Creating Phytoplankton culture

[Forty-Two]

Hi all - I have a growing challenge I’m not quite sure how to solve at this point. While a solution is likely not critical - I believe it to be very important to the health and well being of my livestock.

I believe it’s fairly essential to have live phytoplankton. Some will debate this but that’s not the purpose of this thread.

I cannot seem to get live phytoplankton where I live (Israel). None of the fish stores sell it - and none seem to know how to get it - and none seem to really be interested in it.

I am attempting to order some from Europe - although it’s likely it will not be alive once it arrives - however I am taking the risk/trying.

One other option came to mind - and I wanted to know if anyone knows how to do it - create a culture of live phytoplankton from the ocean.

I can drive to the coast and grab some ocean water - however from there I’m not sure how one works go about creating a phytoplankton culture of it’s even possible.

Has anyone tried this? Are there other options I’m not considering?

 

[PeterC99]

I wish I could help you but I don’t know if your plan will work or not. Definitely agree that live phytoplankton is very beneficial to a reef aquarium!

What I do know, is that I really admire Reefer’s like you and their ingenuity! Wish you great success with your Reefing adventures!

 

[Forty-Two]

What I’ve found so far is that there are ‘plankton nets’ that can be purchased.

I haven’t looked at it yet - but here is a slide deck on how to capture and identify them.

 

[Forty-Two]

Update: By a rather strange happenstance (I cant recall how I got to the link) - I may have found a solution and hopefully it will benefit others. Please note I have not tested this solution, and customs may still be an issue.

There is a website that sells Phytoplankton that is preserved in discs (as well as rotifers too!).

The discs are good for 6 months without being refrigerated. Ive ordered a couple. Hopefully they will get to me and I can test them out.

Microalgae Disks – Florida Aqua Farms

 

[MBruun]

I get phyto (and rotifiers) from https://www.aquacopa.de/

 

[Forty-Two]

I get phyto (and rotifiers) from https://www.aquacopa.de/

This is very helpful thank you!

 

[Borat]

Hi all - I have a growing challenge I’m not quite sure how to solve at this point. While a solution is likely not critical - I believe it to be very important to the health and well being of my livestock.

I believe it’s fairly essential to have live phytoplankton. Some will debate this but that’s not the purpose of this thread.

I cannot seem to get live phytoplankton where I live (Israel). None of the fish stores sell it - and none seem to know how to get it - and none seem to really be interested in it.

I am attempting to order some from Europe - although it’s likely it will not be alive once it arrives - however I am taking the risk/trying.

One other option came to mind - and I wanted to know if anyone knows how to do it - create a culture of live phytoplankton from the ocean.

I can drive to the coast and grab some ocean water - however from there I’m not sure how one works go about creating a phytoplankton culture of it’s even possible.

Has anyone tried this? Are there other options I’m not considering?

Florida Aqua Farms produce those algae disks (and when we order them here in the UK - they are shipped all the way from US), it's the best way to start a clean culture from scratch..

 

[Forty-Two]

Florida Aqua Farms produce those algae disks (and when we order them here in the UK - they are shipped all the way from US), it's the best way to start a clean culture from scratch..

Thanks. Have you tried the rotifers as well?

 

[Borat]

Thanks. Have you tried the rotifers as well?

No i havent but if its Florida Aqua Farm - i would 100 percent trust it..

 

[Forty-Two]

Update on this - so I did receive my Florida Aqua Farms Phytoplankton cultures! Im pretty excited about that.

For those that would like the step by step instructions on how to take this long lasting culture (I believe they said it can last 6 months on the shelf without issues) - and turn it into actual Phytoplankton - they can read that here:

10 Step Phytoplankton Culture | Melev's Reef

melevsreef.com

Ive personally started my 'experiment'. We'll see how it goes because Im using the Pacific Sun Phytoplankton reactor - instead of using two 2 liter bottles. Hopefully Im able to keep an on-going culture this way without issue - as that is my understanding what the Reactor is designed for.

Anyhoo - after this I plan to also see if I can get the Rotifers - as I would like to dose...both!

 

[Borat]

Update on this - so I did receive my Florida Aqua Farms Phytoplankton cultures! Im pretty excited about that.

For those that would like the step by step instructions on how to take this long lasting culture (I believe they said it can last 6 months on the shelf without issues) - and turn it into actual Phytoplankton - they can read that here:

10 Step Phytoplankton Culture | Melev's Reef

melevsreef.com

Ive personally started my 'experiment'. We'll see how it goes because Im using the Pacific Sun Phytoplankton reactor - instead of using two 2 liter bottles. Hopefully Im able to keep an on-going culture this way without issue - as that is my understanding what the Reactor is designed for.

Anyhoo - after this I plan to also see if I can get the Rotifers - as I would like to dose...both!

It looks like a good reactor, dude. But it's not good for me, I would confess.. The issue is that when you culture phyto - you would want to run multiple small (but tall) bottles rather than one large bottle. That way you protect your culture from a crush, if one of the bottles shows a sign of weakness you purge it and refill with culture from remaining bottles.

I am currently using 3x700mL bottles to culture my phyto. Every few weaks I have to purge one of the bottles - because I know the culture has become unviable. My culture has been going on for 1 year this way now...


Culturing station:




Weekly harvest:

 

[Borat]

Update on this - so I did receive my Florida Aqua Farms Phytoplankton cultures! Im pretty excited about that.

For those that would like the step by step instructions on how to take this long lasting culture (I believe they said it can last 6 months on the shelf without issues) - and turn it into actual Phytoplankton - they can read that here:

10 Step Phytoplankton Culture | Melev's Reef

melevsreef.com

Ive personally started my 'experiment'. We'll see how it goes because Im using the Pacific Sun Phytoplankton reactor - instead of using two 2 liter bottles. Hopefully Im able to keep an on-going culture this way without issue - as that is my understanding what the Reactor is designed for.

Anyhoo - after this I plan to also see if I can get the Rotifers - as I would like to dose...both!

When you start your disk culture - do not use a massive vessel! You need a small bottle initially (about 300ml-500ml) for the disk culture to start...

 

[Forty-Two]

When you start your disk culture - do not use a massive vessel! You need a small bottle initially (about 300ml-500ml) for the disk culture to start...

Now you tell me…..

 

[Forty-Two]

When you start your disk culture - do not use a massive vessel! You need a small bottle initially (about 300ml-500ml) for the disk culture to start...

Weird double post

 

[Forty-Two]

It looks like a good reactor, dude. But it's not good for me, I would confess.. The issue is that when you culture phyto - you would want to run multiple small (but tall) bottles rather than one large bottle. That way you protect your culture from a crush, if one of the bottles shows a sign of weakness you purge it and refill with culture from remaining bottles.

I am currently using 3x700mL bottles to culture my phyto. Every few weaks I have to purge one of the bottles - because I know the culture has become unviable. My culture has been going on for 1 year this way now...


Culturing station:




Weekly harvest:

This is helpful advice btw - thanks.

when you pour off your ‘backup bottle’ do you refrigerate it? What do you do with it?

 

[Borat]

This is helpful advice btw - thanks.

when you pour off your ‘backup bottle’ do you refrigerate it? What do you do with it?

it depends, if it has actually grown ok (dense but with yellow tint and slightly less dense than other bottles) - i would harvest/feed it, if not - drain down the drain. The reason being that a crushed culture that has not had time to develop also didnt use all the fertiliser in the bottle. Its generally not a big deal but sometimes i would avoid adding it for this reason.

 

[Borat]

There is no single 'right way' - its all down to choices/preferences.

 

[Borat]

When you start your disk culture - do not use a massive vessel! You need a small bottle initially (about 300ml-500ml) for the disk culture to start...

This is also the instruction on the disk - to use certain amount of water, what is not said in the instruction is if you dilute your starter culture too much it may fail to take off.

After culture has got going diluting it up to 1:5 after each harvest is not a big deal, some people dilute 1:3, i do it around 1:4..

 

[Forty-Two]

This is also the instruction on the disk - to use certain amount of water, what is not said in the instruction is if you dilute your starter culture too much it may fail to take off.

After culture has got going diluting it up to 1:5 after each harvest is not a big deal, some people dilute 1:3, i do it around 1:4..

I put 2 disks in to 4 liters of water - I assumed that this would also be effective.

 

[Borat]

I put 2 disks in to 4 liters of water - I assumed that this would also be effective.

Did you follow the instruction on the disk? soaking for 24 hours etc?