Phyto Culturing Setups

[Mmoore0324]

Let's see your phyto culturing setups. From basic to elaborate. Anyone auto dosing phyto?

 

[Mmoore0324]

My current setup. Doing something a little different than I’ve done in the past. My thought process was a longer vessel would give the cells more light exposure and hopefully reduce some settling. On my second batch of nano and so far so good.

 

[DmitryB]

I'll take pix of mine tonight. Have 3 jars going from ReefBySteele. 2 Phyto (Nanno, haven't tried others) and 1 pods. One thing for the Phyto I'm trying to figure out is if I can switch the light strips to a flexible one. The hard tube sticks out too much and so much light spilling. Anybody using flexible LEDs to wrap around the jars? Are they as good?

 

[EnterName]

I have a very basic, but stable setup that works for the little plankton I need. I could scale up the cultures but as I tend to get very lazy with their maintenance I prefer to keep it simple. If someone is interested in the details I have already written a tutorial on how to set this up appropriately.

Right now I'm experimenting with Tetraselmis suecica which has a rather "unique" behavior compared to other phytoplankton. When parameters suddenly change it swims to the bottom and switches to a rather dormant state like it suddenly becomes benthic instead of planktonic. This might actually be helpful for it to survive in a reef tank for longer than other phytoplankton which just ends up in the skimmer, a UV filter or gets caught by corals and other filter feeders. So far the better survival compared to other phytoplankton is just a theory though.

(100x and 630x magnification of T. suecica cultured from a starter in a rather bad shape)

Link to tutorial: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/another-phytoplankton-culture-tutorial.1165682/​

 

[Mmoore0324]

I'll take pix of mine tonight. Have 3 jars going from ReefBySteele. 2 Phyto (Nanno, haven't tried others) and 1 pods. One thing for the Phyto I'm trying to figure out is if I can switch the light strips to a flexible one. The hard tube sticks out too much and so much light spilling. Anybody using flexible LEDs to wrap around the jars? Are they as good?

I’ve never used flexible strips but I know plenty of people do with success. I would make sure to get at least IP67 rated for water proofing. The Poseidon systems use the flexible lights.

 

[Mmoore0324]

I have a very basic, but stable setup that works for the little plankton I need. I could scale up the cultures but as I tend to get very lazy with their maintenance I prefer to keep it simple. If someone is interested in the details I have already written a "tutorial" on how to set this up appropriately.

Right now I'm experimenting with Tetraselmis suecica which has a rather "unique" behavior compared to other phytoplankton. When parameters suddenly change it swims to the bottom and switches to a rather dormant state like it suddenly becomes benthic instead of planktonic. This might actually be helpful for it to survive in a reef tank for longer than other phytoplankton which just ends up in the skimmer, a UV filter or gets caught by corals and other filter feeders. So far the better survival compared to other phytoplankton is just a theory though.

(100x and 630x magnification of T. suecica cultured from a starter in a rather bad shape)​

Very interesting. Do you know what region T. Suecica is generally found??

 

[EnterName]

Very interesting. Do you know what region T. Suecica is generally found??

AlgaeBase says:

(as Tetraselmis suecica (Kylin) Butcher)
Europe: Baltic Sea (Hällfors 2004), Britain (You & al. 2024), Germany (Scholz & Liebezeit 2012), Portugal (Moita & Vilarinho 1999), Scandinavia (Karlson & al. 2018).
Asia: East China Sea (Xu et al. 2016), Japan (Hori, Norris & Chihara 1986).

(as Platymonas suecica Kylin)
Europe: Sweden (Kylin 1949).

So usually it prefers a bit lower temperatures than our tanks.

 

[ApolloReef]

Here is my setup. For the cultures, I used 1.5 gal jars with flexible lights. I typically wrap the lights around, and then put a bunch of shrink wrap over them and then duct tape the shrink wrap. Seems to prevent any water issues. For the water, I have a 6 gal bucket where I drilled holes in the top to set up a 15W UV. A pump in the bucket push the water through the UV and back to the bucket to recirculate. I can add water and salt to the bucket as needed and the pump mixes the salt and water and sterilizes it at the same time. The only issue is that I make way too much phyto, but larger bunches seem more stable and less likely to crash.

 

[DmitryB]

Here is my setup. For the cultures, I used 1.5 gal jars with flexible lights. I typically wrap the lights around, and then put a bunch of shrink wrap over them and then duct tape the shrink wrap. Seems to prevent any water issues. For the water, I have a 6 gal bucket where I drilled holes in the top to set up a 15W UV. A pump in the bucket push the water through the UV and back to the bucket to recirculate. I can add water and salt to the bucket as needed and the pump mixes the salt and water and sterilizes it at the same time. The only issue is that I make way too much phyto, but larger bunches seem more stable and less likely to crash.

Can you tell me which flex light you use? I see a few potential options on Amazon, but then they also need separate components to plug them into something and I can't figure out what else I need to get for that. It's always too complicated!

 

[ApolloReef]

I initially tried using waterproof flexible lights, but they were expensive, and worse, they ran super hot. At just under the middle dimming setting, my water temperature was greater than 95 degF. So I took them off, and went with the much cheaper non-waterproof ones.

For my phyto, I removed the dimmer and run the lights full blast for 16 hours. For the copepods, I use the dimmer on the lowest setting. Overall, they set up has been running great for a while.

You can search the ones I use on Amazon using the description below:

Lepro LED Strip Light, 32.8Ft Dimmable Vanity Lights, 6000K Super Bright LED Tape Lights, 600 LEDs SMD 2835, Strong 3M Adhesive, Suitable for Home, Kitchen, Under Cabinet, Bedroom, Daylight White​

 

[DmitryB]

I initially tried using waterproof flexible lights, but they were expensive, and worse, they ran super hot. At just under the middle dimming setting, my water temperature was greater than 95 degF. So I took them off, and went with the much cheaper non-waterproof ones.

For my phyto, I removed the dimmer and run the lights full blast for 16 hours. For the copepods, I use the dimmer on the lowest setting. Overall, they set up has been running great for a while.

You can search the ones I use on Amazon using the description below:

Lepro LED Strip Light, 32.8Ft Dimmable Vanity Lights, 6000K Super Bright LED Tape Lights, 600 LEDs SMD 2835, Strong 3M Adhesive, Suitable for Home, Kitchen, Under Cabinet, Bedroom, Daylight White​

Thanks! Do you use the whole length??

 

[ApolloReef]

Yeah, but I use big 1.5 gal jars so it fits perfectly

 

[DmitryB]

Yeah, but I use big 1.5 gal jars so it fits perfectly

How many times does it wrap around? Is there such a thing as too much lighting??

 

[ApolloReef]

Not sure, didnt count, probably 20 times or so. The phyto thrives well, so the lighting seems okay.

 

[martin.a]

This is mine. Temporary, 'growing in closet' kind of solution. Tetraselmis on left, Chaetoceros in centre (just started) and Nannochloropsis (allegedly) on right. BTW, I second @EnterName observation of Tetra dropping on the floor and staying there for a few days after water change.

 

[Mmoore0324]

This is mine. Temporary, 'growing in closet' kind of solution. Tetraselmis on left, Chaetoceros in centre (just started) and Nannochloropsis (allegedly) on right. BTW, I second @EnterName observation of Tetra dropping on the floor and staying there for a few days after water change.

Nice, are those inline filters or check valves?

 

[EnterName]

This is mine. Temporary, 'growing in closet' kind of solution. Tetraselmis on left, Chaetoceros in centre (just started) and Nannochloropsis (allegedly) on right. BTW, I second @EnterName observation of Tetra dropping on the floor and staying there for a few days after water change.

Nice, are those inline filters or check valves?

Inline filters. I wouldn't waste them for something like Nannochlorpsis sp., but if you are trying more demanding cultures or are recovering a rather contaminated one they do a good job keeping the culture clean for longer.

The air pumps hate it though , especially if the filters don't get replaced frequently.

 

[Mmoore0324]

Inline filters. I wouldn't waste them for something like Nannochlorpsis sp., but if you are trying more demanding cultures or are recovering a rather contaminated one they do a good job keeping the culture clean for longer.

The air pumps hate it though , especially if the filters don't get replaced frequently.

For sure. I might try them on my next batch of T. Iso.

 

[martin.a]

Inline filters. I wouldn't waste them for something like Nannochlorpsis sp., but if you are trying more demanding cultures or are recovering a rather contaminated one they do a good job keeping the culture clean for longer.

The air pumps hate it though , especially if the filters don't get replaced frequently.

And here I am: Nanno was the only culture which came clean and I somehow managed to contaminate it and kill. I have ample supply of these filters in 0.45um. The white ones are less restrictive.

I am on 3rd diatom culture. First and second came contaminated. This one, from a different supplier, looked clean under scope.

BTW, I restarted Tetra last night. All cells hugging the bottom today morning. Gave them a swirl, they adhere! (This is the original culture with which I started.)

 

[EnterName]

And here I am: Nanno was the only culture which came clean and I somehow managed to contaminate it and kill. I have ample supply of these filters in 0.45um. The white ones are less restrictive.

I am on 3rd diatom culture. First and second came contaminated. This one, from a different supplier, looked clean under scope.

BTW, I restarted Tetra last night. All cells hugging the bottom today morning. Gave them a swirl, they adhere! (This is the original culture with which I started.)

The culture health depends quite a lot on the starter and the quality of the fertilizer so it's most likely not your fault. Even cultures that look clean under the microscope may have bacterial contaminations that are much harder to see without high-end equipment or even staining techniques.

Tetraselmis likes to stay at the bottom. Don't worry about it.
Give the cultures a good swirl every day and sooner or later you will see them become more and more green (that's at least my experience). The bottom will stay covered in some algae film though but it doesn't seem to affect the overall culture density too much so you don't need to transfer the culture into a new (sterile) vessel. The transfer is just another contamination vector if you aren't too sure you can culture Tetraselmis very well yet.