New and Improved Phyto station "technique"

Alex

Premium Member
I've been growing phyto for about a year now and I'd like to share my experience as I think I accidently came up with a pretty good set up.
For starters I use Marc's phyto recipe.
I have a 4 gallon pretzel box, 4 air lines and the "accidental trick" you can't see in the picture below.

Phytojug.jpg
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I was trying to "automate" the having to pick up and shake the jug every couple of days so I dropped a maxijet 400 and put it on a timer that is ON for 1 hour and OFF for 1 hour.

My phyto jug gets SOOOOO... dark. I have it bubbling for up to 2 or sometimes 3 months. During that time I"ll add a fresh 2-lt bottle due to evaporation once a month and let it tumble....
The maxijet keeps it suspended and it only gets darker and darker.

Take a look at the end result.
viewtopic.php?t=45523

I bought 4 kitchen countertop bulbs from walmart for $8 ea, and that's the set up.

Enjoy.
 
Here is another picture that shows the lights a bit better.
And it all sits in a white styrofoam container... (better light reflection)

BTW, if you want to see it in action, the admission fee is free...
SPS frag trading is encouraged...

Phytojugwithlightstrips.jpg
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I was considering doing something bigger than the average 2L bottle setup. Can you comment on a couple of things for someone who has not cultured their own before?

1) What temp do you reglate this to (or do you)?
2) Does this smell bad? I can only set mine up in the house or the garage, and suspect the temperate flux in the garage will be too much.
3) Do you add any additional fertilizer or chemicals aside from the initial mixture? (the 2L top off, is it just water or the full mixture of chemicals too?)

I'll discuss with you when I stop by this week, but I wanted to write them down for everyone's benefit. :)
 
1) What temp do you reglate this to (or do you)?
Ans: I don't regulate the temp. I have the set up in the utility room which is airconditioned based on the house temp. Typically my utility room runs a bit hotter since the washer and dryer are in there too. I 've never found small variations in temp being a problem.

2) Does this smell bad? I can only set mine up in the house or the garage, and suspect the temperate flux in the garage will be too much.
Ans: It does not smell bad (if it ever smells bad - throw it away), but I 'd not set it up in the garage due to the extreme temp swings.

3) Do you add any additional fertilizer or chemicals aside from the initial mixture? (the 2L top off, is it just water or the full mixture of chemicals too?)
Ans: The 2-lt top off, is the same mixture as what the Marc-recipe calls for: (tap water, Saltwater at 1.019 - 1.020, 5ml miracle grow, 1ml of kent trace elements)
 
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery....

I didn't get to set mine up until tonight. I ended up buying the Utz Cheese Balls from Sam's instead of pretzels. It holds 10L of water. I've been eating cheese balls for a while now (and I DON'T need any, that's for sure). It was actually pretty funny with me and my nephew standing in line at Sam's with only 2 containers of cheese balls. Two overweight goateed dudes with their cheese balls gettin dirty looks.... :)


I set mine up inside a Kent salt bucket instead of a foam crate so I can more easily move it around, and I'm using a MJ 600 instead of a 400 (I had one laying around). The cheeze ball container fits almost perfectly inside. I'm running three lights instead of four, as Wal-Mart only had 3 in stock. I'll add the other one in a couple of days.

I'm letting the salt/MG/Kent mix tonight, I'll drop the first phyto in tomorrow after church.

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Ok, mines done. :D What's the consensus on the lights. I could only get 2 in there. I could stuff the others in there but I think I will try this. I'm also trying a 15 min cycle of the power head once an hour.
 
Mine is pretty green, but I'll probably let it sit a little while longer before trying to harvest. I'm mixing a 2L bottle of top off water tonight, as I've dropped from 10L to 8L in 30 days (just like Alex said I would).

Otherwise the only issue I've encountered is that I've had to switch out the MJs once. One of my 600s got clattery and wouldn't start consistantly, it was caked with phyto! I got a 400 from a friend and that one's been running fine.

Tim, what wattage are those lights you are using? The 4 lights we are using are 7W each. I would think any configuration that got around 30W total would be fine. It seems to me that any phyto with the lights on the side does better than top down due to exposed surface area.

I was thinking of trying this at some point to move away from the MJs. This is a DIY from a micro brewer, but it's the same need that we have and pretty cheap on the parts side.

http://brewiki.org/StirPlate
 
I added my top off water and I hadn't really noticed before... but mine was very, very warm. The bucket may be a bit confined for all that. I think I'll pickup a square cooler if I can find one this weekend.
 
Alex, what do you do with it when it gets to this point? I was thinking of putting it in soda bottles and putting it in the frig. I guess I could try to find some sterile bottles on-line.
I'm suppose to take half and use the other half to start another?
I've got another jug, waiting to be emptied of pork rinds. :shock: It's time to have a party and when they ask for chips, I give'm pork rinds :twisted:
 
Should have gone with the cheese balls :):):)

Happy to see your growth, Tim!!! However, mine has not done that well. I'm about to take mine out and re-do it. I'm convinced that the salt bucket, while convenient, is not the way to go. It traps heat, so I have temperature issues, and my growth hasn't been that great. I also have very poor city water (very high in chlorine). I may get 15 or 20 gallons at my sister's house in McKinney and start with a fresh batch.

Alex, can you comment on where you got the square cooler? I've checked my local grocery stores, Wal-Mart, Sams, Target, and can't seem to find one that size. All the ones I find are deep and narrow.
 
Mine is on the top shelf in the walk in pantry and the ac vent above it blows air on it. At night though I'm afraid it's cooling too much so I may put a heater in it.

Where is yours at?
 
@timthetoolman wrote:
Mine is on the top shelf in the walk in pantry and the ac vent above it blows air on it. At night though I'm afraid it's cooling too much so I may put a heater in it. Where is yours at? said:
Mine is sitting on top of the clothes dryer. It really doesn't add to the heat, I can't feel much when the dryer is on. I also have a 5" deep plastic bowl upside down underneath the big jug, so it sits up level with the lights. My heat is coming from having those lights too close to the jug, they get pretty warm when confined like that. I'd estimate the culture to be about 90-95 degrees.

When I checked mine last night, it was almost the same color as when I started. I thought it was darker, but that turned out to be some that had attached to the walls of the jug. It didn't smell at all, so it never went bad. It just didn't grow much.

I'll stay on the lookout for a square cooler, and restart a culture when I find it. I like this approach, just need to change it up a bit.
 
Yep, this time of the year plays heck with phyto cultures. I have tried three time to culture Tetraselmis from a culture I purchased from West Mariculture with no luck. The nano is doing OK but the Tet needs cooler temperatures in the 70-75 range and I do not keep the house that cool in the warm seasons. I will try again in the late fall/winter.
 
My second attempt is done. This method is very deceptive because the jugs are so wide. Even though it looks very dark the cell count looked low but without measuring equipment I'm not sure.
I did find what looked like some fast squiggly looking really small objects which might be bacteria. There are none shown in the photos, the weird objects are just dust or fuzz. The photos are at 1000x, 400x, and I think 200x respectively.
The do look healthy though :D
I just took the lid off this one and put it on another one without cleaning. The bacteria may have come from my hands but I'm not sure so maybe I should have sterilized my equipment but we'll see.
 
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