Live phytoplankton culture

[fancy_fish101]

I’m wondering if my phytoplankton culture looks good so far? And wondering if the black stuff is normal.

 

[G Santana]

Mine is greener, yours looks more olive, not sure if it's the pic or type of culture or perhaps the size of your bottle.
Hard to tell.

 

[GarrettT]

Cross contamination would be my guess. Have a microscope by any chance? What strain are you culturing?

 

[TokenReefer]

@fancy_fish101 what did you use to start your cultures?

 

[fancy_fish101]

@fancy_fish101 what did you use to start your cultures?

I used this.

 

[fancy_fish101]

Cross contamination would be my guess. Have a microscope by any chance? What strain are you culturing?

Not sure. This is the stuff I used and the light in using. Could it be my fertilizer? I’m using plant fertilizer.

 

[fancy_fish101]

Mine is greener, yours looks more olive, not sure if it's the pic or type of culture or perhaps the size of your bottle.
Hard to tell.

No, it does look kinda olive oil ish.

 

[fancy_fish101]

Cross contamination would be my guess. Have a microscope by any chance? What strain are you culturing?

Not sure if it’s my airline tubing too. It old airline tubing.

 

[GarrettT]

It’s the combination of brown and green algae, which is why it looks like that. When culturing, you really need to stick to a single strain.

 

[fancy_fish101]

It’s the combination of brown and green algae, which is why it looks like that. When culturing, you really need to stick to a single strain.

I heard of that. Didn’t know it mattered that much.

 

[fancy_fish101]

It’s the combination of brown and green algae, which is why it looks like that. When culturing, you really need to stick to a single strain.

So that’s why it looks like that. But is ok to have it like that?

 

[TokenReefer]

It’s the combination of brown and green algae, which is why it looks like that. When culturing, you really need to stick to a single strain.

Yes this. You'll have some die off and one strain will dominate

 

[fancy_fish101]

Yes this. You'll have some die off and one strain will dominate

Can I have the 1 strain dominant and keep that strain?

 

[GarrettT]

So that’s why it looks like that. But is ok to have it like that?

Really hard to gauge when dealing with multiple strains, especially without a microscope. Theoretically one strain should dominate overtime, but how would you know when to optimally harvest the culture? Kind of hard to do that when you have strains with different colors. Even strains that are the same color are different in terms of shade. Way more trouble than it’s worth in my opinion.

 

[fancy_fish101]

Really hard to gauge when dealing with multiple strains, especially without a microscope. Theoretically one strain should dominate overtime, but how would you know when to optimally harvest the culture? Kind of hard to do that when you have strains with different colors. Even strains that are the same color are different in terms of shade.

So, I should restart the culture. And find 1 strain?

 

[GarrettT]

So, I should restart the culture. And find 1 strain?

Yes. Below is a trusted source.

@Eldredge

 

[fancy_fish101]

Yes. Below is a trusted source.

@Eldredge

Where would I buy 1 strain from? And was the light I posted good enough to grow?