Looking to address previous issues with phyto and pod cultures.

[Shznittle]

Hello all,

Before every starts posting links of previous threads and culture info, I've read a good share before starting my cultures and after running into problems. Here is an example of a popular thread that I've read thoroughly: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...od+cultivation
I've also ready meleev's (may be spelled wrong) phyto culture thread as well.

Phytoplankton Culture:
So, I started a phyto (nanno) culture using a bottle of DT's (while i was waiting for Florida Aqua Farms to send me the disks that I've ordered) a couple of months ago with two 2L bottles. I used F/2 fertilizer @ 10 drops per L (so 20 drops per 2L bottle), rigid tubing down to the bottom of the bottles, and placed them in one of my computer desk's large cabinets with a table lamp aimed at the two 2L bottles using a light bulb rated at 5500K. I had one successful culture which took longer than 7 days to get to a "dark green" color before I refrigerated one of the bottles for future feedings and split the second bottle to start another culture of two 2L bottles.

After splitting one of the bottles into two and topping off with RODI with sg of 1.019, I then added another 20 drops of F/2 per bottle. The second culture didn't do so well. One of the bottles completely crashed ending up with a yellow tint and other somewhat kept a light green tint.

Things to note:
1. I refed with 20 drops of F/2 per bottle after 8-9 days since "dark green" density was NOT achieved, and kept culture going.
2. Ended culture and declared crashed after a good 2.5 weeks and seeing the yellow/light green tint w/o culture becoming dense.
3. I didn't sterilize container and rigid tubing.
4. Air flow was approximately 5-10 bubbles per second.
5. Lighting intervals were 16 hours on and 8 hours off.

Copepod Culture:
I used a 5L glass container used for juice dispensing. It came with what looked like an ALUMINUM lid. I drilled two holes and inserted a rigid tube down to the bottom of the container. I ended up using that one bottle to be "refrigerated for future feedings" and dumped it into the 5L glass container and topped off with RODI water @ sg of 1.025 to get to a close match with the main tank. I then added a bottle of Algagen Tigger pods and a bottle of Algagen Tisbe pods. For about two weeks, the phyto density remained green. The tisbes were undetectable and the tiggers swam around and clung on to the glass for about a week or so until noticing that they were no longer on the glass but were at up at the bottom with chunks of phyto. After two and a half weeks, I decided to declare the culture crashed after no pod activity was seen on the glass, the water column or even at the bottom. The pods seem to be dead.

Things to note:
1. This 5L container sat behind the two 2L bottles with the bulb aiming at the bottles with the 16on/8off light intervals.
2. Rate of air bubbles I tried to keep at a countable rate of 1-2 bubbles per second (which didn't look like it gave a good flow/mixture to the medium).
3. The aluminum lid rusted around the drilled holes. Possible contamination?
4. The density of phyto feeding has been very confusing for me and may have led to the culture crashing. I've read on instructions such as the link provided where it states to keep a good green, dense phyto in the medium, but i've also been told that I had overfed the culture.

Any comments, suggestions, pointers are welcome. Thank you.

[laga77]

I had problems cultivating phyto for over a year. The cultures would do OK for a couple of weeks and then crash just like you described. Then I made two changes. I raised the SG to 1.026 and cut the amount of F/2 in half. Instead of 20 drops per 2L, I did 10. It`s been 6 months since these changes and I haven`t had a crash since. I still feed my pod and BS cultures every 1-2 days with my 2 2L phyto cultures.

[Windy2]

Florida Aqua Farms sell a product call RG Complete. It is nanno algae and concentrated in a refrigerated form. It has about a 6 months shelf life.

http://apbreed.com/product_rgcomplete.php

I have grown rotifers with my own phyto and I have used this product. I by far prefer RG Complete to raising my own.

No lights, no bottles or air tubing. Just every morning put 6 drops into my rotifer bucket and its over. Hard to beat!

[Shznittle]

Thanks for your inputs. I'll raise the salinity and cut the f/2 in half. I had a feeling I may have been over feeding the bottles. Also, that RG Complete may be the answer for the pods. I may try that if I decide to give it another shot. Pods are expensive, only to watch them die off...

[makers marc]

Ive cultured them for 7 months in a 5 gallon tank (but filled up only 4 gallons), no airline tube or heater (live in TX).

I actually never changed 100% of the culture water the whole time. Probably changed 1 gallon weekly; once a month I would do a 50% water change but tried to not siphon any of the junk at the bottom.

Food wise, I used Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast Live that I kept refrigerated. Maybe added 10 drops to a cup of my display tank saltwater and mixed it, then dumped it into the culture. Bottom line:

1. Keep the tint light green, never too dark,
2. Change 25% - 50% of the water weekly. All I did was get a pitcher, scoop out a bunch of water from the culture, pour through 75 micron sieve (you can add the pods directly to the DT, or just keep it in the culture)
3. Refill pitcher with display tank water and enough phyto to make it light green, then add to culture.