Culturing your own live phytoplankton is a great step to sustainable aquaculture and an economical pathway to providing live products to your aquaria in the comfort of your own home. Our turnkey culture kit provides everything you need except sterile saltwater. Have your saltwater ready when receiving your product so you can start incubating your live culture on the day of delivery when your cultures are at their peak viability and freshness.
Pre-setup
*Sterilize your work surface and hands. I use 91% rubbing alcohol. This includes the surface where your airpump and container will be sitting on. The rigid and flexible airline tubing should also be sterilized. Add a little rubbing alcohol to the inside and outside standing over the sink, and shake it somewhat dry so it isn't dripping wet. Add the long end of the tubing to your air pump. Your air pump will blow air through the tubing drying it naturally. Place your tubing on the sterile surface until dry.
Step 1: Sterilize your saltwater
Your salt should be mixed to a specific gravity of 1.020-1.025 salinity. You can measure this using a hydrometer or refractometer. I recommend boiling your saltwater at 212F for 7-8 minutes and letting cool to room temperature. You can also do this in the microwave using a glass measuring cup. It will only take 3-4 minutes to boil in the microwave. Bringing your solution to a mild boil on the stove is going to be easier to control. There are other methods of sterilizing your saltwater solution but for the beginner, this is going to be the easiest and most straightforward way. Let your saltwater cool naturally to room temperature before working with it. It can take several hours depending on how much you are working with. When boiling, I recommend to place a piece of tinfoil over the vessel to discourage too much evaporation
What not to do
- Use water from your tank (just no)
- Using tap water (RODI water is recommended)
- Not sterilizing your saltwater (competing bacteria will almost certaintly crash your culture at some point)
- Using freshwater (this is saltwater phytoplankton)
Step 2: Add your phytoplankton to your culture vessel
Your culture vessel is sterile. Simply remove the cap, add your culture carefully until it is approximately 1/3 full.
Step 3: Add your saltwater solution
Simply fill up the container leaving 1-2 inches from the top
Step 4: Add approximately 1mL f/2 fertilizer to your culture medium.
Step 5. Replace the cap to your culture vessel
The opposite end of your tubing (the long rigid part) should be dry at this point. If it does not look dry, or you have set spots, give it a few more minutes. Lingering alcohol can crash your phytoplankton culture. It needs to be dry.
Once you have confirmed the inside and outside of your tubing is dry (can take several minutes, be patient) force the rigid tubing through the paper cap on the lid. Push the tubing down into the culture medium and if needed, adjust your air valve to where you have a "soft rolling boil" effect but its not bubbling out the top. You should have left 2 inches for an air gap, so it shouldn't splash out. If it does, restrict more air flow but not too much- you need a strong bubble (but not violent) to keep your culture suspended.
6. Add your lights
These should go somewhere close to your culture vessel. They come with stickers so you can simply place them on a wall or under a cabinet facing your culture vessel. The timer is adjustable- 12 hours on, and 12 hours off is sufficient.
Your culture should be set up somewhere relatively clean. Air contaminants can mess with your culture and effect the growth. (IE careful about kitchens and garages). Let culture bubble for 7-10 days- once it looks thick and dark green it is ready for harvest and/or splitting. If you have questions about your air quality (kitchen, garage), you can poke your rigid airline tubing through the middle of a cotton ball, and position the cotton near the inlet of your culture vessel. This will keep larger contaminates from entering and help to prevent crashes.
7. Grow Baby!
Your culture should take approximately 7-10 days until it is ready to harvest. Phytoplankton can handle larger temperature ranges, but as a general rule I would keep it between 65F and 82F. Once it goes dark, it is ready to harvest. Normally I recommend splitting the culture and using a portion to start another one. Our dual culture vessel package will allow you to either culture two at once, or provide a clean vessel that is ready to go on harvest day to start another culture.
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