. I started my cultures last week and my Iso looks like an incredibly dense yellow of Iso, WAY denser than the stater I got from Algae Research Supply. Same goes for the other three algae I got. Not sure what I'm doing correct to grow these so fast, but I seriously thought it would take considerably longer for them to bloom like this.

I'm using fresh RODI and Tropic Marin Reef Pro salt (it's what I use for my tank), algae research supply f/2, air pump running full tilt with just air lines at the bottom (really keeps everything turning in there), and super freaking clean everything (I sanitized everything to OCD standards and rinsed with RODI SO many times lol).

Any suggestions on when to harvest to prevent a crash?

What's the best method to test for nitrates and things from the fertilizer? Would simply diluting the culture during harvest be enough to prevent algae blooms and other unwanted things from happening when adding the harvested culture is add to the display tank?

 

[Adam1985]

Old thread I know, but hoping y'all help me out.

I was wondering if anyone has found or figured out a conversion chart for a secchi stick for Iso, Tetra, Nanno, and Porphy?

I've just started culturing and not sure when to harvest these four different algaes. I started my cultures last week and my Iso looks like an incredibly dense yellow of Iso, WAY denser than the stater I got from Algae Research Supply. Same goes for the other three algae I got. Not sure what I'm doing correct to grow these so fast, but I seriously thought it would take considerably longer for them to bloom like this.

I'm using fresh RODI and Tropic Marin Reef Pro salt (it's what I use for my tank), algae research supply f/2, air pump running full tilt with just air lines at the bottom (really keeps everything turning in there), and super freaking clean everything (I sanitized everything to OCD standards and rinsed with RODI SO many times lol).

Any suggestions on when to harvest to prevent a crash?

What's the best method to test for nitrates and things from the fertilizer? Would simply diluting the culture during harvest be enough to prevent algae blooms and other unwanted things from happening when adding the harvested culture is add to the display tank?

I actually have the exact same questions - did you find any answers, or does anyone else have any comments or thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Adam

 

[onlyfans]

I actually have the exact same questions - did you find any answers, or does anyone else have any comments or thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Adam

Yes and no. I've been reading a ton of peer reviewed scientific articles to try and understand all of this better. I'm still playing with things to try and figure it all out; so, I don't want give you advice just yet.

But what I will say is that these are most definitely light and temperature sensitive. Two of my Nanno cultures died overnight one day and the rest of the species were struggling too. Turned down the lights and added ventilation and they seem to have mostly recovered.

Also, for water parameter testing. No color test will work with algae in it, obviously. So the only solution I came up with is to place vials into a centrifuge to get the algae to separate and then use a pipette to carefully suck the clear water out and use that for testing. I have no idea if other elements in the water will also separate though.

For salinity testing, my Milwaukee refractometer doesn't seem to care if there's bits of algae in the water or not and gives me the same numbers that I saw when I started the batch. I do use a small bottle to squirt fresh RO into the culture bottles as the water level decreases. Salt creep in such a small container will take hold quick I imagine and these algae prefer 1.025 to 1.023 SG and the Nanno can go down as low as 1.018 SG from my readings. However, I would not recommend that as many articles show best growth at 1.023 to 1.022 SG, for the Nanno that is. The other need normal seawater salinity levels.

For when to harvest, I'm just using the good ole color meter God built into my skull. If the container is SUPER dark in color and I don't notice any further darkening after a couple days I call it good as I'm sure most, if not all of the nutrients are used up, and my testing confirms this. Right now I'm keeping a watchful eye to see how long I can push them when they're really dark in color before I see them start to lighten up. I've got ADHD so noticing these minute details is one of my "gifts" lol. I check the cultures about 4 times a day also, so I'm getting to know them quite well.

Also, the small amount that will be going into the tank at a time shouldn't impact nitrates or anything that much. I would say it is negligible at most. I've even read that because of the introduction of algae into the tank that overall levels of nitrates become lower. This is because as the algae circulates it will continue to grow and multiply consuming the free nutrients in the tank. This only applies to dosing fresh, live, algae though, not refrigerated stuff.

Hope this helps.

 

[Adam1985]

Yes and no. I've been reading a ton of peer reviewed scientific articles to try and understand all of this better. I'm still playing with things to try and figure it all out; so, I don't want give you advice just yet.

But what I will say is that these are most definitely light and temperature sensitive. Two of my Nanno cultures died overnight one day and the rest of the species were struggling too. Turned down the lights and added ventilation and they seem to have mostly recovered.

Also, for water parameter testing. No color test will work with algae in it, obviously. So the only solution I came up with is to place vials into a centrifuge to get the algae to separate and then use a pipette to carefully suck the clear water out and use that for testing. I have no idea if other elements in the water will also separate though.

For salinity testing, my Milwaukee refractometer doesn't seem to care if there's bits of algae in the water or not and gives me the same numbers that I saw when I started the batch. I do use a small bottle to squirt fresh RO into the culture bottles as the water level decreases. Salt creep in such a small container will take hold quick I imagine and these algae prefer 1.025 to 1.023 SG and the Nanno can go down as low as 1.018 SG from my readings. However, I would not recommend that as many articles show best growth at 1.023 to 1.022 SG, for the Nanno that is. The other need normal seawater salinity levels.

For when to harvest, I'm just using the good ole color meter God built into my skull. If the container is SUPER dark in color and I don't notice any further darkening after a couple days I call it good as I'm sure most, if not all of the nutrients are used up, and my testing confirms this. Right now I'm keeping a watchful eye to see how long I can push them when they're really dark in color before I see them start to lighten up. I've got ADHD so noticing these minute details is one of my "gifts" lol. I check the cultures about 4 times a day also, so I'm getting to know them quite well.

Also, the small amount that will be going into the tank at a time shouldn't impact nitrates or anything that much. I would say it is negligible at most. I've even read that because of the introduction of algae into the tank that overall levels of nitrates become lower. This is because as the algae circulates it will continue to grow and multiply consuming the free nutrients in the tank. This only applies to dosing fresh, live, algae though, not refrigerated stuff.

Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot. Basically taking a very similar approach to you except I decided against a centrifuge as it would be quite costly for this single purpose. On the other hand I had also planned to use the centrifuge to concentrate the phyto for storage and use. Other issue was I struggled to find large enough centrifuges for concentration purposes, would be fine for water testing though.

Anyway now I’m thinking since I can’t find any reasonable chart for the cell density I might also use the color meter God built into me as well, but perhaps I’ll make a reference and measurement method to make future harvests more consistent in concentration. Something like a Salifert color test card and vial but referencing my inner color meter for the baseline. Not so scientific, I know.

Pic attached of my latest, I’m actually planning to use these bottles to seed bigger batches. I’ll be doing around 10 gallon batches. I’d like to start adding around a quart per day to my reef.

Actually I want to share my new “reactor” plan with you all but wondering where to post it :).

 

[Adam1985]

Thanks a lot. Basically taking a very similar approach to you except I decided against a centrifuge as it would be quite costly for this single purpose. On the other hand I had also planned to use the centrifuge to concentrate the phyto for storage and use. Other issue was I struggled to find large enough centrifuges for concentration purposes, would be fine for water testing though.

Anyway now I’m thinking since I can’t find any reasonable chart for the cell density I might also use the color meter God built into me as well, but perhaps I’ll make a reference and measurement method to make future harvests more consistent in concentration. Something like a Salifert color test card and vial but referencing my inner color meter for the baseline. Not so scientific, I know.

Pic attached of my latest, I’m actually planning to use these bottles to seed bigger batches. I’ll be doing around 10 gallon batches. I’d like to start adding around a quart per day to my reef.

Actually I want to share my new “reactor” plan with you all but wondering where to post it :).

PS, I know it’s really hard to give comments based on a picture but do these look done to you?

Sorry I only have the species names in Chinese, left is a single culture while right is a 3 species mix. Working to identify the species.

 

[onlyfans]

Thanks a lot. Basically taking a very similar approach to you except I decided against a centrifuge as it would be quite costly for this single purpose. On the other hand I had also planned to use the centrifuge to concentrate the phyto for storage and use. Other issue was I struggled to find large enough centrifuges for concentration purposes, would be fine for water testing though.

Anyway now I’m thinking since I can’t find any reasonable chart for the cell density I might also use the color meter God built into me as well, but perhaps I’ll make a reference and measurement method to make future harvests more consistent in concentration. Something like a Salifert color test card and vial but referencing my inner color meter for the baseline. Not so scientific, I know.

Pic attached of my latest, I’m actually planning to use these bottles to seed bigger batches. I’ll be doing around 10 gallon batches. I’d like to start adding around a quart per day to my reef.

Actually I want to share my new “reactor” plan with you all but wondering where to post it :).

My centrifuge is just duc taped glass vials to the blades of an old shop fan that it mounted horizontally and the vials are just equally weighted. It's ghetto, but it works lol. I couldn't justify the price of an actual centrifuge for this either.

A color chart is an amazing idea my friend! So simple and effective. Can't believe it never crossed my mind. Hope it's okay, I'm totally going to steal this idea.

Heck yeah, I use small 500ml bottles to keep cultures going in to seed new larger bottles as well. I don't even run air lines to them; just shake em up every day and blow into the opening for gas exchange.

I would love to do 10 gallon batches, what kind of container are you going to use for that?

For the pictures, they look really dense and good, but hard to say for certain. I'd say if you're not seeing any more density growth over the next couple days then they're probably good to go.

Just so you know, the blended species you have won't last as a blended species. There will be a dominant algae species in there that will end up out competing the others for resources. It's only a matter of time.

I'd post the reactor question over in the hardware or general questions area of the forum. I don't really use the forums for hardware that much personally because I've noticed too many opinions and not enough hard facts. So I just do my own rabbit hole dive and see what the scientific and engineering community are saying. I read a lot of marine biology articles too, most of it scales down to our hobby.

 

[Adam1985]

Thanks for all the great comments and feedback.

Love the ghetto centrifuge! Totally fine to use my idea, I am a firm believe in copy with pride. Actually if you implement it before I do, let me know how because I'm still thinking about how to define the reference color.

By the way, do you ever consider adding another couple of mL of fertilizer to the cultures to "finish" them? I'm wondering if mine would benefit from that to get them to that super dark green density.

I've actually just compiled some pictures of my planned reactor; I'll post it and share:).

Adam

My centrifuge is just duc taped glass vials to the blades of an old shop fan that it mounted horizontally and the vials are just equally weighted. It's ghetto, but it works lol. I couldn't justify the price of an actual centrifuge for this either.

A color chart is an amazing idea my friend! So simple and effective. Can't believe it never crossed my mind. Hope it's okay, I'm totally going to steal this idea.

Heck yeah, I use small 500ml bottles to keep cultures going in to seed new larger bottles as well. I don't even run air lines to them; just shake em up every day and blow into the opening for gas exchange.

I would love to do 10 gallon batches, what kind of container are you going to use for that?

For the pictures, they look really dense and good, but hard to say for certain. I'd say if you're not seeing any more density growth over the next couple days then they're probably good to go.

Just so you know, the blended species you have won't last as a blended species. There will be a dominant algae species in there that will end up out competing the others for resources. It's only a matter of time.

I'd post the reactor question over in the hardware or general questions area of the forum. I don't really use the forums for hardware that much personally because I've noticed too many opinions and not enough hard facts. So I just do my own rabbit hole dive and see what the scientific and engineering community are saying. I read a lot of marine biology articles too, most of it scales down to our hobby

 

[Butcher333]

When my secchi read 30 I considered them ready. Why push it beyond that. They do start to decline quickly after this without nutrient and splitting. Within days, you are right back to splitting. Gets old. I have had cultures resting for as long as 6 months under low light and then brought the orange cultures of iso back.
canno still trucking at stasis but at 6 months I think the iso and tet start to cry out and appear to go thumbs down.

 

[taricha]

I have had cultures resting for as long as 6 months under low light and then brought the orange cultures of iso back.

low light on a nutrient-depleted iso culture stayed stable (or at least recoverable) for ~6months?
wow. I never got my iso that well-trained.

 

[onlyfans]

When my secchi read 30 I considered them ready. Why push it beyond that. They do start to decline quickly after this without nutrient and splitting. Within days, you are right back to splitting. Gets old. I have had cultures resting for as long as 6 months under low light and then brought the orange cultures of iso back.
canno still trucking at stasis but at 6 months I think the iso and tet start to cry out and appear to go thumbs down.

I don't have a secchi, haven't found any I liked. I'm looking for a decent quality plastic one. Is yours like that? If so, where did you get it from?

This is interesting about the low light thing. I may try this on my Porphyridium culture because one of them is a deep tomato red, but I have no use for it for like the next week or so and don't want to have it decline on me.

If anyone else in here grows Porphyridium, does it grow stupid fast for you as well or have I just stumbled onto luck with mine? I can grow a full gallon in just 4 days that is super red and thick with tons of it sticking to the glass ready to seed the next batch. I find this interesting as the place I bought it from states it's a slow grower.