Grow your own PNS!

Kenneth Wingerter · Sep 12, 2024

kharn101 said:
1. What solution besides bleach was used, I think you used water and hydrogen peroxide?
What was the %?

2. Heard you mention some people use reptile heaters? Is this okay to put under the plastic?
What wattage is okay?

3. If I use a heater, is it okay to use an LED 5k spectrum?

4. Once I fishing brewing, do I still need to provide a light source and heat, or is this only for cultivatio

Thanks for reaching out!

1. Yes, peroxide. For instruments and small containers I opt for peroxide because it's sporicidal (isopropyl alcohol doesn't kill all spores). I do use isopropyl alcohol to rinse away any excess residual peroxide, as I don't want much peroxide lingering around. 3% peroxide is fine so long as you give it a minute or two contact time; if you prefer to get along faster, 5% is the safer bet.

2. We don't recommend any particular brand/style heater, but at least some of those made for reptile enclosures will be fine so long as they're not too powerful (those generally have a thermostat/controller). I couldn't suggest a specific wattage; the idea is to maintain a steady temp of around 86 F. At that low output, there shouldn't be any risk of melting. If in doubt, there are inexpensive alternatives out there that are made for seedlings. Though less controllable, another approach I've seen is to use an incandescent bulb for light; not only do these bacteria seem to really like that type of lighting, but the heat generated by the bulb is often sufficient to warm the culture (particularly if the whole set-up is insulated within some sort of box or tent).

3. 5K or slightly lower is great.

4. No need to keep under heat/light unless you intend to maintain the culture for extended periods (say, more than a couple of months).

I hope that helps!

ravi197699 · Sep 12, 2024

kharn101 said:
The cost, I have a very large reef tank. This is the most economical option for me. The corals love this stuff including my sps

I have large system as well ( 800 ) and this is the reason why I want to try this product,

Kenneth Wingerter · Sep 12, 2024

ravi197699 said:
I have large system as well ( 800 ) and this is the reason why I want to try this product,

Nice! It was definitely people with larger tanks that we had in mind with this product. Actually, we developed it in response to a request from a Reddit reefing group for a bulk grow-your-own kit. Even Jake Adams described it as "bold" when we introduced it, and I have to admit it was a little scary putting a full guarantee on something like this--but users have had an impressively high success rate (several years later now, most of our PNS HomeGro sales are to repeat customers).

Actually, it's also been a lot of fun working with the hobby on this. We've seen quite a variety of clever cultivation techniques/hacks come from our kit users.