Phyto culture

Elo500

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I reduced my culture down to one bottle. I just harvested another batch that took 16 days. Using my new density stick it measured 13.3. I guess I could have let it go a little longer.



 
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I think it's the weather that is keeping the cultures from harvesting well.

Mine are culturing again, but still slow, despite all the work of cleaning and sterilizing.
 

solitude127

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I reduced my culture down to one bottle. I just harvested another batch that took 16 days. Using my new density stick it measured 13.3. I guess I could have let it go a little longer.



Where did you get your density stick from?

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Fizzman

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Anyone know how to test nitrate in your culture? I have found that if I do 1ml of f/2 for 1L it darkens within a 2days nd I split at day 7(my f/2 says 1.5ml per gallon), I also find that if I give it 0.2ml booster half way into the week, the harvest at the end is even darker. It seems that if light and nutrients is sufficient the population increases pretty fast. So running it longer isn't better. The only way to prove this is to test for nitrate when I harvest but how can I tell the color change when it's dark green.
 
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Well, i tried the .2ml at the end of a week, and did not like the results.

By the end of the day, it seemed to crash my culture, and i had to stir it up a whole lot more than normal.

Not really a big deal, but I think I will stick to what has worked fine in the past.

I am fairly certain that i have reached my threshold for what i can culture in the most ideal of settings with my culture, and at the most optimal of temperatures, etc, that yield occurs at about 7 days.

I am very tempted to try using a heating pad during this cold part of the year, as this cold weather truly seems to be a detriment to expedited culturing.

At the next culture, i might try .1ml per day and see if that helps. "starving" my other cultures seems to help, in a sense, and I am curious if that will work with phyto.

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Fizzman

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[MENTION=11526]Nick Shades[/MENTION] I give it the booster half way in the week not the end. Like on Wednesday. I actually use a lot. I culture in 64oz bottles and every split I add 2ml then on Wednesday I add a 0.5ml booster. By sat again my culture is as dark as my Tetraselmis culture. I got my f/2 on ebay by mercer of Montana, which their instructions is 1.5ml per gallon. I also bubble a lot, almost max bubbling just under skimming threshold.
 
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To sterilize it
When I mix it I just an old bucket and pump
Possible algal or bacteria spores from previous uses could be in there and can cause my culture to crash


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I bought a uv sterilizer at auction for my fw club last month, i put it into my dt to make sure it worked, not remembering why i bought it in the first place.

Im rereading the thread, here, and just realized because of this post, why i got it in the first place.

Im going to UV my next batch of SW.
 
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[video]https://youtu.be/qNffTPTKbQM[/video]

New phyto culture layout.

*left out that i also switched to distilled water for my cultures.
If it goes any better, i might switch exclusively to distilled and then buy a home rodi unit, and /or distill at home
 

solitude127

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Does anyone know what the po4 of a harvestable culture should be?

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Does anyone know what the po4 of a harvestable culture should be?

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Which po4 test should i get? I have a new bottle of 4-strain that i could test against, but i dont currently own a po4 test.

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solitude127

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Which po4 test should i get? I have a new bottle of 4-strain that i could test against, but i dont currently own a po4 test.

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I bought the Red Sea Algae kit and I like it. Some people like the Hanna checkers because it gives you a number as opposed to trying to compare colors.
 

solitude127

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I just ask because my PO4 went up in my tank and was wondering if it was because of the fertilizer used in the culture. I don't know if it's coincidence but I had a fish die in the tank recently as well but the corpse didn't last long because the CUC got to it.

I think I read somewhere that if you're PO4 is high in your culture, it's too early to harvest because the Phyto hasn't used up all the fertilizer.
 

Elo500

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Harvested another batch of nc phyto. This time reached 19.2m density in 8 days. I doubled the fert and we had some warmer weather Which i think makes a difference.

 
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I just ask because my PO4 went up in my tank and was wondering if it was because of the fertilizer used in the culture. I don't know if it's coincidence but I had a fish die in the tank recently as well but the corpse didn't last long because the CUC got to it.

I think I read somewhere that if you're PO4 is high in your culture, it's too early to harvest because the Phyto hasn't used up all the fertilizer.
That is funny that you say that, because i wondered the same thing.

My phyto goes to my pod cultures.

I did not get a po4 kit yet, i'm going to get the hanna.
 

solitude127

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How's everyone's phyto coming along? As the temp warms up, it seems like it doesn't take a long to harvest anymore.
 
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When I started building my 90 gallon, I stopped both my pods and my phyto cultures, dead in their tracks.

Depending on how well my refugium does for sustaining pods, I might quit it entirely.

It began to take its toll on me during the previous two batches, as all 12 (6 at a time) completely crashed on me.

I might try it out again, but I have like 4 projects going on right now, each with too many moving parts, for me to focus on two more, right now.
 

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