Phytoplankton

[Guest clownfish4]

Do any of you know good and easy ways to culture phtoplankton?

[Guest tgallo]

michaelg can help you here.

[ReefMon]

Try this for starters:  DIY Phyto, Brine & Rotifer

[michaelg]

Dillute salt water- I have a seperate container used only for this- I keep the salinity at 1.015, which is the same I use for my rotifers.

 

2 liter coke bottles- rinsed with hot tap water immediately after they are emptied- then re-capped (Juice bottles work well also).  

An air supply and gang-valve/manifold

An air pump- a 2 valve one is enough for a lot of bottles.

Some flourescent strip lights from home depot.

F/2 nutrients (many order them from florida aquafarms.  Kent makes them as well).

A starter culture- which there are several of us who can help with this- Starting from the agar disks is not difficult though.

 

One trick is learning how dense you can grow them before they crash.  I can let mine get pretty darn dark.  Others don't recommend this route, and a lot suggest having like 7 bottles.  I found this way too combersome though, but do keep at least 2.  I use filter floss in the tops of the bottles as a "plug" to help prevent contamination.  

 

Read through the other thread- there is a lot of info and links there.

[xeon]

While we are talking about home brew Phyto, I have a question... what negatives if any does the f/2 (aka fertilizer ??) have on your tank?  I imagine growing the culture out as much as possible taps alot of the undesirable nutrients.  

 

BTW, clownfish4 I will be starting culturing Phyto soon, Saturday evening to be exact.  I have essentially what Michael mentioned in his post.

[michaelg]

I haven't experienced nutrient problems from adding large amounts of phyto to the tank ( was up to 1L 4 x's / week).  The algae is using most, if not all of it.

[Lee Stearns]

I feed very little phyto once a week about 1/2 L, because I feed most of my phyto to the rotifers, and then strain the rotifers prior to feeding them several days a week- that would aliviate any F/2 in your system- But I concur with Michael that if you grow your phyto for 5-7 days I believe that it has used nearly all the F/2. I had two more batches of Phyto convert to rotifers this week, so you really have to be careful with cross contamination. I quess I am a bit too sloppy. Will still bring some phyto and F/2 for you Xeon, and plenty of rotifers for anyone interested.

Regards,

Lee