Phytoplankton farmers please chime in

[Fcamdog]

I just started my first batch of phyto this past Saturday. I followed Meleev's procedure that I found on his website. I have a couple of questions.

First, how do you know when your culture has grown/fortified enough that it's ready to split? I'm starting with one 2 liter bottle's worth.

Second, if my culture crashes, how will I know it?

Answers, advice and helpful tips are all welcomed. Thanks,

Fcamdog

[Maivortex]

Cultures can be split after about 5-7 days. If culture appears yellowish after the split, decrease he amount of light with some shade. Cultures that are crashing will appear yellowish at first , followed by a cloudy, milky appearance from all the dead white cells. You could wrap some tinfoil around a part of the bottle. The most stressful time for algae is right after the split. Its better to have not enough light than too much light the first day after the split. Right after the split there is about a 24 hr period of no growth.

Most of this depends on what species u are growing.

[GreshamH]

I just started my first batch of phyto this past Saturday. I followed Meleev's procedure that I found on his website. I have a couple of questions.

First, how do you know when your culture has grown/fortified enough that it's ready to split? I'm starting with one 2 liter bottle's worth.

Second, if my culture crashes, how will I know it?

Answers, advice and helpful tips are all welcomed. Thanks,

Fcamdog

I would toss out the part where he recommends using Miracle Grow (formulated for terrestrial plants) and opt for a Guillards F/2 media like Micro Grow from Florida Aqua Farms. F/2 is formulated for microalgae.

FWIW we mix our own but with 2,500,000 gallons in production it's a little wiser to mix then out right buy :)

[herozero]

FWIW we mix our own but with 2,500,000 gallons in production it's a little wiser to mix then out right buy :)

what are you feeding with that much in production? i assume that's a variety of phyto and not just nanno?

[GreshamH]

what are you feeding with that much in production? i assume that's a variety of phyto and not just nanno?

Feeding the global aquaculture market. We're the worlds largest producer of marine microalgae concentrates (paste). We also supply researchers, Universities, public aquariums, government aganecies and the MO industry (breeders, hobbyists, LFS, etc) as well as other industries that I won't mention due to how contracts are written.

No not just nanno :) I'd slap a link up but that would violate the UA since I am a non sponsoring vendor.

[herozero]

No not just nanno :) I'd slap a link up but that would violate the UA since I am a non sponsoring vendor.

I promise I'm not trying to bust ya, i'm just genuinely curious. :spin2:

I've been brewing nanno for awhile now, very easy and forgiving. My buddies think I am brewing Mountain Dew. I have been interested in other phyto types, but am afraid that they are less forgiving.

[crooks]

I think http://www.reed-mariculture.com/ is near San Fransisco but I could be wrong.

[GreshamH]

:) It is... Campbell is about 50 miles S-SE of SF. Follow the link to see what other species we sell. We culture more species then is for sale though.

[Fcamdog]

Good thread so far, thank you for your responses. I started my culture with 1/2 of a 15 oz bottle of DT's. I read a few different places and since I'm too broke to buy cultures online right now I figured I'd give it a try.

If I go to somewhere and buy species specific cultures can they be mixed?

Has anyone started off with DT's before and been successful?

I can already see a darker tint to my 2 liter bottle of phyto so I am keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to grow as planned/hoped.

Fcamdog

[GreshamH]

If I go to somewhere and buy species specific cultures can they be mixed?

Only after you culture them separate. If you try to grow a mixed culture one will always take over and out compete the rest.