here goes:
1) make some (at least one jar per species of phyto to be cultured) quart jars full of artificial seawater, just like you would for a water change. salinity need not be at 1.023 but anything close is good.
2) put the jars one at a time in the microwave for ~10 min each. this will ensure the water is sterile. be careful removing the hot jars!
3) put a piece of foil over the jars once done nuking. then put somewhere where they can cool in peace for 24 hours to cool.
4) once cooled for 24h, innoculate the room temp, sterile seawater with your phytoplankton start (DT's will work, or order some phyto strats, or try the local aquarium or marine biology labratory)
5) circulate the water with an air pump. i use a glass rod longer than the jar to deliver the air becasue it is easy to clean. keep the jars covered with foil as best as possible.
6) allow the culture to grow until it is murky and thick with phyto, then harvest most of it carfully. leave the bottom 1/8th or so and refill with fresh sterile seawater and allow to regrow. feed the harvested phyto to the tank.
i use a 13w curly-q fluoro bulb that is cool white spectrum to grow my cultures. i have used sunlight as well, but my cultures were not appreciated by my housemates so they went to a closet where no sunlight exists so now i use the 13w bulb....
pm me for more info if anyone needs help.
also-
my light is on 24/7.
miore importantly, do NOT use
RO or filtered water for teh phyto...use tap!
RO will not have any nutrients to keep the culture alive. tap will have just enough and as long as it is harvested and refilled regularly, the cultures will thrive!
