Guest clownfish4 April 12, 2004 Share April 12, 2004 Do any of you know good and easy ways to culture phtoplankton? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tgallo April 13, 2004 Share April 13, 2004 michaelg can help you here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefMon April 13, 2004 Share April 13, 2004 Try this for starters: DIY Phyto, Brine & Rotifer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg April 13, 2004 Share April 13, 2004 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xeon April 13, 2004 Share April 13, 2004 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelg April 13, 2004 Share April 13, 2004 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Stearns April 14, 2004 Share April 14, 2004 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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