Culturing Phytoplankton

[Tristan]

What is the best Phytoplankton species to culture?

I've heard that nanochloropsis can be grown in both FW and SW. Is that true?

Do I need f/2 fertilizer to culture phytoplankton?

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Bump!

 

[Chad Clayton]

Nannochloropsis sp. is by far the easiest species of marine phytoplankton to culture. You need to culture it in saltwater; full salinity is not required and you can get away with 28ppt. Guillards F Formulation works great. While Nannochloropsis is easy to culture, keep in mind that it lacks the omega fatty acid DHA, so if you want to culture another species of algae that has DHA, I would recommend Isochrysis. Isochrysis is much more challenging to culture, so starting with Nannochloropsis is a good idea for experience building. As usual, variety is the key, so working with multiple species is always advisable.

 

[Chad Clayton]

The genus, Nannochloropsis, is found in saltwater, brackish water and freshwater. If you are culturing marine organisms, and you want to feed them Nannochloropsis, then you would need to find a saltwater species.