Phytoplankton Culture Beginner

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joljaz

New member
Joined
Apr 13, 2007
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Location
Milwaukee, Wi
Been reading all I can find on web and ready with lights
and bubbles. My question is can I Start culture using DT's
since it is "live"?
 
typically they say "no" and the reason why is that DTs is actually a mixed culture of 4 diff types of phyto. They would compete with each other and eventually only 1 type of phyto will win out. The other 3 will die and can pollute the culture.
 
I asked about this in two other forums before I discovered this one and was told that the type of phyto that would likely become abudant and take over in the culture is not that food for the animals. DTs is a great mix of plankton and algae that together is great for your tank, but if you try to culture it you will end up with a monoculture of something that won't be to great for your tank. If that makes sense.
 
yes... agreed with BC and all. More importantly (and this may surprise you) but I do not recommend DIY for phyto... ever.

Anyone can grown phytoplankton... but not everyone can grow nutritious phyto. To do so requires refridgerated culture space to increase nutritional value (and nutrient bases that most folks fail to provide adequately)

The quality of phyto that we are feeding as arm, home cultured DIY is very poor quality.

For the small amount of phyto actually needed in most systems... buy cultured, my friends.
 
I used to culture it myself, but as Anthony mentioned, the quality was too low. I had horrible trouble with algae blooms. They all went away after I stopped dosing.
 
Don't have any algae problems now, but only dose about 1 oz
of DT's every 2 days. Mainly want lots of phyto to culture pods & possibly rotofiers. maybe quality won't matter much for pods?
 
The problem begins when DT's is not imported to the country you come from:( .What is the preferable range of temperature phyto must be cultured in order to have its full nutritive value?
 
Ok my head is hurting again. Glad to get this info. But my head is still hurting between you
steve and anthony and boomer!

sorry you too Sid.
 
for mine experience on phytoplancton every cells are so different on grow and temps by growth.
every reactor are simple to create. you can use plastic bottle or cylindrical plexyglass, every reactor needs air, by the bottom or with rigid pipe; the smalest one that you can find.
you can grow every algae with the same salinity of the tank becouse when you dose algae on your tank couldn't live for the difference of salinity between two different specific greavity of the water.
every fertilizer that you need to use need to have N (nitrogen) P (phosphurus) more so many trace elements and many vitamins solutions. when you want to grow diatoms you need to put into the NP and Trace Solution (TS) silicate compounds when algae need it.
this prescription is called guillards f/2 and is this in particoular compounds by:

guillard f/2medium:
to 950 ml of deionized water add:
75g NaNO3 disolved on 1 liter of deionized water
5 g NaH2PO4 · H2O disolved on 1 liter of deionized water
30 g Na2SiO3 · 9H2O disolved on 1 liter of deionized water*
*omit if algae don't needs

trace elements:
prepare:
3.15 g FeCl3 · 6H2O
4.36 g Na2EDTA · 2H2O
CuSO4 · 5H2O 9.8 g on 1 liter of deionized water**
Na2MoO4 · 2H2O 6.3 g on 1 liter of deionized water
ZnSO4 · 7H2O 22.0 g on 1 liter of deionized water
CoCl2 · 6H2O 10.0 g on 1 liter of deionized water
MnCl2 · 4H2O 180.0 g on 1 liter of deionized water


to 950 ml of deionized water add:
3.15 g FeCl3 · 6H2O
4.36 g Na2EDTA · 2H2O
1ml of solutions obteined with 9,8g of CuSO4 · 5H2O dissolved on 1 liter of deionized water**
1ml of solutions obteined with Na2MoO4 · 2H2O 6.3 g dissolved on 1 liter of deionized water
1ml of solutions obteined with ZnSO4 · 7H2O 22.0 g dissolved on 1 liter of deionized water
1ml of solutions obteined with CoCl2 · 6H2O 10.0 g dissolved on 1 liter of deionized water
1ml of solutions obteined with MnCl2 · 4H2O 180.0 g dissolved on 1 liter of deionized water
**i hope for our use we can omited this is copper!


vitamin solution:
prepare:
Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) 1.0g on 1 liter of deionized water
Biotin 0.1 g on 1 liter of deionized water
200 mg of Thiamine · HCl

to 950 ml of deionized water add:
1ml of Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) solution
10ml of Biotin solution
200mg of Thaimine · HCl
use 0,5ml of this solution for culture.


one times have you realized the solutions on 1 liter of culture use:
1ml of NaNO3 disolved on 1 liter of deionized water.
1ml of NaH2PO4 · H2O disolved on 1liter of deionized water.
1ml Na2SiO3 · 9H2O disolved on 1 liter of deionized water*
1ml of trace elements solution (see recipe below)++
0,5ml of vitamins solution (see recipe below)+
*omit if algae don't needs
 
The problem begins when DT's is not imported to the country you come from:( .What is the preferable range of temperature phyto must be cultured in order to have its full nutritive value?

I hope I am nnot starting to be a pain in the a...., but what about the temperature, Anthony?Thanks!
 
Anthony, maybe you can answer a question for me. I hope this isn't hijacking this thread. It might help answer the original question though.

I recently ordered some Isochrysis phytoplankton. In fact, it'll be here today. I'd originally planned on splitting the bottle up when it gets here, using one bottle to feed and 2 or 3 to culture. Any ideas? I'd planned on doing this in my refrigerator and shaking them up on a daily basis. I'd also planned on using empty bottled water bottles.
 
it varies by species of course, my friend. Have you seen the detailed phyto thread in my archives (see the "fav links" sticky atop this forum... scroll down to discussions) from ReefCentral 2005. A very informative thread indeed.

Also... DTs is in Europe and can be shipped overnight FWIW. I seem to recall dealers in Spain being added recently. It may be worth emailing Dts to see what dealer if any is closest to you.
 
Phyto cultures can be ordered from Aquatic Eco-Systems in Orlando Florida. They have culture kits and all the supplies you need. I recommend purchasing the "Plankton Culture Manual" by Frank Hoff. It is a very detailed book that explains how to culture plankton in small quantities.

The main problem with "home-grown" cultures is contamination. Eventually the cilliates enter the culture and take over. The best way to do it is to purchase a few "algae disks" these are mono-cultures on a disk of agar. They can be kept in the refrigerator and used to start the cultures. Once started they will produce well until bacteria, cyan-bacteria, or ciliates overtake the culture. try to keep the contamination to a minimum by using dedicated equipment even to the individual vessel if possible. They can be grown in 2 liter soda bottles with an airstone in front of a double 40 watt cool-white flourescent fixture. repeated renewal of the culture from the algae disk is the best way to ensure good quality production.
 

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