Phyto crash

[Devildoc]

I have been culturing phyto for about 3 weeks now first two batches came out great this last one looks like water with brown on the sides of the bottle. SG of mix is 1.018 I use 1 ml of f/2 per 2l bottle.I don't change bottles I split to put in fridge then fill back up the 2/3 taken out with sw mix then f/2 then back to lights. Why would it turn back to water with black floaties. Lights are 16/8 bubbles 24/7. Tthe weird thing is my cultures have no smell so I'm not sure if they really crashed or not. Can anyone help?

 

[Rjramos]

Contamination maybe? Are you sterilizing bottles prior to use?

 

[Devildoc]

I sterilized both bottles in microwave, added boiling ro water mixed with some bleach the first culture which done amazing along with the second one. I don't use any other bottles when I split I have a 2liter in the fridge I fill when splitting then add sw I mix (not from tank) to the 1/3 left in the original bottles. Then back to light and air. Leave for 6-7 days and repeat. But I have read if it crashes then there will be a stench like there is with the skimmer but there is no smell its baffling honestly

 

[beaslbob]

crashes happen.
that's the reason I had 3 cultures going. Every few weeks/month one would crash.
my .02

 

[Devildoc]

I'm sure that is what has happened I was just looking for conformation. Since there is no odor

 

[Windy]

I think I have the same problem, but I smell fine!

 

[Devildoc]

Lol thanks windy

 

[Windy]

My attempt at humor..........................

 

[Devildoc]

It was good ;)

 

[Devildoc]

OK so here is another question with the same topic.. I started another culture and the same result water went from lime green to almost clear.. Doing nothing to them I moved them to my window and they started to green up, so was it a crash would the phyto still be good that's inside the bottles? This culture has transformed 3 different times and sorrta scared to put it around my tank.. How could I test it for live phytoplankton?