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Phyto culture and rotifers


livingart

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we are going to have an attenpt at geting some phyto plankton and rotifers cultured

the ultimate goal is to try and raise some marine clown fish

cricketman is the techy in charge of this

that way if it is a failure i can blame him :D

equipment list

90cm flourescent light

2 x 90cm, 40 Watt fluorescent bulbs

On/off Timer

Air pump

3 metre. Flexible airline tubing

1 metre. Rigid airline tubing

Multi-outlet airline splitter/valve

■6 x 1 litre drink bottles

Aquarium salt

f/2 Formula

Phytoplankton starter culture, Nannochloropsis occulata

and a cabinet to keep it warm since winter is here

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been there done that

i am hoping it is not harder than raising seahorses

been doing my research :wink:

start of cabinet to keep it in

phyto4.jpg

something to hold the phyto bottles

phyto5.jpg

the bottles, to be sterilised yet

cricketman drank them all

phyto6.jpg

stand for BBS

phyto8a.jpg

syringes and airline filters

phyto9.jpg

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We got nannochloropsis( green phyto), Pavlova lutheri (brown phyto), and a third "tetra" (haven't found the proper latin name yet)

Experiment is to look into the different growth rates and survival rates of the fry using these 3 algae to feed directly, and gut-load artemia/ daphnia with. various algae have different nutritional values, between protein, lipids etc.

and you can't blame me Mr "F/2 in my fridge"

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tops for phyto bottles

frits on intakes filter down to 2 microns, syringes on exhaust with filter wool to preclude any backdraft

phyto12.jpg

whole setup, everything sterilised so far

need to mix sea salt and RO/DI water then sterilise that too

will adjust lighting

phyto11.jpg

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we spent awhile mixing salt and RODI water today

then had to sterilse the mix

so now bottles are filled with salt water to the correct salinity

F2 media inserted

wait for it to cool down a bit then to add phyto

trialling a waterbed heat pad for keeping it all at the right temp

phyto13.jpg

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Made the decision to keep rotifers well clear of this phyto setup for now, and do them in a seperate area completely, with bleach baths between handling to ensure no cross-contamination. Doing that alreay for the phyto.

Got two "working cultures" (ones to feed out) going, one Pavlova lutheri and one Nannochloropsis sp.

Next step for me is to develop a "clean" cupboard (laminar cabinet) to store "parent cultures". These will act as redundant cultures just to make sure that we Don't lose a species of phyto, and can keep innoculating "working cultures". As such, these cultures are kept a little cooler, and as Aseptic as possble.

This should be achieved with wipeable, non-porous material , with a positive internal pressure, and hopefully a "air dam"/"air curtain" accross the front acting when the cabinet is open.

This coupled with ethanol to disinfect everything in the cabinet and equipment (ethanol does not leave a residue when it evaporates) should give us a good chance of success in keeping cultures alive for a long time (hopefully perpetually).

Currently waiting on a third species of phytoplankton from toppom, and then waiting for Mr. & Mrs. Amphiprion ocellaris to practise saving the species... :lol:

which, judging by thier behaviour, should be soon. Cue: bow chika wow wow! :lol:

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