Green water

[-TS-Vash]

Do you grow your own green water and if so plz post pics of your setups i just heard about this and i would like to grow my own phytoplankton. Also how much do you feed to your tank a week?

[-TS-Vash]

Come on no one grows there own coral and invert food??

[Pyrojon]

Your joking right? Lots of people grow their own. If the people selling it can grow it, why not the rest of us?

You could look at something like this
http://www.aquadirect.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=1020&cat=0&page=

or a simple set of 2L soda bottles and some lights will do the trick as well. Search this forum and you should find plenty of great info.

[-TS-Vash]

Thats sweet looks like i have a DIY project to start on thanks.

[dznuts007]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/6988Phytoplankton_Culture_September_11__2005.JPG

[mikebrowning]

dznuts007 got any more details on your setup of your Phytoplankton Culture? more pics and how it works?

[dznuts007]

Whisper air pump that connects to a manifold

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/6988Air_pump.JPG

Here's the air manifold that has little knobs to adjust how much air flow you want through each tube

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/6988Manifold.JPG

Each silicone air tube leads to the top of each bottle and connects to rigid air tube (can get the rigid tubing at PetSmart or other stores)

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/6988Top.JPG

Behind the 4 bottles of phytoplankton cultures are 2 strip lights I purchased at WalMart (Lights of America), they're about $8 bucks each. Comes in some yellow packaging and I think it's model 7020 24" 20 watt.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/6988Lights.JPG

Timers to each strip light giving 16 hours of light each day

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/6988Timers.JPG

[mikez104]

Cool. More details on how ya do it, please.

[dznuts007]

Basically read and followed the steps of these sites:

10 Step Phytoplankton (http://www.sjwilson.net/reef/phytosteps.html)

Melev's Phytoplankton (http://www.melevsreef.com/phytoplankton.html)

Advanced Aquarist Phytoplankton (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/breeder.htm)

Ordered a culture of Nanochloropsis from AquaCultureStore.com (http://www.aquaculturestore.com)

I started this culture on Sunday September 4, 2005. Took about a week for the water to really turn green (kinda got skeptical about it). So far so good. Gonna split the culture once it gets dark green...

[Mind_nl]

Thanks for the links dznuts!

[Medicine Man]

I have been contemplating this also. Are you using the Miracle Gro method as described on Melev's site? Anything bad happening? Anthony Calfo said that he did not recommend using a home brew of green water due to the possibility of contaminates. What do you think?

[dznuts007]

I added 1 mL of MiracleGro into each bottle. I guess there is the possibility of contaminates, but I guess it all depends on the sources. I purchased a culture of nanochloropsis on agar gel and used that to start it. I added some DT's to 2 of the bottles, but not sure if that will do anything. I'm thinking of starting 2 new bottles of just DT's and see if that will grow too.

[-TS-Vash]

Thats a nice setup and thanks for posting pics. I was thinking of making a wall mounted green water unit with a brine unit next to it with tubes at the bottom so i could just open a valve and release the green water and brine strait into my sump or tank. How long have you been growing green dznuts007 ? And you just use MiracleGro ? Do you ever have cultures fail?

[Shark Bait100]

From experience playing with cultures, test your cultures for excess nitrate and phosphate before adding to your reef. If your setup is not working correctly, the algea will not grow as fast, and you will be dumping fert into your tanks. I found out the hard way, phosphates through the roof. I test every batch, til I am confident the present setup is working. As of now, phospates and nitrates are only slighly detectable. Time will tell. Also, be very careful about introducing bacteria into your cultures. I had one crash, after several months. Maintain your equiptment and meduim as clean as possible, microwave before starting new cultures. I also add pencilian to the initial cultures to rid them of any bacteria, but don't use on a continuios basis, make some super bacteria that is resistant to medicines. good luck.

[-TS-Vash]

thanks

[dznuts007]

Thanks for the tips Shark Bait100. I started this culture a little over a week ago just to play around. Haven't actually used any of it in my tank.

[alljap]

What is actually happening when a batch is crashed?

Thanks

[Shark Bait100]

When a batch crashes, you have no live phyto, and you will have a high conc of fert in the meduim, nothing in there to eat it. That's why always test your phyto until your satisfied the setup works, or if the color just doesn't look right.

[-TS-Vash]

Do any of you know a place you can get clear PVC i really want to do the wall mounted thing. And do you think i could start a batch from only dts and the rest of the stuff i need?

[thesaent14]

it probably sound stupid but i don't know or i am confuse what is it for exactly some one care to explain

[dznuts007]

??? What is what?

[thesaent14]

the green water

[-TS-Vash]

Green water is phytoplankton you can grow your own for nothing and grow gallons or liters at a time.

[-TS-Vash]

thesaent14 read this it will help you understand http://www.sjwilson.net/reef/phytosteps.html

[Warnberg]

Here is my culture station right after it was built.



http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/59601culture_station.jpg

[Warnberg]

Sorry... here are the plans for it....


Culture Station DIY (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/ds/index.php)

[-TS-Vash]

Very nice thanks for the link.

[-TS-Vash]

Are there other things besides brine we can grow?

[Warnberg]

Brine shrimp, Rotifers, phytoplankton, zooplankton, pods and the list goes on. If you are interested in culturing your own food for your fish and possibly fry I would suggest you pick up a book called,
"PLANKTON CULTURE MANUAL 6TH EDITION" you can also get an entire kit from them to get you started with green water and rotifers.

https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi?cart_id=5518273.15577*id1cq7&product=BOOKS_MANUALS

[-TS-Vash]

thanks for the info.

[dznuts007]

Hey Warnberg, have you had any of your cultures crash? If so, how did it look?

[Warnberg]

Haven't had any culture crashes yet, although I thought one did but it had just exhausted all nutrients in the water and stopped growing, after splitting that culture and feeding again it took off, both halves where as green as could be in 3 days.

I also found out something very interesting, all cultures that where started in bottles that where not previously rinsed, in other words just before I started the culture there was still some soda in the bottom of the bottle, I then rinsed with very warm water several times, then started the culture in that bottle. Those cultures seems to grow and take off faster than cultures started in bottles that where rinsed previously.

[Shark Bait100]

dznuts007, I had one crash. They turn clear with a brown tint to the water, and a lot of stuff on the bottom. Your cultures should remain a nice flourescent green color, if done right.

[-TS-Vash]

Any one grow brine? i think i want to grow both.

[dznuts007]

Hrmm..mine are stil green but there's ALOT of gunk on the bottom...

[Shark Bait100]

increase the bubbling to keep the cells in suspension. Are you shaking the bottles once a day? that help keep the cultures alive.

I grow brine shrimp also. Rotfers took to much time, when you add in the time to keep extra green water.

[-TS-Vash]

You can grow cultures and keep them in the fridge untill you need them right well at least for a while?

[Warnberg]

I have read that cultures will last about 7 days or so in the fridge. Also if you decide to do brine (they will eat anything and everything) make sure you do not cross culture pods or rotifers with brine, the brine will eat them *** well, you can however grow rotifers and pods in the same container, I personally use a 10 gallon tank.

[Warnberg]

dznuts007, you may wnat to split those cultures (the ones that have alot a gunk in the bottom) to two new culture bottles and either clean the originals (PITA) or get some new bottles.

[-TS-Vash]

phyto unit im going to build
http://www.aquadirect.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=1020&cat=0&page=
I want to make a wall mounted phyto brine unit with a dosing pump to feed the phyto and brine to my tank some thing like this on the website but better and i thing my whole unit will only cost me 30 bucks to make + the dosing pump.

[ZURCSREEF]

awesome ideas!!! definately going to be building one of these...

[thesaent14]

thats the one i was goin to make i have the plexi allready i just need to go and get the pump

[ZURCSREEF]

thesaent14 is my DIY hero, lol, he's awesome with any DIY, esspecially if it involves acrylic, check out his stuff!

[thesaent14]

Hey I Feel Good I Have Fans Lol I Post The Same Idea In This Thread In Page 1 I Just Don't Know How To Say it But If You Need Help With The Acrylic I Am In The Process Of Designing Something In A Larger project

PS about fans is a joke i love to help

and ZURCSREEF i am disinig you skimmer i hope you like it give me a call

[ZURCSREEF]

Lol, check your PM

[Rickster88888]

Can we use natural sunlight instead of the light tubes?

[-TS-Vash]

yes i have heard you can.

[guntercb]

Rickster888, I know a guy here in Florida grows his phytoplanton out side under a Tree for some slight shade. He is growing the phytoplanton to feed his rotofiers which he feeds to his corals. He is a coral farmer.

I have also been fortunete to check out Dave Warnberg's set up and lets just say it is awesome.

Cheers,
Chris

[-TS-Vash]

Well got mine started last night looks good still green today 1 gallon watter 1/2 cup salt 5ml Mirgrow and 5 ml DTs phyto light and air pump.
let you how it looks in a few days. Im still working on the phyto brine unit pics later if i get a new camera.

[Warnberg]

-TS-Vash I found the best salinity to get the densist culture occures at about 15 ppm or is it ppt, anyway that is where I am growing my cultures at and they really take off.

Just an FYI

[-TS-Vash]

15ppm i have the one that says 1.019 what would that be on yours?

[Warnberg]

I'm gonna have to look, I found this....

Specific Gravity Salinity
(S.G.) (p.p.t.)
1.000 0
1.003 5
1.007 10
1.010 15
1.013 20
1.016 25
1.019 30
1.023 35
1.026 40

So I am about 1.010 SG or 15 ppt for max density.

[dhnguyen]

I do mine even easier than that. 2 liter soda bottle filled with 1.020 ish SG water, 7 drops of liquid plant food made from fish emulsion, an airline and air pump and set these on my kitchen's window sill. Free light - Sun :)

2 weeks later the water is dark green.

D.

[Warnberg]

dhnguyen, have you checked your density to see what it is?

[dhnguyen]

No. I don't have a microscope handy nor know of anyone who has one.

[Warnberg]

Actually a microscope is unnecessary, you can get a microalgae density measurer from here and see what it is much easier, not as accurate as a microscope but it will give you a good estimate.

https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi

[dhnguyen]

Never thought such a thing existed. I'll have to try it out.

D.

[-TS-Vash]

lol well its going fine i now have 3 going 1 2 liter 1 gaterade bottle and a gallon container i got for the wall mounted unit im making im useing DTs and mirgrow with the salt at 1.019 and the sun as the light source. ill keep you posted i got access to a camera so ill post the wall mounted phyto/brine unit im making soon.

BTW copods hard to grow any one have some going now if so plz post pics for me and if you have any for sale let me know.

[-TS-Vash]

Ok i got a question for all of you my phosphates in my tap water are off the chart so i filter my water through phosban for a week before i use it to remove all the phosphates. I made one gallon with filtered water and the other gallon and 2 liter with regular water both are fine and as green as my yard. But the miracle grow contains phosphates so if i feed the phyto to my tank ill get phosphates in there so how do you feed the phyto to your tank do you filter the phyto out of the water or do the phytoplankton use all the phosphates in water so its not a problem?

[Warnberg]

I do not worry about phosphates in my culture water. I did find something interesting out the other day, I had my first culture crash. I have been experimenting with different water to see if one would crash and I found one. I used water (RO/DI) mixed to 1.010 salinity that had been sitting on the back porch for about 3 days aging and aerating. This resulted in a culture crash. All other water that I have used (RO, RO/DI, tap) all mixed at the time of use works well. I have found that RO water seems to produce the densest cultures, RO/DI works but not as dense a culture, Tap works well but will peak in density very quickly and start to diminish in density.

So to answer your question TS-Vash, I would think by removing the phosphates and exposing the water to an external possible bacteria source my not be the best method, this could be a cause of a culture crash. Also anytime you feed you will be adding phosphates to your tank and most of the micro algae foods you will find are high in phosphates (micro and macro algae's thrive off this stuff) that is why some people run a Refugium. When I feed phyto to my tank, I usually only use a small amount and target feed the animals in the tank that can use it the most (filter feeders) most of the time I use the phyto to feed rotifers, brine shrimp and pods then those are used to feed the tank after filtering them out of the phtyo water.

[-TS-Vash]

Well thanks for the answer i just got my phosphates in my tank down so i dont want to feed it to my tank but if i can feed it to brine thats great and i will have to start a brine tank tonight thanks.

[-TS-Vash]

Got my brine tank up tonight. I thought i would show you my phytoplankton i grew in 5 days. This is a pic of it. Ill post a pic of the brine in a week or so.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b55/-TS-Vash/PICT0003.jpg

I made 2 gallons but i put the rest in a experiment im doing. HEHEHE.

[Kathy55g]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/56462culture_she001.jpg

I recycle water from my fish tanks that I would normally flush after a water change. I filter it through 2 layers of Bounty paper towels, dilute to 25 ppt with fresh water (tap is fine), and siphon into pop bottles 2/3 full. I add 8 drops of bleach to each bottle, cap and shake and store on the middle shelf of the unit above at least overnight.

when it's time to take a ripe bottle off line, I propagate by using one of these bleached bottles, 3/4 ml dechlorinator, cap and shake. Then add 12 drops of f/2 fertilizer, and fill to the top with ripe phyto. That goes on line with air for a week. No shaking, mixing or fussing of any kind. I have no sediment and no crashes. It is effortless. Bleach is the secret. Kills all the bacteria, the root cause of crashes.

When I am in production mode, I only let a bottle grow for a week before propagation and harvest. I am in hybernation mode right now. I have 9 bottles going on their 3rd week. No crashes!

Forget miracle grow. f/2 is just as cheap, and it has everything in the right proportions to support microalgae. Get the right stuff!

The bottom shelf in the picture houses two 1 gallon milk jugs of rotifers--200 rots/ml grown on nothing but my phytoplankton.

It is appealingly cheap!

[-TS-Vash]

Nice.

[-TS-Vash]

Well im growing phyto again i just started keeping clams and i need to bowl feed a small squamosa clam lol just when you think your done it pulls you back in lol. Also do any of you guys grow brine in your phyto i tried it a few times a long time ago when i was still doing this and they grew 1 inch long in about 2 weeks or so i think i read they eat phyto so i just mixed the 2 containers i had together and bam huge brine. The phyto was so dark that i had to filter them out just to see them.

[itstheantitang]

Sounds like you are doing well, TS-Vash.

[-TS-Vash]

Im doing well i guess but i still have a LOT of things to do.

[UrbanSage]

I had a good time setting up my own phyto brewery (http://vaernhoej.com/phyto.htm) and was wondering where people get a hold of rotifers?

[Warnberg]

Florida Aqua Farms
https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi?cart_id=4069510.14421*LZ1r054069510.14421

[UrbanSage]

Cool thanks! :thumbsup: