Phytoplankton foaming help

Jdavis8824 · 05/10/2015, 05:52 PM

Hi. I think I have a problem with my plankton culture. I purchased a disk of Japanese green plankton and F/2 fertilizer from Florida Aqua farms about 4 weeks ago. You can see my set up below. I started with one gallon then after a week I cut the culture in half and added new rodi water to both containers and using only 1 60w 6500k bulb which does not produce heat. Then the third week I cut both cultures and added a 2 light, same as the first to the other side to produce light on both sides. The only thing I did differently was I added 2ml of F/2 to each bottle which I only did 1.5ml before. And of course the added light. There is a light bubble in each of the containers using a 4 gang valve and ridged and flexible tubing. It just now started foaming in the last 3 days as I haven't looked since then. What do you think I'm doing wrong? My guess is the added light. But it's the only way to get light to both sides. My Home Depot store didn't have 24 inch tubes that where at 6500k so I went with clip lamps.

Jdavis8824 · 05/10/2015, 05:54 PM

Jdavis8824 · 05/10/2015, 05:58 PM

Forgot to mention that even though I cut the culture in half that the color of the water after I added equal parts saltwater at 1.019 it still looked pretty dark.

CuzzA · 05/10/2015, 06:06 PM

Foam usually indicates too many small bubbles that basically turn the container into a protein skimmer. Also it doesn't appear that you have a vent on your containers. Perhaps not enough air is escaping. I would drill a vent equal to the size of the ID of the tubing.

Jdavis8824 · 05/10/2015, 06:12 PM

The bubbles aren't that small. It looks like it's boiling inside the container and the holes are bigger then the air line tubing but perhaps not big enough. The bubbles are about the size of a marble. Is the plankton saveable? I'm thinking maybe I need to cut the culture more. Maybe empty 2/3rds and fill with saltwater. Because they are a little darker then I think they should be when I just cut half. More darker then it is light. Can I cut it now and take off caps and it still work? Or is the plankton useless now...?

Jdavis8824 · 05/10/2015, 06:16 PM

I didn't have this problem the first two weeks which also made me think that it was the added light.

CuzzA · 05/10/2015, 06:18 PM

Unfortunately I don't think I could help much more as I don't have personal experience, only read a lot about it. I don't want to give you bad advice. If it's dark then I don't see why you couldn't cut it again. I wonder if it's too hot in this setup and you are literally cooking them. Maybe the culture is crashing and the die off is causing the foam. This is just some of my speculation. I'll step aside and hopefully someone else with experience can help.

Jdavis8824 · 05/10/2015, 06:27 PM

There's no heat coming off the bulbs. They are spiral energy efficient bulbs and produce no heat. I made sure because the first bulb I had was a grow plant light and produce a lot of heat so I went outta my way to find 6500k bulbs that didn't. The metal lamps are cool to the touch. Thanks for the advice I will try cutting more and adding more ventilation. Just hoping it's still good and all I have to do it cut the culture rather then pouring it out in the drain.

CuzzA · 05/10/2015, 06:46 PM

Yes maybe you have an excellent culture going that needs more splitting as it's overgrown.

You could also put a few ounces in the fridge and see what happens. I do have experience with commercially bottled phyto and if it settles on the bottom and starts staining the container it means the culture is toast.

05/10/2015, 05:52 PM	#1
Jdavis8824 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 371	Phytoplankton foaming help Hi. I think I have a problem with my plankton culture. I purchased a disk of Japanese green plankton and F/2 fertilizer from Florida Aqua farms about 4 weeks ago. You can see my set up below. I started with one gallon then after a week I cut the culture in half and added new rodi water to both containers and using only 1 60w 6500k bulb which does not produce heat. Then the third week I cut both cultures and added a 2 light, same as the first to the other side to produce light on both sides. The only thing I did differently was I added 2ml of F/2 to each bottle which I only did 1.5ml before. And of course the added light. There is a light bubble in each of the containers using a 4 gang valve and ridged and flexible tubing. It just now started foaming in the last 3 days as I haven't looked since then. What do you think I'm doing wrong? My guess is the added light. But it's the only way to get light to both sides. My Home Depot store didn't have 24 inch tubes that where at 6500k so I went with clip lamps.

05/10/2015, 05:54 PM	#2
Jdavis8824 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 371

05/10/2015, 05:58 PM	#3
Jdavis8824 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 371	Forgot to mention that even though I cut the culture in half that the color of the water after I added equal parts saltwater at 1.019 it still looked pretty dark.

05/10/2015, 06:06 PM	#4
CuzzA Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Palm Harbor, FL Posts: 2,997	Foam usually indicates too many small bubbles that basically turn the container into a protein skimmer. Also it doesn't appear that you have a vent on your containers. Perhaps not enough air is escaping. I would drill a vent equal to the size of the ID of the tubing.

05/10/2015, 06:12 PM	#5
Jdavis8824 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 371	The bubbles aren't that small. It looks like it's boiling inside the container and the holes are bigger then the air line tubing but perhaps not big enough. The bubbles are about the size of a marble. Is the plankton saveable? I'm thinking maybe I need to cut the culture more. Maybe empty 2/3rds and fill with saltwater. Because they are a little darker then I think they should be when I just cut half. More darker then it is light. Can I cut it now and take off caps and it still work? Or is the plankton useless now...?

05/10/2015, 06:16 PM	#6
Jdavis8824 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 371	I didn't have this problem the first two weeks which also made me think that it was the added light.

05/10/2015, 06:18 PM	#7
CuzzA Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Palm Harbor, FL Posts: 2,997	Unfortunately I don't think I could help much more as I don't have personal experience, only read a lot about it. I don't want to give you bad advice. If it's dark then I don't see why you couldn't cut it again. I wonder if it's too hot in this setup and you are literally cooking them. Maybe the culture is crashing and the die off is causing the foam. This is just some of my speculation. I'll step aside and hopefully someone else with experience can help.

05/10/2015, 06:27 PM	#8
Jdavis8824 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Posts: 371	There's no heat coming off the bulbs. They are spiral energy efficient bulbs and produce no heat. I made sure because the first bulb I had was a grow plant light and produce a lot of heat so I went outta my way to find 6500k bulbs that didn't. The metal lamps are cool to the touch. Thanks for the advice I will try cutting more and adding more ventilation. Just hoping it's still good and all I have to do it cut the culture rather then pouring it out in the drain.

05/10/2015, 06:46 PM	#9
CuzzA Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Palm Harbor, FL Posts: 2,997	Yes maybe you have an excellent culture going that needs more splitting as it's overgrown. You could also put a few ounces in the fridge and see what happens. I do have experience with commercially bottled phyto and if it settles on the bottom and starts staining the container it means the culture is toast.