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| Phyto Experiment | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 16 2008, 11:22:36 AM (236 Views) | |
| Post #1 Aug 16 2008, 11:22:36 AM | Suzy |
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So, I am trying something. Again. Trying to get a start of microalgae from a bottle of commercially prepared phytoplankton. This time I am trying BrightWell's products. I have been using these to enrich BBS for my dwarfs and I really like them. But, they have a RED! If you have ever tried to grow phyto, you know the coveted holy grail of phyto is the reds! Browns are second, green is a lagging third. But, we all grow green because it is the easiest and the strongest, meaning it is the one that takes over the reds and browns. So, that I why I am trying to start up using these. Brightwell has a red called "Chroma something" and a brown called "Gold something". I started in a small volume with large inoculation, to give it a good chance. I thought I had bottle of both Golds, so I accidently inoculated the one on the left with an amino acid supplement. But, when I realized what I did, I squirted some of BSDs Tahitian blend in. So, neither of these companies state these are "live" cells. Anyone want to venture a guess if any of them will grow? Starting from right to left: 1: BWs PhytoGold M (medium size) 2. BWs Phytochrome 3: BSDs Tahitian Blend (a mix of spp, if any grow it will be nannoclorosis, I bet!) 4. Mountain Shadow Marine Rotifers, which are not growing and I am mad at them! They used to be such a good product |
Seahorse Whisperer
  ![]](http://z4.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
 
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| Post #2 Aug 17 2008, 09:48:30 AM | Suzy |
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Hey, cool thing I woke up to this morning! All the cells are still in suspension! I am at work so I didn't have time to look closely, so either 1: The cells have some bouyancy and could possibly be alive (dead cells just sink to the bottom) Or 2: The water is full of food coloring! |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #3 Aug 17 2008, 08:32:01 PM | Matthew |
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I vote Food coloring! You probably already know, but I knew someone named Donald Ballash who grows some cultures commercially, it might just be green phyto and rotifers, his brand is "velvet green", but he might have other kinds. |
No baby...
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| Post #4 Aug 18 2008, 04:31:48 AM | Suzy |
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I am mad at Velvet Green. I bought Rots at The Aquarium and they were dead.... The original owner was my neighbor! He sold it to Tim Weidner, who was am original founding member of WMAS, then he sold it. So, number one has no movement or anything that looks like live cells. Number two (the red) has clumps of cells, and a few intact cells. Number three has a few broken, mashed cells. But, all three are still in suspension! I think as the cells decompose, they will release nutrients for some aberrant cell to take over! |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #5 Aug 18 2008, 03:54:23 PM | Amie |
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I have hope for 2 and 3, they look good in the picture. I've grown Nanno straight from the BSD Nanno Paste several times and it's worked great. But I don't know if they say it's alive or not - I'll have to look at the bottle. I grew some from a paste that had 5 different kinds in it along time ago and it worked better than I expected it to. I don't think it was Tahitian blend though - it came in a mylar package. It took about 3 months before it was down to one single type of green phyto. Good luck, I hope the red one makes it. |
stormy, stormy nights
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http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/interns.html Tell them Adam sent you. | |
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| Post #6 Aug 21 2008, 09:40:12 AM | Suzy |
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Mylar package would have been my favorite culture resource: Algagen. They have the best pure stuff. That is where I got my best red! Their mixed package stuff is called Phycopure, and they have the smaller copepod that is pelagic. I will order from them when it gets coooler, 'cause the red only grew for me when it was cold in the basement. Update on my experiment! The Brightwell Gold is still coloring the water, very clear and obviously not cell growth. The BSD tahitain blend: ditto but even less color. But, the red looks like it is growing! The cells seems to be dividing. I never wooda thunk it.... |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #7 Aug 22 2008, 05:13:38 PM | Amie |
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Fantastic! Yep, it was PhycoPure. It grew really well for several months. I'm having a really strange phenomenon with my nano paste right now. The last batch I got from BSD about 3 months ago was really fresh. When I put it in my grow-out Brine shrimp system, the nanno took off and got darker and darker. I haven't touched it for at least 2 months now. It is really dark green and I haven't added any fertilizer to it and I rarely have air going on it. So, the brine shrimp in the system obviously provide enough fertilizer to keep the phyto growing and stirred up. The only thing I do it top it off. It's so dark that I question whether it's still nannochloropsis or just green water. But I've never had green water last this long and stay this dark of a green before. I really need to take a look at it under the scope one of these days. I scoop out brine shrimp from the container once in a while and they are dark green - it's pretty weird. I can't see them in there, but I know they are there. When you order from BSD, you can ask them how long they have had their paste. They order a bunch of it and you can be at the beginning of their order or at the end. If they just received it in, I always can start a good culture from it. But this thing has gone a little past the normal. It's strange that the BS never cleared the water out. There's obviously an even balance between the two. |
stormy, stormy nights
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http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/interns.html Tell them Adam sent you. | |
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| Post #8 Sep 10 2008, 08:12:32 PM | john hill |
| i think my phyto died it is clear at the top and dark at the bottom is this no good :( |
breeding stock
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| Post #9 Sep 11 2008, 06:32:51 AM | Suzy |
| How much did you try to grow? Try increasing the air flow and adding another ml of fertilizer. |
Seahorse Whisperer
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"i was informed of some dolphin related testing going on up there" Too Funny! | |
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| Post #10 Sep 13 2008, 01:56:10 PM | Amie |
I didn't realize that you could get it to recover after it goes clear. You know, Suzy, I never got the full lecture on growing phyto during the reef tour. I always had to leave to go talk to someone, so I just got bits and pieces. One thing that I learned that I have been doing wrong though is adding saltwater to my phyto instead of taking it all out and starting over again with a small amount. Oh, and using tap water instead of RO. I need to see if I can have more success with it using those methods. |
stormy, stormy nights
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http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/interns.html Tell them Adam sent you. | |
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