Culturing your own phyto

[Alexreefer]

This thread is me hoping to teach you guys how to culture your own phyto.

I'll be going over the basics of what you need to know, as well as what the phyto needs.

1. You'll need some sort of container (such as a lemonade dispenser) with a spigot.
2. You'll also need a simple plant-growing light with a clamp-on light fixture. I used a SYLVANIA Spot-Gro.
3. You'll also need a small air pump, air line tubing, rigid air line tubing, check valves, and an air diverter if you wish to have more than one airline.
4. You will need a starting culture of phyto. My starting culture was from Algae Barn.
5. The food I use for phyto: Fritz PRO- F/2 Algae Food (2 parts)

 

[Muttley000]

Interesting to start with a mix of phyto instead of a pure culture. Do you expect all 4 will grow or that one will out compete the other 3?

 

[Alexreefer]

I started by putting in 1 and a half cups of my established phyto.

Then I added my pre-mixed saltwater at a specific gravity of 1.024.

No need to add a lot, I added about 2.5 ml of the 2 part F/2. This should last me about a week. I culture my phyto in 3 gal containers which take about 2-3 weeks to get matured.

In the end, you can see the difference between a matured phyto and a new phyto.

Feel free to ask any questions.

 

[Alexreefer]

Interesting to start with a mix of phyto instead of a pure culture. Do you expect all 4 will grow or that one will out compete the other 3?

I haven't had any problem with them out competing. I thought about it at first but it seems to be working fine.

 

[User]

Eventually, one will out compete, but unless you are practicing lab grade sub culturing techniques, you’re going to crash the culture with either fungus, over feeding or pushing them too far before splitting.

Q for OP- are those spigots all plastic? Ive seen those containers and never had time to check. I’d probably replace them with a Murlok fitting to be safe if they had any metal on them.

Any issues with running your salinity that high? Most phyto are brackish and do best between 1.014 and 1.020. When I did this in the lab for feeding Danio larvae, we ran at 1.015. We were using Nannochloropsis and Tetraselmis.

Cheers

 

[Alexreefer]

Eventually, one will out compete, but unless you are practicing lab grade sub culturing techniques, you’re going to crash the culture with either fungus, over feeding or pushing them too far before splitting.

Q for OP- are those spigots all plastic? Ive seen those containers and never had time to check. I’d probably replace them with a Murlok fitting to be safe if they had any metal on them.

Any issues with running your salinity that high? Most phyto are brackish and do best between 1.014 and 1.020. When I did this in the lab for feeding Danio larvae, we ran at 1.015. We were using Nannochloropsis and Tetraselmis.

Cheers

Yes, they are all plastic.
Running the phyto that high has not caused me to lose a culture. I have thought about lowering the salinity but have never tried.

 

[PapaDragon]

@Alexreefer assuming I buy everything how much saltwater to add to the starting culture of phyto? Do you keep the light on 24/7?

 

[Alexreefer]

I start with about 1 gal of saltwater and slowly add about every 2-3 days. I keep my light on for about 10 hours a day. I've learned that algae tends to start growing inside. At about 9-10 hours The light is long enough for good photosynthesis but not enough for algae to grow.

 

[Alexreefer]

Today is the first official day and the phyto seems to be darkening in color. I checked my salinity and it checked out. Now I Start the waiting game. I'll be sure to post pictures of each day(I think as long as I don't forget) starting tomorrow.
Feel free to ask any questions. Thanks.

 

[C-Reefer]

any updates?

 

[Alexreefer]

I am out of town so im sorry I cant get any pictures. But the phyto is doing good. I tried lowering the salinity of one culture and it seemed to be doing good. I feed the cultures before I left. Will post updates when I get back, around 1/07

 

[SeaBeeDad]

So I started a new batch 12/30. My starter phyto was weaker, ie lighter in color than I like to see. But it's coming along. I started just a single gallon jug to start with. I added the normal 2ml of f2 to start and I've added two more ml after I noticed an even lighter color after six days. It's starting to darken up finally, but how many times do most of you add f2 after your startup dose?

 

[Alexreefer]

So I started a new batch 12/30. My starter phyto was weaker, ie lighter in color than I like to see. But it's coming along. I started just a single gallon jug to start with. I added the normal 2ml of f2 to start and I've added two more ml after I noticed an even lighter color after six days. It's starting to darken up finally, but how many times do most of you add f2 after your startup dose?

I add about 10 mil every week in a 3 gal jug

 

[Alexreefer]

As it gets older you will need to add more f2 to sustain it

 

[SeaBeeDad]

Thanks for your replies!

 

[Millimylilly]

Do u keep the light on 24/7?

 

[Sod Buster]

Check out Poseidon Reef Systems if you want to get serious about doing this. They have a nice kit

 

[User]

16 on 8 off using a cfl daylight bulb. 12/12 if you use a grow light since you can inhibit growth if you overstimulate with light,

Also- f/2 @ 2ml per 4 liter volume, every 7 days. That’ll provide nutrients above the level needed to hit stationary phase. You can double it for an F/1 concentration, but you risk crashing. You can do that and harvest after 4 or 5 days to make a really thick culture, but it might take longer to come back after ‘splitting’ to a new culture.

Started with 1ml of nannochloropsis starter that has been cultured at 1:50 (added 49ml of NSW at 1.019) for 7 days, diluted 1:4 (added 150ml of NSW) for 7 days and just been expanded 1:6 (added 1000ml NSW) In a week I’ll store 1000 ml (for tank feeding at starting a copepod culture) and add 200 to 1000ml of NSW. Now that I’m at ‘production’ level, I should be getting 1000ml a week to use and 200 to continue the culture

 

[TheShrimpNibbler]

16 on 8 off using a cfl daylight bulb. 12/12 if you use a grow light since you can inhibit growth if you overstimulate with light,

Also- f/2 @ 2ml per 4 liter volume, every 7 days. That’ll provide nutrients above the level needed to hit stationary phase. You can double it for an F/1 concentration, but you risk crashing. You can do that and harvest after 4 or 5 days to make a really thick culture, but it might take longer to come back after ‘splitting’ to a new culture.

Started with 1ml of nannochloropsis starter that has been cultured at 1:50 (added 49ml of NSW at 1.019) for 7 days, diluted 1:4 (added 150ml of NSW) for 7 days and just been expanded 1:6 (added 1000ml NSW) In a week I’ll store 1000 ml (for tank feeding at starting a copepod culture) and add 200 to 1000ml of NSW. Now that I’m at ‘production’ level, I should be getting 1000ml a week to use and 200 to continue the culture

Is it possible to have multiple species of phyto being cultured on the same air pump? They would obviously need to be in separate containers. If this isn’t possible, which species of phyto would you recommend?

 

[Alexreefer]

Is it possible to have multiple species of phyto being cultured on the same air pump? They would obviously need to be in separate containers. If this isn’t possible, which species of phyto would you recommend?

I think it would be fine. I have a check valve on each of my airline tubes, Even if the power were to turn off air or phyto couldn't go back up the line. I really like Nannochloropsis phyto