I just got this one from Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/AMSCOPE-KIDS...011_1_4?s=photo&ie=UTF8&qid=1516393734&sr=1-4
I've used microscopes decades ago, but I can't seem to figure out how to try and image my cyano. If I put a sheet of it on the slide, I just see a big purple blob. How do you prepare the sample?
All I do is to take a sample and in a dish work it down to something small. I then will place it on a slide and cover it with a glass cover. Of course...the cover is not necessary.... I have also just put the sample on the slide. I try to keep the sample of the material small. Very quickly you can see if it is a mass of organisms moving autonomously (Dinos) or a strands (cyano and algae). That is as far as I go in identification of material.