Who is making their own phyto?

[porpoiseaquatics]

I'm curious if anybody is making their own. I purchased some from an online seller and frankly, I don't believe it's quality phyto. I say that because when it sits for just a few minutes, the liquid becomes clear and the green all goes to the bottom. Any bottle I've seen in a store didn't do that.

My questions are....how did you start, where did you get your first seed, how long did it take to make your first batch, do you think you save money doing it?

 

[merkywater]

Jeff here is a good spot to get your cultures.

florida-aqua-farms.com

I was growing my own then quit now going back to it.

 

[jc_k]

I grew it for a little while. I got mine from a guy that was getting out of the hobby I think and it was really nice green color. It was easy to grow and I used the fertilizer from Florida aqua farms. I split it about a week later and so on. Sometimes I would have to dump it out because I had to much. But then for some reason my cultures started crashing. And what do you mean save money? Like are you putting it in your tank or feeding it to rotifers?

 

[merkywater]

The stuff JC_K was using was LIVE phyto feast if I'm not mistaken that he got it from Bobby "Surfdude", which can be purchased and then cultured. you can pick bottle up at some of the sponsors as I've seen it at those as well. If you want pure strains then Florida Aqua Farms has them.

 

[jc_k]

merkywater;971846 wrote: The stuff JC_K was using was LIVE phyto feast if I'm not mistaken that he got it from Bobby "Surfdude", which can be purchased and then cultured. you can pick bottle up at some of the sponsors as I've seen it at those as well. If you want pure strains then Florida Aqua Farms has them.

Yep. That's was his screen name. Is the pure strain easier to culture?

 

[merkywater]

Some strains are easy some are harder.....The bad thing about a blend like that is it is more susceptible to crashing as one of the strains in the blend will crash causing the whole batch to crash.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

Explain "crashing" to me as in what does that mean. Do they go bad over time? The bottles that I purchased online have been refrigerated since purchase.

 

[jc_k]

porpoiseaquatics;971863 wrote: Explain "crashing" to me as in what does that mean. Do they go bad over time? The bottles that I purchased online have been refrigerated since purchase.

I believe if their is die-off or something like that builds up it cusses it to crash I guess. That's just a guess.

 

[spike]

crashing is caused by contamination of the culture. In making phyto you pretty much need to sterilize the container it will be going into along with boiling the water used to make the culture. I use 2 liter coke bottles. I also sterilize the rigid tubing that is used to add oxygen to the culture. Also I add a little cotton ball to bottom of cap on the 2 liter bottle, to cut down on air contamination. You do not want any other bacteria/baddies in the culture to compete with the phytoplankton. I still have cultures crashing from time to time. I pitched 2 bottles today. You can tell a crash, the culture looses its forest green color and becomes a dull greenish brown.

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

Spike....when allowed to sit for some time, does yours settle in the bottom of the bottle? How should these actually be stored.

 

[spike]

Phyto will separate, just have to shake it up every day. I would store in the fridge.

 

[camellia]

Jeff I think I know what (vendor) bottle your talking about and mine did the same thing. I think it was real just not as potent as the bottles sold in the LFS.
It is important to open the bottle everyday to give it oxygen and shake it, etc. And most of us don't.
It also helps to keep it in the fridge door so that every-time the door is opened it gets a little shake....

 

[jdavid]

Spike, look up synthetic filter discs. They allow for better gas and fresh air exchange.

LC's (liquid cultures) are going to contaminate, eventually. Unless your sterile technique is flawless (lab conditions). If possible, consider keeping a master culture on agar in a Petri dish in the fridge. Then use slant's to start new cultures, and to inoculate liquid cultures.

Better strains will be more contaminant resistant. Man, I kind of want to get some cultures going now, and isolate some aggressive strains.

My friend AJ is working towards a PhD in marine biology. His thesis is on phytoplankton and other kinds of green algae. I know he has a lot of experience working with cultures and may have some technique to share

 

[porpoiseaquatics]

Mine are in the fridge for storage. I haven't opened them up (except the bottle I'm currently using) so I guess I should do that. I'm just trying to understand it better so I don't pour something bad into my tanks.