Tiny green clumps in phyto cultures, what are they?

[JosephM]

So I’m culturing nanno and tetra in 2L bottles and it’s being going great, split once a week for the first two weeks and then had to split after 3 days because it was getting too dense. I learned I was starting with too much. I was using 32oz of old culture to start new one and I learned that 16-20 oz is better. I’m getting clumping thats minuscule. I strained it through a 120 micron sieve that I use for pods and it barely caught anything just to give an idea of how small it is. I also notice about every 12hrs I need to move the air around because the phyto will clump up at the bottom of the dimples in the soda bottle. It doesn’t seem to be affecting the cultures since they’re still darkening everyday. I have the bubbles set to just below to where they’re not foaming and about 10-12” from light source on for 16hrs. I sterilize all bottles before and sterilize them after every couple splits. Any ideas why I’m getting this build up?

 

[JosephM]

Well it looks like the little green stuff is just the clumping that happens from what seems like contamination. So I guess now my new questions are. What size sieve will actively catch those little clumps? Will getting clumps out save the culture or am I screwed and need to restart the culture?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

you are turning the bottle upside down every day, right? it is single cell algae that cant swim, they sink to the bottom and die, so the bottle needs to be turned upside down daily to keep the algae in free floating position. I also get a little bit of gunk buildup at the bottom of the bottle, not sure if I would call it clumps like you describe.

 

[JosephM]

you are turning the bottle upside down every day, right? it is single cell algae that cant swim, they sink to the bottom and die, so the bottle needs to be turned upside down daily to keep the algae in free floating position. I also get a little bit of gunk buildup at the bottom of the bottle, not sure if I would call it clumps like you describe.

I shake it up every now and move the rigid tubing around a couple times a day to keep it suspended. It’s not really clumps, sounds exactly like you’re saying with the gunk at the bottom and when brought back into the water column I can see it, like it’s larger then the phyto sells. So that’s normal?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I shake it up every now and move the rigid tubing around a couple times a day to keep it suspended. It’s not really clumps, sounds exactly like you’re saying with the gunk at the bottom and when brought back into the water column I can see it, like it’s larger then the phyto sells. So that’s normal?

I assume its normal, I always thought it was a bit of die off. I'm just careful not to use that gunk at that bottom, I've never had any issue. I think your ok, sounds normal to me.

 

[JosephM]

I assume its normal, I always thought it was a bit of die off. I'm just careful not to use that gunk at that bottom, I've never had any issue. I think your ok, sounds normal to me.

Okay makes sense. I knew it wasn’t a crash because my cultures are doing great. Maybe the next time I split it I’ll suck the phyto out instead of dumping to avoid getting the bottom. I need to throw out these bottles too lol, they’ve lasted a good time. Thank you for the help and assurance