Culturing Phyto

[Ajohnson]

Hi guys,

I have had my main DT set up for over a year now, but have decided to start culturing copepods and phyto. My copepods are doing great, and I've been feeding them bottled live phyto while I wait for my own to develop. Everything seemed alright in my phyto culture, until just yesterday I found what looks like algae growing near the bottom of the bottle. Is it normal for algae to grow when culturing phyto? I know phyto is sort of a micro algae, but it doesn't seem right and I can't find any good info on the web. Here's my setup:

I have a 2L pop bottle that I filled with salt water (approx. 1.02) and added my phyto culture. The bottle is sitting in a white 5 gallon pail with a T5 natural daylight bulb that is turned on for 16 hours per day. I have an airline fed in through the cap of the bottle running about 5-7 bubbles per second.

The culture is now about 7 days old, and is still a nice green color, but I noticed the algae growing near the bottom yesterday.

[rynoe]

It is normal. Probably just sediment. I usually just siphon out the stuff that settles and carry on. It is likely due to the shape of the pop bottle at the bottom. Maybe try increasing the air flow.

[Ajohnson]

Originally Posted by rynoe

It is normal. Probably just sediment. I usually just siphon out the stuff that settles and carry on. It is likely due to the shape of the pop bottle at the bottom. Maybe try increasing the air flow.

OK I will try adding air. It is definitely growing on the sides of the bottle near the bottom though, not just settling there so I'm not sure if it's sediment. But I'll try adding air and syphoning it out through a sieve.

[MondoBongo]

i usually stir my phyto cultures once every day or two, then once a week take out the airline, put my finger over the hole, and shake the living hell out of them to make sure everything gets back in to suspension.

if not, then the phyto does tend to start accumulating in the bottom, and sometimes on the side of the bottles.

you can actually kind of see it here in the first bottle. time for a shake:

[m0nkie]

it's best to use a flat bottom bottle. Regular 2 liters have those 5 legs that builds up all the phyto. Airlines sometimes can't reach those spots.

I shake my bottles every few days

[Ajohnson]

OK, it sounds like I might be alright to just tweak a couple things. I'll post a picture when I get home and see if it helps.

[Ajohnson]

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

i usually stir my phyto cultures once every day or two, then once a week take out the airline, put my finger over the hole, and shake the living hell out of them to make sure everything gets back in to suspension.

if not, then the phyto does tend to start accumulating in the bottom, and sometimes on the side of the bottles.

you can actually kind of see it here in the first bottle. time for a shake:

So it is OK to be a little aggressive with it? I was assuming I should be gentle in in stirring and shaking it up so as not to "damage" it.

[MondoBongo]

i shake that **** like it owes me money.

[btucker7587]

It's good to have air pumped into the bottle to suspend the phyto and as others have said, use a bottle with a flat bottom.

I use saltwater I mixed for WC and then dilute with tap water to about 1.019 salinity. Add 5ml of liquid plant food for every 2L of water.

Right now I have 8 bottles running and harvest half of them every 5 days or so.

Looking to expand to 16 bottles...but need more space.

[Ajohnson]

Originally Posted by btucker7587

It's good to have air pumped into the bottle to suspend the phyto and as others have said, use a bottle with a flat bottom.

I use saltwater I mixed for WC and then dilute with tap water to about 1.019 salinity. Add 5ml of liquid plant food for every 2L of water.

Right now I have 8 bottles running and harvest half of them every 5 days or so.

Looking to expand to 16 bottles...but need more space.

How often do you feed the plant food?

[btucker7587]

Just the one time.

[btucker7587]

Originally Posted by Ajohnson

How often do you feed the plant food?

Here's a great resource...

http://www.melevsreef.com/phytoplankton.html

[MondoBongo]

Originally Posted by btucker7587

Here's a great resource...

http://www.melevsreef.com/phytoplankton.html

+1.

this is pretty much what i followed to get started. my only changes were using full salinity water from my mixing tub because i got lazy about mixing it to 2.5% (1.018ish). so i just take my norma 3.5% (1.026) water and throw in a little fresh water by eyeballing it to account for some evap.

i also just sat them on the window instead of using supplemental lighting. for obvious reasons you get better production in the summer time, but i haven't noticed too bad of a drop off in winter. at least not so much as to make me consider supplemental lighting.

[Ajohnson]

Originally Posted by MondoBongo

+1.

this is pretty much what i followed to get started. my only changes were using full salinity water from my mixing tub because i got lazy about mixing it to 2.5% (1.018ish). so i just take my norma 3.5% (1.026) water and throw in a little fresh water by eyeballing it to account for some evap.

i also just sat them on the window instead of using supplemental lighting. for obvious reasons you get better production in the summer time, but i haven't noticed too bad of a drop off in winter. at least not so much as to make me consider supplemental lighting.

I will give his method a try step for step and see if I get any better results. I happened to have an extra t5 light fixture from a 10gallon so I use that, plus where I live I only get about 4 to 6 hours of sun this time of year so leaving the bottles in the window might not do any good

[Ajohnson]

So just an update... All I did was shake the heck out of it and add some liquid plant food and within 2 days it came right back to life nice and bright green!