Growing Phyto

lmm1967

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I decided I wanted to dose phyto a little while back. Problem is the convenience of getting a steady and reliable supply is tough these days. I decided to just grow my own - Tisha and I already do a fair bit of DIY "stuff" - kombucha, sauerkraut, hydroponic lettuce and tomatoes - so I knew it wouldn't be difficult to produce enough for my needs.

Photo below is the current Holy Grail Phyto Generating Factory - reference this when reading the below info.

PhytoHolyGrailSetup.jpg


Everything I'm saying below is either my opinion, or someone else's opinion I choose to believe - this is not going to help you decide if you should grow or dose phyto or which specific phytoplankton to use.
There are several links in this post - NONE of them are affiliate links.


First, choose a starter culture. You want a single species, my research taught me that you do not want to try to culture a mix of species. I chose to use Tetraselmis which I purchased from Mercer of Montana on Amazon. I thought about doing 2 setups so I could grow out 2 species. The only reason I don't is because I know I'm careless and it won't be long before I pollute 1 culture with the other.


Phyto I started with - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MYFWGM1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Food for the phytoplankton - 90% of the people I found culturing phyto seemed to be using Fritz F/2. It's a 2 part solution that goes a long way! I use 1 capful of each solution in a gallon jar and it seems to be working great.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OTH5NB6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OTH5N8Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Vessels - anything clear has worked for me so far. I know from brewing beer that it is impossible to keep plastic sterile. After a couple cleanings there are too many micro scratches for bad stuff to hide in and you'll end up with contamination. Due to that previous experience I"m using glass containers. I have used plastic but only once and only because I didn't have another glass jar to use at the time.

Jars I'm using now - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075JT2X3T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075JT2X3T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Lights - this stuff grows under anything. I read so much about how to get the most intense perfect spectrum blah blah this and that - I'm using a super cheap LED strip with a manual dimmer that I operate by hand each day. They easily double a gallon batch in about a week. I can't use it that fast so it's fine for me. My goal was to be around 6500k and not generate a ton of heat.

Light I'm using - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0832FVMN9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Air source - umm, anything that can blow bubbles through an air stone. To be honest - my first batch was done with no air stone, just an air tube in the jar making big giant bubbles. It worked - but I prefer the stirring action I get with an air stone. I used a pump I had laying around and purchased a pack of small air stones. I don't have a link because I have no idea where I even bought these things - sorry.

I chose to not wrap the lights around the growing vessel. I did so because I wanted flexibility to use any vessel I wanted, perhaps even multiple small vessels. The day I started this I wandered out to my garage and found a Jason Fox shipping box that was the size I thought I needed so I started with that - and you can see I'm still using it.

Initial setup.
1. Poke a hole in the bottom side of the box just big enough for the LED strip wiring to exit the box.
2. Peel and stick the LED strip lights all the way around the inside of the box. I considered lining the inside with foil to increase reflective light - but I didn't and this is working just fine so far.
3. Drill a hole through the lid of your growing vessel large enough for an airline tube to be inserted through.
4. Sterilize your growing vessel, lid and airline tubing. I'll post a reply below with how I do this and what I've learned.
5. Fill your growing vessel up about half way with FRESH, NEW saltwater. Don't use tank water or water that could have been contaminated from any bacteria etc. You do NOT want to "cycle" your phyto!
6. Add an appropriate amount of F/2 part A & B to the water and give it a quick mix. Try to maintain a little bit of sterility on anything that is going to touch this water.
7. Add your phyto starting culture. I started with a single 8 oz bottle in about 3/4 gallon of water.
8. Set up your airline tubing with airstone through the lid of the growing vessel.
9. Top on growing vessel, set in box with lights, turn on air pump, turn on lights.
10. Daily I perform the following.
  • Turn on lights while I'm making coffee - for me that is usually around 5 AM. I also look and marvel at how much more green the solution is from the days before.
  • Turn air pump up to high - as high as I can run it without creating foam. My goal here is to get a good stirring action going on for a short bit of time.
  • After I'm done making coffee, feeding the dog etc - I turn the air pump back down to a nice steady stream of bubbles. I guess here and it's always different. I'm trying to achieve smooth and gentle movement throughout the vessel.
  • ignore it for the rest of the day
  • before going to bed turn off the lights. This happens generally anywhere between 9pm - 10pm. My lighting schedule is just as I described. Haphazard with mistakes. I've left the light on all night with no affects. I've forgotten to turn them on until lunch with no affect.
  • in 7 - 10 days, harvest.
Below is the first day of my first batch - in a plastic jug that bulk PVC elbows come in. You can also see the bubbles are just free flowing out of airline tubing - this is before I had found my air stones. This entire batch was grown out like that. YOu can also see how transparent the batch started out as - it actually looks quite a bit darker and more opaque than reality.

day1.jpg


Below is what that first batch looked like 6 days later.

6dayslater.jpg


And this was the results

firstbatch.jpg
 
Ramblings of things I've learned in the few short batches I've grown.

I'm always glad to answer questions - I'm not an expert and it's possible this is working for me by accident - but I'll happily share my experience if it may help.

- I keep harvested phyto in the fridge and I shake it at least twice a day. So far it seems to be lasting a few weeks with no problem. I keep it cold and don't let it all settle to the bottom. I purchased 12 oz bottles with lids from amazon to make it easier to dose - see pic below. I sterilize these and let them air dry before and after each use.

Bottled.jpg

- I'm growing this in a place in the house that I walk through many times a day - that makes it easy to check in on it on a regular basis.

- When sterilizing I use warm soapy water and rubbing alcohol. If there is a single drop of rubbing alcohol still in the vessel it will crash and kill your culture. I sterilize by doing the following:
  • Wash with normal dish washing soap and warm water. I also throw in a couple tablespoons of rubbing alcohol - clean, clean, clean - plenty of shaking. Don't forget the lid and airline tubing !
  • RINSE, RINSE, RINSE.
  • Rinse again
  • Rinse again - seriously - get all that soap and alcohol out of the container or your culture will crash after a few days.
  • Wipe down the inside with a paper towel that has rubbing alcohol on it.
  • Let this sit and dry - don't dry it manually with a towel or anything, thats how you contaminate the jar. Just leave it sit open in your kitchen until it's dry. Be sure you can not smell any soap or rubbing alcohol.
- I alway start with a fresh clean vessel. When I harvest a batch I bottle up about 2/3. The other 1/3 I use to start my next batch.

- I sterilize the airstone by boiling in water on the stove.

There is NO WAY I can use the amount this silly little setup will produce. I'm splitting a 12 ounce bottle amongst 4 aquariums twice a week. I can easily produce 3/4 of a gallon every 10 days - that's 96 ounces and I'm using about 1/2 of that across 450(ish) gallons of tanks. One day I will attempt a 5+ gallon batch just to see if it will work. I have a 6 gallon glass carboy that would work perfect - I would need to alter my lighting though as a 6 gallon container wont' fit in the Holy Grail setup shown above.

Bottom line - until I crash a couple cultures in a row - I'll never run out.

I'm careful to never use anything that touches tank water in the phyto water / vessels etc.

I've added fresh RODI water to the saltwater and it seems to do just fine. What did I make the salinity you ask? I dunno - I dumped about 2 cups of RODI in a gallon sized container that was filled the rest of the way with pre-mixed saltwater. (I told you I was careless).

If you want some - just reach out to me. If I don't have any ready I probably will within a week.

I'm wondering if I should start growing pods or brine shrimp or something since I have so much "food" for them and our wrasses, cardinals and damsels would certainly love more food sized for them to be dumped in the tank a couple times a week.
 
Great write up Leo! Are you also using glass bottles to store the batch in the frig?
 
Great write up Leo! Are you also using glass bottles to store the batch in the frig?

Thanks @urbanknight - I use either for storage in fridge.

If plastic - I use bottles with small lids - this way I know nobody has gone to town scrubbing the inside with any type of scouring pad or anything that will create small scratches in the plastic.

Example list of storage bottles I have in the fridge right now:

Whiskey bottles
Plastic tonic water bottles
12 oz new bottles I bought off amazon
Glass milk bottles

I clean by using warm water, small amount of detergent, couple tablespoons of rubbing alcohol. Shake like crazy, rinse 5 times or more, let air dry. I air dry overnight or longer - I want to be sure there is no residual moisture in the bottle or the cap.

Except for the 12 oz bottles I bought off amazon - everything else is stuff we had laying around.
 
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