Phytoplankton

[mucky1957]

hi guys,

hope this is the right place to post this.

I make my own phytoplankton and recently I have noticed that it doesn't seem right ??

I culture 4lt using the following method.....starting with 1 lt of phyto per bottle and add 1 lt of water at 1018 - 1019 and 1ml of f2 fertilizer. I use an LED light which is on for 16 hrs per day and an airpump which runs 24/7 and pumps out a lot of bubbles at a good rate.
When I take out the phyto to use in my tank it is stored in the refridgerator. The problem is that leaving the bottle standing for any amount means that the phyto seems to split. The top half of the bottle is a very light green colour with the bottom half much darker. Obviously I shake the bottle before use but I dont understand why the phyto 'splits' like this.

Does anyone else have this problem. Does anyone have any idea what I'm doing 'wrong'

 

[Nuch]

Normal, that's why they say to shake lightly once a day. I make my own also and use the same stuff and same way you do!

 

[mucky1957]

the phyto seems fine..my aquarium is booming. Its just it looks like the fertilizer hasn't all broken down..but I leave it to culture for 10 12 days each time.

 

[Nuch]

maybe you're leaving it to long before splitting. I only leave mine it a 2 litre bottle for 7 days.

 

[mucky1957]

interesting...I was told it needed at least TEN days before splitting. Will give this latest batch 7 days and see what happens.

Thanks

 

[DED65]

I think this is completely normal, the heavier stuff is going to sink. I shake mine up daily, that stops the algae from smothering itself.

 

[mucky1957]

hi..thanks. I didn't think it was going to do this..but it's good to know that hopefully nothing is wrong.

 

[mcarroll]

Just in case there's something new or interesting in it:
SRAC 5004: Phytoplankton Culture for Aquaculture Feed

 

[mucky1957]

wow..that's a heavy read. Thanks for the info.

 

[mcarroll]

I don't know a lot about phytoplankton culture, but it seems pretty complete.

I will say that I refer to the documentation at those two websites frequently though – especially on the topic of fish disease and fish health.

 

[Liquid360]

I make my own stuff as well. A fresh sample is required periodically. Assuming you've used a fresh sample, I'd dump it and start over. Weird things can happen [emoji4]