How do you culture Phyto?

[paddyob]

What goes into culturing phyto or rotifers?

Could you do it in a small aquarium ? Or I saw someone using culigan bottles.

Anyhow. Looking to start a culture and looking for advice.


Thanks.

[Myka]

Look at pop bottles for culturing phyto. Florida Aqua Farms sells everything you need, including a culture manual. :) Rotifers are easy to raise in buckets. Neither phyto nor rotifers do as well in rectangular aquariums as they do in the above mentioned vessels.

[Jakegr]

Culturing phyto is very easy. All you need is a plastic or glass bottle (reactor), an air pump, starter culture (inoculum), culture media (fertilizer), and a light source.

1) Clean/sterilize the reactor as well as you can. Contamination is a problem with some species, and it can cause culture crashes, but some species are resistant. I suggest just rinsing the container in dilute bleach and wiping it down with ethanol.

2) Fill reactor with salt water and add fertilizer. I use a commercially produced fertilizer known as F/2 from ProLine. If you use F/2, add 1 mL of stock solution per 1 L of culture. Alternatively, you can use water soluble fertilizers such as Miracle Gro. Keep the fertilizer in the fridge if possible to minimize bacterial growth.

3) Inoculate culture with microalgae. I suggest Dunaliella salina to start as it is a very robust species. The first culture you start will probably be with a small amount of microalgae, however whenever you start new cultures from existing ones I suggest inoculating the new culture at 1/3 total volume (e.g. add 30 mL of your "old" culture to 70 mL of new salt water/fertilizer).

4) Aerate culture and place near light. If you can find an inline air filter, use that. Algae can grow at a range of light intensities, but you will get denser cultures if you use intense lighting (100+ PAR). You can still grow microalgae down to 30 PAR.

Hobbyists obviously have some severe practical limitations when it comes to keeping things sterile, so just do the best you can.

Maintaining cultures is easy. Pick the reactor up and shake it every day or two. Keep a couple of extra empty bottles around. Every 1 - 2 weeks clean a new bottle (lets say it is 1 L), add 200 mL of your old culture and 400 mL of fresh media, then place it under light and keep aerated. Repeat :)

Can't help ya with rotifers!