Phytoplankton/Rotifer Culture

[manderx]

a few of us are talking about starting phytoplankton/rotifer cultures. setting up a phyto culture is pretty easy, it just takes a soda bottle, a small flourescent light and an airpump. if you have clams or featherdusters, then you really should be dosing phyto and since DT's is so expensive, we might as well grow our own (though DT's does have some distinct advantages).

if we get a few more people involved, it will probably only cost a few bucks each to get all the starter cultures and fertilizer we need.

let me know in this thread if you are interested.


-matt

[mbort]

Matt,

Have you heard from anyone else? It would be nice to get at least 4 people involved to lower costs.

[rbattle]

I am in.

I have some DT's right now if we wanna use that as a starter culture. Fertilizer can't be that expensive.

Rush

[vtsureshot]

i dont know much about the subject, cause i dont have clams or whatever but ill be willing to help and contribute however much yall would want. just to learn about it. and perhaps get into using it.

[manderx]

oh, and i have the 'PLANKTON CULTURE MANUAL' listed on this page if anyone wants to read it. but it's overkill really, more written for large scale commercial production.

https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi?cart_id=2336419.9567*t17Y-1&product=BOOKS_MANUALS

if that link doesn't work, try this one:
http://www.florida-aqua-farms.com
and then click on books.


here's a good place for some 'real world' phyto information:
http://www.sjwilson.net/reef/index.html
the page design is rather annoying, click on the navigation bar along the right side and then 'phytoplankton culture'.

[KelKoolaid]

what is the life span of Phytoplankton. I was thinking about buying someat an up and coming reef meeting, how quick do I have to use them ( 3 - 500 ml bottles) can I just keep in fridge or what do I do with it, sorry for newbie question.

[manderx]

i'm going to place the phyto/rotifer order next week, probably on the 10th. part of me wants to wait till the next meeting, but the rest of me needs phyto sooner than later.

let me know what all you want. anyone who wants to culture phyto will need a bottle of f/2 fertilizer. anyone who wants to culture rotifers will need a strainer. they do sell rotifer food, but that's really only as last resort in case your phyto crashes. i have some already and i'll gladly give some out to anyone.

unless someone has something interesting to say, i was planning on nano and iso. nano is what DT's used to use, now they use a mix of a few kinds. if you want in on both, you will need to culture them separate.

i haven't worked any of the numbers yet, but it should be cheap enough that affordability shouldn't be an issue for anyone. even me.