Culturing Phytoplankton Experiment

[Blakjax]

Yeah, shoot me message if you ever starting growing copepods. My mandarin has unlimited food and it saved me 20$ a week in copepods. You get your money back fast.

I’m interested in your opinion on pods. Can you share your process and results?

 

[MohrReefs]

I’m interested in your opinion on pods. Can you share your process and results?

Sure can! What do you need to know?

 

[Dilan Patel]

Took a break from phyto due to school so when I got back I started a batch up with 2+month old phyto to see if it was still viable...I must say i had my doubts but the phyto looks phenomenal!

 

[MohrReefs]

2 month old refrigerated phyto or room temp? If room temp, how on earth did you keep it from crashing?

 

[Dilan Patel]

was refrigerated

 

[MohrReefs]

was refrigerated

Oh okay lol. Yeah it lasts for I think around 6 months refrigerated.

 

[Dilan Patel]

Checking to see if my 5 month old phyto is still viable experiment . No smell/quick settling is observable. Used about 450ml of the phyto and filled rest of 2L with sw at 1.020. used 5ml of fertilizer. The pic makes it look darker than it is think of the color as a very pale greenish yellow.

 

[Dilan Patel]

11/27. What I noticed was the bottle on the right( 5 month old phyto) would culture but looked like it was a good 2-3 days behind the culture on the right (10/26 culture) but after about 4 days it caught up and now they look about even on day 6. So i think 5.5 maybe 6 months is about the longest a bottle of phyto stays alive

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

It’s great to see that it still cultured just fine!

 

[Maximus]

Can you mix two different types of phyto species in the same bottle and culture them? Been thinking about mixing nanno and tetra. Thanks.

 

[Dilan Patel]

Can you mix two different types of phyto species in the same bottle and culture them? Been thinking about mixing nanno and tetra. Thanks.

no i believe tetra will out compete nano

 

[Maximus]

Thanks Dilan. Have you begun to raise pods yet? My pod raising journey should start next week and any tips would be great.

 

[Dilan Patel]

Thanks Dilan. Have you begun to raise pods yet? My pod raising journey should start next week and any tips would be great.

I have not tried yet. It seems easy enough just dont overthink it

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

Can you mix two different types of phyto species in the same bottle and culture them? Been thinking about mixing nanno and tetra. Thanks.

I would definitely just grow the both separately if you have the room to.

 

[code4]

Maybe I missed it. But how do you harvest the phyto? I have a 40 gallon reef tank. Not many corals yet. No skimmer. Crocea clam, and 2 small fish. How do I know how much to add. How often? I don't think a bunch of fertilizer would be good. Any ideas would be helpful. Your experiment is a success.

Shelley

 

[Dilan Patel]

Maybe I missed it. But how do you harvest the phyto? I have a 40 gallon reef tank. Not many corals yet. No skimmer. Crocea clam, and 2 small fish. How do I know how much to add. How often? I don't think a bunch of fertilizer would be good. Any ideas would be helpful. Your experiment is a success.

Shelley

I poured off about 2/3rds of the bottle to be used for feeding and placed the remaining in a clean bottle w/fertelizer and backfilled with fresh seawater. Hard to say how much but you could start off w/ 1ml per 5gallon everyday and increase or decrease dossage/frequency based on how the inhabitants react and parameters look.

 

[code4]

Thanks Dilan. At this Point I have been just turning off pumps and dosing around the clam. So far it appears to be doing great. Named it "Chowder".

Shelley

 

[code4]

Do you ever check for ammonia as from a cycle? If so, does it affect your cultures?

 

[Dilan Patel]

Do you ever check for ammonia as from a cycle? If so, does it affect your cultures?

Nope, I never check ammonia.