Phytoplankton coloration

[richardmclendonjr]

Has my culture gone bad or is it just that some of the brown and gold phyto have outcompeted the greens? My starting culture was a bottle of elite blend which has five different ones. It has no odor to it currently. Just don't want to throw it away if it's still good.

 

[Subsea]

It’s OK to feed.

When I culture phytoplankton, I use one species only.

When you buy mixed cultures, different sizes feed different organisms.

 

[richardmclendonjr]

O ok so you culture them all separately and then mix?

 

[Subsea]

I only culture one individual species at a time. I choose the easiest for me: Tetraselmis. I get a sustainable culture every 10-14 days, by harvesting half. I usually get twice as dark, never darker and sometimes lighter.

I would guess that mixed cultures of phytoplankton are for direct feed to Display often mixed in with pods.

Why are you cultivating different strains with different colors?

“Cultivating different types of phytoplankton is essential to maximize nutritional diversity, ensure ecosystem stability, and meet the specific dietary needs of various aquaculture or aquarium species. A diverse mix provides a balanced diet of fatty acids and nutrients, prevents nutrient deficiencies, improves water quality, and creates a more robust, natural food web”

In general, I agree with AI that diversity is good.

I question if diversity of phytoplankton required or necessary.

I disagree that that it is easier to have a sustainable culture.

 

[richardmclendonjr]

I've been told that different strains are different sizes and have different nutritional value. I'm gonna switch to doing one strain per culture. Is there a place you recommend to buy the starting culture

I only culture one individual species at a time. I choose the easiest for me: Tetraselmis. I get a sustainable culture every 10-14 days, by harvesting half. I usually get twice as dark, never darker and sometimes lighter.

I would guess that mixed cultures of phytoplankton are for direct feed to Display often mixed in with pods.

Why are you cultivating different strains with different colors?

 

[Subsea]

I've been told that different strains are different sizes and have different nutritional value. I'm gonna switch to doing one strain per culture. Is there a place you recommend to buy the starting culture

I use Amazon. Mercer of Montana. It’s been a while.

 

[JTP424]

Yea culturing a mix from the start is going to end up with one type eventually outcompeting the others.
You're going to end up with a culture of one type, or there is even a slight potential for a crash.

I'd keep it running until one of these happens :)

 

[richardmclendonjr]

I only culture one individual species at a time. I choose the easiest for me: Tetraselmis. I get a sustainable culture every 10-14 days, by harvesting half. I usually get twice as dark, never darker and sometimes lighter.

I would guess that mixed cultures of phytoplankton are for direct feed to Display often mixed in with pods.

Why are you cultivating different strains with different colors?

“Cultivating different types of phytoplankton is essential to maximize nutritional diversity, ensure ecosystem stability, and meet the specific dietary needs of various aquaculture or aquarium species. A diverse mix provides a balanced diet of fatty acids and nutrients, prevents nutrient deficiencies, improves water quality, and creates a more robust, natural food web”

In general, I agree with AI that diversity is good.

I question if diversity of phytoplankton required or necessary.

I disagree that that it is easier to have a sustainable culture.

Ah this is why I should read on the forums instead of emails lol. Just saw your last part about different strains. If one strain is all that's required, that will definitely make it easier on me lol

 

[Subsea]

Mercer makes their own modified F2 formula. Whomever you get your starter culture from, I suggest following their fertilizer recomendations.

 

[afboundguy]

Culturing a mix bottle of phyto will either crash whole culture or eventually one will put compete the others.

I culture 7 different species of phyto for a variety of reasons. I think it's more natural to have multiple phytoplankton strains as it mimics nature better and I use the analogy of what would happen if you just ate hamburgers every day for every meal? You would survive but you'd probably not be as well off as if you are several different things.

And different strains offer different benefits. Green, red and brown strains all have different nutritional values for your tank or zooplankton. Another main reason I do so many strains is I have 8 different species of pods I culture (soon to be 9) and I feel a custom blend for different species based on research I've done to get great culture densities. Some pod species will only consume some of the harder strains as well.

 

[Batman222b]

Culturing a mix bottle of phyto will either crash whole culture or eventually one will put compete the others.

I culture 7 different species of phyto for a variety of reasons. I think it's more natural to have multiple phytoplankton strains as it mimics nature better and I use the analogy of what would happen if you just ate hamburgers every day for every meal? You would survive but you'd probably not be as well off as if you are several different things.

And different strains offer different benefits. Green, red and brown strains all have different nutritional values for your tank or zooplankton. Another main reason I do so many strains is I have 8 different species of pods I culture (soon to be 9) and I feel a custom blend for different species based on research I've done to get great culture densities. Some pod species will only consume some of the harder strains as well.

Would you be willing to give some information about your set up? I'm having a hard time growing t-iso thanks

 

[afboundguy]

Would you be willing to give some information about your set up? I'm having a hard time growing t-iso thanks

Sure. I use liquid pool shock to sterilize my SW mix and then use STP pellets to de-chlorinate it. I let it run with the shock overnight at a min and STP pellets 1-2 hours and test with pool strips to make sure chlorine is gone.

I then use rubbing alcohol on EVERYTHING. I have a bottle that I use to spray my hands every time I touch something and I spray the jars, rigid tubing, fertilizer syringes/jars, cup I use to scoop out SW. My hands are super wrinkly after I'm done. I then do a half gallon and full gallon (I always do two1 of each strain for redundancy) with two 16 oz bottles for backup. I do Isochrysis Galbana (similar or same as T-iso depending on where you get info from). I do about 1500ml fresh SW and 250ml old culture for half gallon and same ratio for full gallon. I also use inline airline filters on the tubing.

I let sit 7-10'ish days and repeat the process. Here's a video of my setup and here's a presentation I did for my club's large yearly event explaining it a bit more

 

[Batman222b]

Thanks!!!

 

[afboundguy]

Thanks!!!

No problem! Anything I can do to create another phyto believer I try and do!