My phytoplankton cultures keep crashing please help!

[Ding2daDong]

Well I must be doing something right because here on day 8 is where it's at.

I plan on splitting the culture into 4 2liter bottles tomorrow afternoon. I am going to try multiple different types of culture methods all at 1.020sg. I am going to have 1 the same way I cultured this bottle, another the way rkelman does it, and maybe a couple other methods trying to get the easiest and most efficient way. Hopefully they all go glowing green like this one is now.

I will keep you all up to date.

Thanks again for the help.

-Matthew

 

[rkelman]

Looking good Matthew. Make sure the bottles are clean clean clean. I use vinegar to clean my bottles. The tubes I rinse under tap water and microwave them for 30 seconds between uses.

 

[Ding2daDong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13480755#post13480755 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rkelman
Looking good Matthew. Make sure the bottles are clean clean clean. I use vinegar to clean my bottles. The tubes I rinse under tap water and microwave them for 30 seconds between uses.

Thanks for the help. I used your method for doing all the next 5- 2liter bottles. I had a problem only mixing the salt in each 2liter bottle. I kept having this solute/sediment or left over salt that wouldn't dissolve... I don't know if you have the same problem and just leave it or maybe let the bottle settle for a couple hours to completely dissolve. Here is what I am talking about.

I am using instant ocean salt. I ended up having to use a coffee filter to filter out the solute particles that wouldn't dissolve which ended up taking a long time.

Here are the 5 bottles bubbling away.

I think I am going to get a 5g bucket with a top from homedepot and us that to make my culture water with a small pump in it.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

-Matthew

 

[rkelman]

I start mine with cold tap water so I get that in the bottom too. I don't worry about it..

 

[Ding2daDong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13483374#post13483374 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rkelman
I start mine with cold tap water so I get that in the bottom too. I don't worry about it..

Okay then that saves me alot of time rather then straining them out with coffee filters.

How sterile are you guys that grow phytoplankton? Do any of you run that air filter inline before your cultures? Also do any of you wear gloves/clean out your funnel before every use/ rinse the bottles out like 4 times before use? I feel like it I am taking wayy to much time in cleaning in preparing...

rkelman: Do you let the bottle sit for awhile before using it after mixing in the salt or directly add miracal grow/dechlorinator/phyto?

Thanks again for all your help.

-Matthew

 

[tcmfish]

He said he gets it TOO. He said he doesn't worry about it though, not that he doesn't get it.

Is this phyto for raising stuff or feeding stuff?

I don't know why you just don't use paste.

 

[Ding2daDong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13485677#post13485677 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tcmfish
He said he gets it TOO. He said he doesn't worry about it though, not that he doesn't get it.

Is this phyto for raising stuff or feeding stuff?

I don't know why you just don't use paste.

It is late so if you implying that I used the wrong (to) then you are way to awake right now. lol

I have a pair of clownfish that I hope will soon lay eggs but has not yet. So when the time comes I want to have already successfully kept phytoplankton and rotifers. Anything extra I will give to people in my local club or trade for reef related items.

Algae paste is for the rich. I am a college student...

-Matthew

 

[the2ofus]

I'm a little late to the party............Everyone is giving you great info....I just wanted to add, the algae is "eating" carbon dioxide if you will, which comes from the air pumped into the water......the more the better. I use ro/di water mixed in a 35 gal containerfor my reef tank, then put some in a bucket and add more ro/di water to get 1.019. then mix the algae grow in a seperate 2 liter bottle. yes, i rinse extra times to make sure. Everything i use gets rinsed in ro water then with salt water. imo, finding when yor culture levels out from rapid growth will be the trick.... i found mine and split the day before....now in 5 days our culture reaches 2m/ppm...thats fast growth. we keep a bottle dated from each in a fridge to find max. shelf life, so far 96 days...Good Luck:rollface:

 

[rkelman]

I'm not very sterile... I don't clean the funnel. No I don't let it sit. I used to but I haven't in a long time. I'm not using dechlorinator. I'm on a well.

"Algae paste is for the rich. I am a college student... "

I grow my own too. Just to help with some of the costs.

 

[the2ofus]

my bad..................that should be 2b/ppml

 

[Lifes A Beach]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13485826#post13485826 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ding2daDong
Algae paste is for the rich. I am a college student...

Talk about rich...don't you keep your pair in your new Solana? That's a nice crib for fish! lol Saw a previous post of yours and that's a nice setup!

When you look at the time and worry you'll save yourself, Instant Algae is cheap! I go through alot of it with all my rotifers and fry. I just figured it has cost me $10 a month to feed them the paste and I always have it available...no crashes.

I'm getting ready to order another quart bottle and if you would like to split it with me, I'll be happy to do that for you!

Let me know!

--Barbara
:fish1:

 

[tcmfish]

I am a college student too...

And I wasn't pointing out the wrong "too" (many people on here have far worse english) I was just saying he doesn't care about the left over salt.

 

[Ding2daDong]

Update!

About to split these bottles in a few days.

As you can see the last bottle on the right is not taking off like the others. Must be because I only added a small amount of phyto to it vs the others.

Also do you guys think that it is bubbling to much at the top of the 2liter bottles?

Thanks for the help everyone

-Matthew

 

[rkelman]

Good job. You can't have too much bubbling. The more the merrier. Whats with the paper towel ties?

 

[Zooid]

My bottles are at a roiling boil and they do great with all that air. Then again, I'm culturing Tetraselmis instead of Nannochloropsis. I buy Rotifer Diet from Reed to feed my rotifers.

 

[NirvanaFan]

I don't bother with the airline filter. Don't most pumps have a little filter on the intake of them?

Also, I'm not very sterile. I don't wash my funnel, I don't wash my hands half the time, and sometimes I do rotifer stuff before phyto stuff. This has caused a couple 2 liter bottles to become rotifer cultures, but they can be turned back into phyto cultures by bleaching the bottle.

Culturing phyto is pretty cheap and doesn't take much time either. I usually mix 1.019 water in a couple extra 2 liter bottles of water. I add the right amount of salt and shake it for a few minutes. I'll dump most of the phyto culture into the rot tank then just dump new saltwater into the phyto bottle. It only takes me a couple minutes to do all this each day.

 

[tquick]

What are you guys using for fertilizer? Thanks Tommy

 

[Ding2daDong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13519028#post13519028 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rkelman
Good job. You can't have too much bubbling. The more the merrier. Whats with the paper towel ties?

My intention was to keep dust away so I just tied the tops with paper towels. I may just skip this step the next time I split these.

I use micro algae grow as fertilizer.

Thanks again everyone for your help. Will keep you all updated with the progress and I will soon order rotifers.

I hear the S strain is really good from seahorsesource so I may start off with those. Unless anyone else recommends differently.

-Matthew

 

[Lifes A Beach]

Yes, SeaHorseSource.com is a good start for the s-strain rotifers. And since you're in Florida, the shipping cost would be less. And they have good customer service!

--Barbara

 

[NirvanaFan]

I was wondering what was up with the towels too. Florida Aqua Farms is probably pretty close to you too. I liked the stuff I got from them. Good luck with everything.