Phyto Culturing Question

[Ivan]

For you phyto harvesters out there, I have a single bottle that I have been culturing for about seven days now. It's progressing OK, but I did not initially add any Kent Essential Elements, and I used a minimal amount of microalgae to get to this point (I swabbed the top of the disk and added it to the water and used the dose of "fertilizer" that came with the kit from Florida Aqua Farms - that's it). I'm expecting the culture to be a strong one since I did not use a lot of nanochloropsis to begin with, but I wondered if it would be a good idea to add Essential Elements now and possibly an additional dose of Miracle Gro.

As a practice, do any of you add more than an initial dose of Miracle Gro?

Last question - I've heard of people adding B1 to their culture. What is that product? Is it the Essential Elements? The bottle does not give a good description of what exactly is in it.

 

[melev]

If you are growing it the FAF way, then it is time to split this culture and start new bottles from the current one. You use the proper amount of f/2 and continue bubbling for another 7 days.

If you want to try the recipe I use, then your next set of bottles would contain the Kent E.E. and Miracle Grow.

FYI, while this bottle may not be very dark, by the third generation it tends to be significantly darker.

 

[Ivan]

@Marc wrote:

Marc, what do you mean by f/2? Also, can I use Miracle Gro in the next batches, or should I order more fertilizer from FAF?

 

[Serk]

F/2 is a purpose specific fertilizer, made FOR culturing phytoplankton.

It's available from FAF (Florida Aqua Farms)

Miracle Gro will generally work, but there are other things in it that you may not want to be adding to your tank, as well as the consistency of it from bottle to bottle can vary quite a bit...

http://www.florida-aqua-farms.com/

 

[melev]

That is why I mentioned if you are going to use the FAF method, you'd use their f/2.

 

[Ivan]

Thanks.