nannochloropsis phytoplankton culture (questions)

[phyto4life]

thanks

I'll start 2 x 1G going with 1/4 tsp of fertilizer and i'm thinking of splitting it after 4 day's

after that when I split them again I might leave them a little longer and add more fertilizer

do you use a density stick and if so do u know the density I would be going for that will leave vary little fertilizer with the max amount of phyto cell's?

or a shade of green?

[hillbillyreefer]

I have enough cultures going that I run them until I need them. Usually 3 or more weeks. They are deep green in that time. I don't have a density meter. If I'm really curious I'll look at them under the microscope. Someday I might pickup a density meter, but I much prefer to keep things simple. I've too many other things going on to worry about phyto too much.

[phyto4life]

everything seems to be doing good and growing

it's good to know on how dense and dark green a culture can get

[rayjay]

I don't use the disk's any more, I buy liquid starter from ReefCrew.
While I grow a lot of nanno, I no longer use it for my tank. Instead, I feed rotifers to my tank about an hour or more after lights out and see better results, especially with corals like the acans.
I no longer sterilize the water I use for phyto culture but when I did, I used to add about 8 to 10 drops of bleach to a 2L pop bottle, fill with tap water, and let sit for at least 24 hours. Then, I add ClorAm-X (or any dechlorinator) until the chlorine is neutralized and then dump half into another sterilized bottle and top both bottles up with full strength nanno that is already cultured.
It was too much hassel to keep sterilizing the water at the volumes I use now so I just take my chances on crashes and if it happens, just restart.
CULTURING PHYTO THE WAY I DO IT NOW

[phyto4life]

Thanks Rayjay good info

I'm using 1/2 tsp in a 1G of fertilizer but just started it with half a disc and will split the culture when it get's greener in 4 day's then bump up the fertalizer to 1 tsp hoping to go 6 days before splitting on a regular schedule

should I be aiming for 2 tsp in a 1G in the long run?

how long before I split?

[shrimpchips]

Do you guys refertilize after a certain point or number of days? Right now I'm only adding ferts in whenever I do a split.

[rayjay]

Originally Posted by phyto4life

Thanks Rayjay good info

I'm using 1/2 tsp in a 1G of fertilizer but just started it with half a disc and will split the culture when it get's greener in 4 day's then bump up the fertalizer to 1 tsp hoping to go 6 days before splitting on a regular schedule

should I be aiming for 2 tsp in a 1G in the long run?

how long before I split?

What kind of fertilizer are you using? I don't use MG as the FAF f/2 is economical and doesn't have all the extras that don't get used up by the phyto, and thus getting dumped into the tank.
For f/2, I use 1ml for every 2.5L of culture but simplify it to 1ml per 2 litre bottle for my stock cultures because they will never be used in a tank, only to start new larger cultures.
The problem I have with people using MG, or with overdosing f/2 is that we can't test for expired nutrients because our colour based tests are rendered pretty well useless by the phyto colours.
If you have nutrient that is NOT used up, then it will be added to the tank when you add phyto to the tank, and that fuels nuisance algae in the tank.
For f/2, I go by the recommended dosing and find that it lasts my cultures 8 to 10 days when my density gets to 3.5 cm on the density stick and is ready for harvest.
Occasionally I find a culture going a bit lighter and will add a bit of f/2 to see if it can be salvaged. Works sometimes, but I make sure that I let it go for enough days to cover what I've added.
If you split sooner than needed, you increase the chances of a crash as I've found that the stronger the culture at any time, the less likely it is to crash. Not a guarantee though as bacteria can invade and wipe out anyway.
If I were to dose 2 teaspoons, that would be about 10ml of f/2 so it would do for 25L or approximately 5 1/2gCDN or 6 1/2gUS.

[phyto4life]

I'm using a new bottle of F.A.F liquid f/2 fertilizer

I'll stick with this over miracle grow for the same reason due to adding it directly to a reef tank and I'm only culturing 6-8G of phyto a week

my brother-in-law has a bottle of FAF liquid f/2 that is 6 months old and used once should I risk using it because it will probably be another 3 month's or so before I use up the new bottle I just bought?

do you store the liquid fertilizer in the fridge or is it ok to leave it in a cool dry place?

8-10 day's to leave culture to a density of 3.5 cm on the density stick using 1/4-1/2 tsp of liquid f/2 fertilizer

does this sound close to what I should be aiming for?

do you turn off air when you measure the density?

do you use 16 hours of light?