growing phytoplankton

[dadonoflaw]

i am starting to try and grow phytoplankton that i got from a local hobbyist. my questions are how important is it to grow it with freshly made saltwater as opposed to tank water? he made the argument that tank water is more stable which makes since but i have heard alot of people stress the importance of using fresh saltwater. secondly can i use miracle grow all purpose plant food? i have this available since i grow land plants and since it contains the same nutrients i wanted to know if this works. lastly can i use a 100 micron filter sock to split cultures for the purposes of removing debris. i have this in my fish drawer so i was hoping that would be fine temporarily. sorry for the long post.

 

[b16drag]

Use freshly made saltwater, because the organism in your old tank saltwater will be competing for the same nutrients as the phyto. At the end you will not have a high purity phytoplankton, or your phyto factory may even flop.

 

[billsreef]

The tank water (unless sterilized first) will contaminate your phtyo, never good. Miracle grow will grow phyto, but not with the nutritional content that you would get from using a proper f/2 media. For debris, just turn the air off a short while before splitting cultures and only decant the top clear (of debris) portion into the new bottle

 

[dadonoflaw]

should i use tap water or ro/di water?

 

[billsreef]

Depends on the quality of your tap water. If you have decent tap, just dechlorinate it. Nutrients in the tap are not a problem in algae cultures

 

[dadonoflaw]

well i dont feel that our tap water is fit for human consumption. if nutrients dont effect them then i may try it. thanx