Any of you guys doing your own phytoplankton cultures?

[NeveSSL]

Hi all!

I was just curious if anyone was doing their own phytoplankton cultures. If so, what has been working best for ya?

I will be getting the stuff to do mine together soon. Its rather cheap to do, anyways. Using the method on Melevsreef.com, just some bubbles, shake once a day, miracle grow, and light for 16 hours and you're good!

Thanks!

Brandon

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I have been culturing phytoplankton for about 5 years now. It's very easy to do like Brandon said. I use Microalgae Grow instead of Miracle Grow. I have several sets of 1 liter Aquafina water bottles (I like the wide mouth). I added Isochrysis to my collection (nanochloropsis and Tetraselmis) this year and they are all doing well.

Tomoko

 

[NeveSSL]

Awesome!

So do you pretty much follow the same procedure on Melevsreef?

Whats the difference between the different phytos?

Thanks!

Brandon

 

[Tomoko Schum]

No, I don't follow his method. Melev has not had his going for a long time. I use a pretty standard method that a lot of hobbyists use. You can read about the method and the types of algae here in this article:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/breeder.htm

Tomoko

 

[NeveSSL]

2 years isn't long enough? Interesting.

Thank you so much for that link. That should provide some awesome reading!

Brandon

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Melev has been culturing for 2 years, but his cultures kept crashing. I remember that he was asking for help on RC not too long ago (last year?). He finally figured out how to keep it going. His new method works now

With the method in the article, I never had a real crash. Last summer I had one or two bottles that did not get very dark for some reason. I suspected that it was some sort of bacterial contamination/competition. I threw those away and I have not had a problem.

There are a number of ways to culture phyto successfully. I just chose the method that fits my schedule well to keep things simple. Keeping cuture containers really clean is the key to success IMHO. It's also important to have a back up culture in case one of them crashes.

Tomoko

 

[NeveSSL]

Oh, ok. I gotcha now.

I guess the only thing I'm worried about is cost of that fertilizer as compared to micracle grow. I may do a comparison of the two and see what happens.

Thank you so much for your tips and the link. Hopefully I'll get my cultures started soon. My wife is probably going to kill me when I tell her why I'm making shelf space in the closet... lol... but I'll tell her its ultimately for the mandarin.

Thanks again!

Brandon