Phyto. Pheed. Prop. Repeat.
And repeat. And repeat. And repeat........
Home Microalgae Culturing Kit Setup Guide
Welcome!
Thank you for choosing our Home Microalgae Culturing Kit. We are thrilled to guide you through the process of culturing lab-grade microalgae at home. Let's dive in and get started on your green journey!
Table of Contents
Printable Shopping Checklist (coming soon)
1. Introduction
Welcome to the world of home microalgae culturing! With our kits, you'll be able to grow and maintain your own microalgae culture. This process is not only educational but also incredibly rewarding. Let’s embark on this green adventure together!
2. What's in the Kit
Everyone’s culturing journey looks different. Between our Aquarist, Ocean Explorer, Marine Biologist, and Reefer Kits, there is something for everyone.
If you already have on hand some items needed for culturing, our Aquarist Kit will supply the rest. Here’s what you’ll find inside:
64oz Glass Vessel with Lid: This vessel comes with pre-drilled holes to fit the rigid air tube and allow for air escape. It's the perfect home for your microalgae.
Rigid Air Tube: This tube ensures proper air flow to keep your culture aerated.
3 Feet of Flexible Air Tubing: This connects your air pump to the rigid air tube, making sure your culture gets the air it needs.
4oz of Salt Mix: This is enough to create a total of 1 gallon of saltwater, replicating the natural environment of your microalgae.
4oz of PhytoPheed: This nutrient growth medium is a concentrated Guillard's Formula f/2, providing essential growth nutrients for your culture.
Two 3mL Transfer Pipettes: These pipettes make it easy to handle your culture without contamination.
Two 1mL Sterile Dosing Syringes and Caps: For precise measurements and transfers.
One 16oz Bottle of Dense Starter Phytoplankton: Choose the species that best fits your needs to kickstart your culturing journey.
Are you starting a larger or multiple cultures? or perhaps starting cultures of multiple strains? Our Ocean Explorer Kit has all the items from the Aquarist Kit, with an additional 16oz bottle of live starter phytoplankton. Don't forget to add an extra vessel if you need it!
The Marine Biologist Kit, is great for our international customers, those who want to order but are not quite ready to use fresh live starter phytoplankton, and school projects. This kit includes everything from the Aquarist Kit, but substitutes the bottle of live phytoplankton with a petri dish of phytoplankton starter cells. The cells on these disks last up to 8 months when stored correctly and contain millions of phytoplankton cells eagerly waiting to be reanimated and grown.
If you are looking for the ultimate bundle, then the Reefer Kit is for you. Here’s what you’ll find inside:
Two 64oz or 1 Gallon Glass Vessels with Lids: These vessels come with pre-drilled holes to fit the rigid air tubes and allow for air escape. It's the perfect home for your microalgae.
Two Rigid Air Tubes: These tubes ensure proper air flow to keep your culture aerated.
6 Feet of Flexible Air Tubing: This connects your air pump to the rigid air tube, making sure your culture gets the air it needs.
8oz of Salt Mix: This is enough to create a total of 2 gallons of saltwater, replicating the natural environment of your microalgae.
8oz of PhytoPheed: This nutrient growth medium is a concentrated Guillard's Formula f/2, providing essential growth nutrients for your culture.
Four 3mL Transfer Pipettes: These pipettes make it easy to handle your culture without contamination.
Four 1mL Sterile Dosing Syringes and Caps: For precise measurements and transfers.
Two 16oz Bottles of Dense Starter Phytoplankton or One Microalgae Cell Disk: Choose the species that best fits your needs to kickstart your culturing journey.
One Air Pump:
(2) Dry-Erase and Waterproof Vessel Labels (marker included): Never miss a date or loose track of different strains with these simple labels. These labels easily affix to your jar and will withstand rigorous cleaning. Marker washes away easy with warm water.
3. Setting Up Your Space
Creating the perfect environment for your microalgae culture is crucial for success. Here are some friendly tips to help you get started:
Choosing a Location:
First things first, find a good spot in your home for your culture. Spills will happen, so choose a location with a cleanable surface. Also, keep your culture away from pets and children to avoid accidental spills.
Next, ensure your chosen spot is near a power source. You’ll need this for your lighting and air pump, but make sure it’s not too close to avoid any water and electricity mishaps. Finally, aim for a warm area in your home where you can maintain a temperature between 73-83°F. We find 79°F to be the sweet spot.
Laying Out Equipment:
Before you start, lay out all your equipment to make sure you have everything you need. Check each item to ensure it's working properly. Clean your vessels and work surfaces using distilled white vinegar, hot water, a soft sponge or brush and a final rinsing with distilled water.* This helps to eliminate any contaminants that might interfere with your culture. Air dry everything or if you must hand dry, use lint-free towels.
*Note: There are many different processes for cleaning and sterilizing equipment. We have tested many of these processes and we’ve found vinegar and hot water to be the simplest and while remaining effective. We found other solutions such as acid to be too dangerous for home use.
4. Preparing Your Culture
Now that your space is ready, let’s prepare your culture. Follow these steps carefully:
Order Your Cultures:
First thing is first, you’ve got to order your phytoplankton cultures. Do a bit of research to select the species that best suits your needs. Different phytoplankton species offer different benefits. Algae Research and Supply have some great articles and information on different strains of phytoplankton. (yeah, we know they also sell algae, we just really want you to have all the information you need!)
For a greater chance of success and the healthiest starter phytoplankton, plan your order so that you can start your culture as soon as it arrives. Most suppliers ship Monday through Friday, but consider any potential delays like weekends, and keep in mind holiday shipping might be delayed. While most companies (especially us small guys) do not have any control over the transit time once we hand over the packages, if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
When Your Culture Arrives:
Open it up. The algae need both oxygen and carbon dioxide, and during their transit time, they have been eating up and releasing all that was available to them. Replace the lid and invert a few times to move cells around in suspension (Tetraselmis and Nannochloropsis cells are heavy and will sink during transit). Open lid again, set the bottle down where it won’t be spilled, and let gas exchange occur while you move onto the next step.
Mixing Your Growth Environment:
This step is all about creating the perfect home for your phytoplankton. These three items will mix to create your growth environment:
Water: Use reverse osmosis (RO) or distilled water for the best results.
Salt Mix: Add 1.5oz of our salt mix to 45oz of filtered water. Stir well until all the granules are completely dissolved. This mixture simulates the saltwater found in our oceans. Use of a refractometer is best practice to ensure the specific gravity is between 1.018-1.022.
Nutrient Growth Medium: Shake your PhytoPheed bottle well. For a 1-gallon vessel, add 2ml of PhytoPheed to your saltwater mixture. This nutrient-rich medium will give your phytoplankton the food they need to grow.
Transferring Starter Cells:
Pour the phytoplankton into your empty vessel gently. We recommend having anywhere from 25%-50% of your total culture volume be starter phytoplankton. This is to limit the stress on the algae, granting the highest chance of initial culture success. Fill your vessel, leaving about one inch of air between the water line and the vessel lip. This space allows for proper gas exchange.
Lighting and Temperature:
Now, let’s talk about light. Your culture needs at least 16 hours of light each day. LED lights are ideal, but fluorescent shop lights work well too. Just avoid incandescent bulbs as they generate too much heat and are a fire hazard. Place your lights close to the vessel but not directly touching it. Monitoring temperature and grow will help you identify the distance needed.
Maintain a consistent ambient temperature between 73-83°F. If you can, aim for around 79°F. Lower temperatures will slow growth, while higher temperatures can overheat and kill your culture.
Please note, we advise against using the sun for your lighting. While I have heard of success using this method, an overwhelming majority of customers who reach out to us struggle when using sunlight. Direct sunlight is too powerful for the volume most home culturers are working with.
5. Culturing Your Microalgae
With everything set up, it’s time to cultivate your microalgae. Here’s how you’ll do it:
Daily Maintenance:
Each day, give your culture a gentle stir to keep the cells in motion. This helps them get the light and nutrients they need. Use the air pump to maintain proper aeration continuously. Adjust the airflow to avoid excessive splashing (too high) or settling (too low) of the culture.
Monitoring Color:
Watch the color of your culture. As it grows, it should darken, indicating a higher cell density. By day 3, you should notice a change in color. By day 7-10, your culture should reach optimal density, meaning it’s ready for harvesting. Other colors could mean trouble. A yellowish hue could indicate a need for more growth nutrients or pH issues. A blue-green hue could indicate unwanted contaminants. A pH tester and a microscope will help identify these issues. See troubleshooting for more help.
Harvesting:
When your culture is ready, only harvest what you currently need. Fresh phytoplankton are the most beneficial to your tank, and stored/refrigerated phytoplankton lose their effectiveness over time. Any remaining culture, can be used to inoculate and grow another batch. Be sure to first clean all equipment that comes into contact with your culture to prevent contamination (an extra vessel comes in handy here). If you want to expand your production, you can split your dense cultures into new vessels with new growth media, effectively doubling your harvest potential.
6. Measuring and Monitoring
Regular monitoring is essential to keep your culture healthy. Here’s how you can measure and monitor the key aspects of your culture:
Biomass Measurements:
Secchi Stick Depth: This tool gives you a measure of the number of cells per volume in the culture. The deeper the stick goes before you lose sight of it, the lower the cell density.
Culture Measurements:
pH Levels: pH is a measure of the acidity of the culture. A lower pH means more CO2 in the system. As your culture grows, it will consume CO2, raising the pH. Use a pH measuring tool to monitor this.
Nitrate and Phosphate (N): Use test strips to measure the levels of these nutrients. They are crucial for the growth of your phytoplankton.
Salinity: Use a refractometer to ensure your saltwater mixture stays within the optimal range of 1.018-1.022 specific gravity.
7. Troubleshooting
Issues are frustrating, but don’t worry! Troubleshooting is a normal part of the culturing process. Here are some common variables to adjust in your process:
Ratios:
Ensure you are using the correct ratio of nutrient growth medium to your culture volume. Over-dilution can lead to poor growth, while too much nutrient can be wasteful and potentially harmful.
Starter Phytoplankton:
Verify the viability of your starter cells. Healthy phytoplankton should be dark green and remain suspended in the water. If the cells fall immediately to the bottom, they may be dead.
Temperature:
Maintain consistent temperatures. Too high or too low can significantly affect growth. Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature and adjust as necessary.
Lighting:
Ensure your culture receives adequate and appropriate lighting for at least 16 hours a day. Insufficient light can hinder growth.
Contamination:
Clean all surfaces and vessels thoroughly. Use filtered or distilled water to prevent bacterial contamination. Keep an eye out for rotifers, amoebas, or harmful cyanobacteria. If you see any, you might need to discard the contaminated culture and start fresh.
Nutrient Growth Medium:
Use undiluted and unexpired growth medium. Your PhytoPheed mixture should be a deep golden brown. Shake well before each use to ensure proper mixing.
8. Useful Links
Here are some useful links to help you along the way:
Trays: [Amazon Link]
Lint-free Towels: [MofM Link]
Power Strip: [Amazon Link]
Vinegar: [Link]
Scrub Daddy Sponges: [Link]
PhytoPheed: [Link]
Refractometer
pH tool
Secchi Stick
Air Pump
Flexible Tubing
Waterproof Labels
Rigid Air Tubes
Extra Vessels
9. Printable Shopping List
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