what kind of phyto/zoo plankton can I grow outside

[Allmost]

Hello,

so I live in Canada, temps from now on will be about 15-25 degrees .... [TV said so lol]

I get alot of sun in my balcony ... so yesterday I was looking at a bucket of water I left there, which is now green/red ! some sort of phyto plankton s growing in it right ?

then I got the Idea to do this ... leave buckets outside, with air pumps and open top, nutrition and trace elements added.

a couple of questions ... what was the green and then the red thing that grew in other bucket ?

is there any type of phyto or zooplankton that can grow in these temps ?

any advice on what I should try to grow ? would nanno phyto work ?

how about if I add nutritions and SIo2 ? would I be able to culture diatoms ?

how about cyano ?

this is all in effort of feeding an azoox[NPS] reef, I use alot of Phyto and ....

 

[EWilly]

Are you culturing from just tank water, or are you using greenwater cultures from somewhere?

I would not suggest leaving an open top, or just letting old tank water sit in the sun. It will be all sorts of contaminated with other organisms, as well as phytoplankton.

That being said, clear containers placed in sunlight, with a single strain phytoplankton culture and fresh 1.019 SG ASW would be your best bet. I grow phyto myself, and use 1 gallon glass jugs (leftover from my home beer brewing days!) with rigid airline going into drilled plastic caps and hooked up to an air manifold. Everything should be cleaned with alcohol, to kill off any unwanted beasties in your culture, as you don't want contamination. Think lab controls here - you'll crash the cultures a lot less often if you can keep it clean! Also, consider how warm the cultures will get sitting in direct sunlight - it's a closed container after all - otherwise you might cook the culture.

There are plenty of threads on how to do the cultures on RC, do a quick search for some ideas. You can always get single strain phytos from a multitude of places including eBay, other RC members, and websites like Florida Aqua Farms. You can't really grow it from DTs as that is a mixed culture, and one species will take over the entire batch. Some people have done it though, so YMMV. Also, keep rotifers away from your phyto, if you plan on growing them as well - all it takes is a little cross contamination, and your phyto cultures will then become roti cultures!

Nanno is the easiest to grow, all I do is take about half a liter of a grown out culture and add it to my 1 gallon jug, top it off with 1.019 ASW, put in 1 mL of Kent Essential Elements, and about 5 mL of Miracle Grow liquid fertilizer. Insert the rigid line and cap, and let it bubble enough to keep it moving. Wait about a week, split it off into more cultures - bottle the rest and sell it to the local LFS'!

:beer:

Edit: Oh and do you have pictures of the green and red thing that grew in the bucket? It could have been cyano or other types of algae or something... hard to say without seeing it!

 

[Allmost]

thanks for the reply, but not my first time growing phyto I grow it indoors as well.

question is about what can grow outside, in the cold. well ... not that cold but you know..

I am not sure about covering it ... many of the phyto farms are outdoors.

thanks

 

[sunny d polyp]

Phyto culturing in 5/gal cardboys...

Phyto culturing in 5/gal cardboys...

Hey all, just a heads up about larger culture containers, I grow 3 types of phyto, tet, iso and nano (30/gals) and I've had cultures last for 2 1/2 months until the density starts to lower and I'll start them over (usually compete with bacteria). It takes about three weeks for the densities to increase enough to split (2 1/2 gals) and I replace the phyto with 2 1/2 gals of sterilized culture water @ 1.020. I light them 24/7 and built a station that holds the lights and frames out of pvc that holds the carboys. This is a change from when I was culturing phyto with 3mil 17 liter bags from FAF but this was extremely time consuming. I feed 10/gals of Rot's (plicatilis) and my tank 120/gal mixed reef. If you can start out with a sterile culture, filtered air (.03 micron) and clean you containers when you start your new cultures (1qt of sodium hypo per 5/gals and then rinse and add 2 pints of muriatic acid each for 24 hours) you'll get the jump on bacteria and your culture will have a better chance at surviving for longer. This culturing technic has proven to be the easiest way yet (started with ½ gal rubber made containers) and lots of less work involved for me. I start with 4ml of FAF Algro per gal and the only time I will add anymore is when I split and add the sterilized culture water that replaces the phyto I remove to feed the rot's, this averages around 1.5 to 2 ml of fertilizer per gal per 7 days in the long run.
Just thought I would throw my two cents in and this is a great thread and a lot of experience and good points.

 

[EWilly]

Allmost,

You didn't mention this wasn't your first time! :lol:

I hope someone can chime in to help you, all I've ever done is indoors, on timed fluorescent lights. It would be nice to utilize natural sunlight, rather than have to pay for the lighting!

 

[Allmost]

lol exactly !
Ill try to take some macro shot of the stuff growing outside tonight, maybe someone can see what it is.

 

[sunny d polyp]

Geezy...

Geezy...

Hey... just found that i posted this to the wrong thread... such a noob, this was supposed to go on a thread i was reading that had 16 or 17 pages, sorry for the interuption.

 

[el aguila]

I put tank water in half of a 55g drum and put newly hatched brine shrimp in. Continuing to add newly hatched brine shrimp throughout the summer. The drum was outside partially under a hickory tree so it didn't get full sun. No air stone or monitoring of salinity.

For water changes, I would occasionally remove some water and put in more tank water from water changes.

After a couple of weeks the brine shrimp will mature and begin to breed. I harvested them to feed my tank. Another plus that was after month it had a sizeable copepod population

 

[el aguila]

I sent the above from my phone, but here are a few pics:

 

[GreshamH]

thanks for the reply, but not my first time growing phyto I grow it indoors as well.

question is about what can grow outside, in the cold. well ... not that cold but you know..

I am not sure about covering it ... many of the phyto farms are outdoors.

thanks

Many FW phyto farms are outside. I know of no marine phyto farms that are outside exposed to the elements. They'd quickly get contaminated. Bio-security is a HUGE concern.

 

[dartier]

I remembered reading this thread and happened on a post on the Marine Ornamental Fish & Invertebrate Breeders forum yesterday that I thought may be of interest to you. I will not link it here, but you can find it, it is in the zooplankton section on Arctodiaptomus salinus-aka "Tangerines".

In the thread a member from Germany mentions that he grows tangerines outdoors in Germany and they just go dormant below 8C and they survive through their -26C winter. Tough little guys.

Dennis

 

[dartier]

I think I am going to give outdoor cultivation a try. The gentleman from Germany outlined his technique and it sounds pretty easy. He basically allows the barrels to drift for salinity (like el aguila) depending on the weather, and feeds a bottle of PhycoPure 3 or 4 times per season. The pods produce resting eggs in the fall and re-appear in the spring.

Almost sounds too good to be true.

Dennis