Anyone here into Plankton Culture ?
- Thread starter Dre
- Start date
- Location
- Garden city
I'm intersted as well
- Location
- Franklin Lakes, NJ
I used to keep multiple cultures growing. It's not overly difficult. Find a good clean source of phyto, miracle gro, a few 2 liter soda bottles, air pumps, a light and a bunch of airline. Nanochloropsis is probably your best bet to start, since it's generally the easiest.
- Location
- Union Square, NY
Phyto or zooplankton?
- Location
- Union Square, NY
Why would you want to culture phyto? It's not hard to do, but its hard to get a very concentrated amount. Basically it will cost you more to do it thank it would to buy a perfectly made batch in super high density.
To be completely honest i've heard the opposite but if you say so i believe you man. I thought the process was more complicated. I was seriously thinking of culturing Phyto and Zoop. some time in the near future.I might still try just for the fun of it.
- Location
- Franklin Lakes, NJ
The one thing you have to be careful about is your water quality. The phyto likes phosphates and nitrates (hence the miracle gro), and when you dose, that stuff goes into your tank.
I used to dose VERY heavily in my tank, but ended up with water parameter problems. After some discussion with another MR'er, I bought a centrifuge and started spinning down the phyto, discarding the nutrient heavy water and re-suspending the phyto in RO/DI water. Once I did that, it had to be dosed within a day or two, but kept the water quality high.
I had a pretty serious culturing setup and got dense clean cultures. It's not hard to do, but requires some time and effort.
I used to dose VERY heavily in my tank, but ended up with water parameter problems. After some discussion with another MR'er, I bought a centrifuge and started spinning down the phyto, discarding the nutrient heavy water and re-suspending the phyto in RO/DI water. Once I did that, it had to be dosed within a day or two, but kept the water quality high.
I had a pretty serious culturing setup and got dense clean cultures. It's not hard to do, but requires some time and effort.
- Location
- Union Square, NY
No, I'm not saying it is hard to do, it is incredibly easy. What is hard is getting the phyto very concentrated. See how dense you can get it and then take a look at Reef Nutrition's live phyto and you probably won't want to do it again. At best, I could only get very green water, any denser and you can't get enough light exposure to grow it. So basically you need a lot of surface area, water movement, and lighting.
Making a small batch is just a bucket, a light, some nitrates and a culture.
- Location
- Franklin Lakes, NJ
This is true. Like I said, I had a pretty serious rig. I had a dedicated space with some serious lighting. I split my cultures often and spun them down in order to further concentrate and clean the phyto. My cultures got to the point where they were nearly completely opaque.
You can grow whatever you like even artemia to adult size if you gonna be careful and fallow few directions. Some people from Germany keeping each culture in different room to avoid loose, I have heart about something can happen (don't remember now what exactly) and your culture gonna die in few days...
I recently finished plankton reactor and I'm waiting for items from Florida farm to start again my culture... The old reactor was too small for me I just build abit bigger, can share some pic if somebody is interested.
Regards,
mark
Sent from my iPhone using Reefs
I recently finished plankton reactor and I'm waiting for items from Florida farm to start again my culture... The old reactor was too small for me I just build abit bigger, can share some pic if somebody is interested.
Regards,
mark
Sent from my iPhone using Reefs
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