No Problem Ray, These are just the Phyto, Not the pods as Brian had.
It's rather simple to culture your own phyto, I would assume this is about as thick as you can get phyto without starting to risk the culture.
You can take these and put them in a Sterile 1 Gal jug fill the rest of the jug with sterile saltwater(1.10-1.20; I use 1.19), mix in some fertilizer, Add a airline, and light; and you'll have a batch just like this in 4 weeks or so, which you can then split and restart the cycle...
I have been revolving my batches every month, So if that's too much work for anyone I should have spare bottles every month. You can store the phyto in the fridge for 4 weeks on average as long as you shake it every 3-5 days.
I plan on acquiring ( I ) and culturing it, but that requires me to rework my culturing station so to prevent cross contaimination, so as soon as i get that together I will hopefully have some I available in the near future.
Below is the breakdown of the process...
-1 Gal Water jug(sterilized, You can add boiling water, rinse with alcohol)...Never reuse the jug after that culture matures, just pitch it, and get another. I find the Evian jugs or similiar work the best as they are crystal clear and dont diffuse the light coming in
-1 Gal of Sterilized Water(again you can boil)
-Enough Aquarium Salt to bring Gal water to 1.10-1.20 SG (usually about a 1/3 cup works)
-Sterilized airhose(Rigid and Flexible), You can just boil this to reuse
-Airline Check valve(Prevents water from coming back into pump)
-5ml of Liquid miracle grow Fertilizer
-5ml of Reef Minerals(Optional; any normal reef mineral/nutrient replenisher works)
-Starter Culture of Phyto Strain
-1 6500k CFL w/ reflector(you can get these cheap at hardware store)
-1 Air pump (noth fancy, just needs to put out enough air to keep the phyto suspended)
-1 Electrical outlet timer
-4-5 Weeks time
Directions,
-Mix salt with sterilized water to 1.10-1.20 SG
-Let sit minimum 20 min, preferred 24 hours (this isn't a huge deal, but I go the full 24 hr)
-Punture Lid of 1 Gal Jug with 2 holes, Both just large enough to pass the Rigid airhose through(one will be for your airline, the other is a vent)
-Pour Phyto Starter into 1 gal Sterilized Jug
-Add Sterilized Salt water to fill jug to about 1" from top
-Add 5ml of Liquid Fertilizer
-Add 5ml of Reef Minerals(optional)
-Screw lid back onto Jug
-Insert Rigid airline into one of the holes you created on the lid(trim rigid airline to be 1"-2" above the lid)
-Attached Flexible Airline to Rigid Airline
-Attach other end of Flexible Airline to Air Pump
-Position 6500k CFL w/Reflector facing the Jug(optional you can place jug in a box enclosure made from Foam wall board insulation wrapped in Aluminium foil to get the best light reflection, to allow light on all sides, But it isn't needed.)
-Plug your light into your Outlet timer, and set the timer for 16hrs on 8hrs off...
Depending on your starter culture, you could be ready to split in aslittle as 3 weeks, but 4-5 weeks is average. Anything over 6 can start to jeopordize the Culture, as it may be too thick to allow proper light causing decay to start.
Split culture once it is to your likings, saving some for the next batch and rinse and repeat process... You can store the phyto in your fridge or up to a month provided you are shaking it every 3-5 days depending on how thick it is, you want to keep the phyto in suspension.
Sterilizing seems to be the key, Both bacteria and other strains of Phyto can cause a crash, Sterilizing is a great preventive measure... Allow plenty of space between two different strain cultures, as it can be easy to cross contaminate. Keep them seperate or you will have decay from biological warfare and will eventually end up with one strain...
I find it is much easier to toss the old jug than it is to try to clean and sterilize it... Things like the airhose can be salvaged for a few more uses as you can let them boil over several minutes and they usually come out spotless.
Phyto is just like any other algae or Plant, it likes Co2... so if you put the pump on a Co2 rich enviroment you will get great results, I went from my kitchen to my basement right near my utilities and the cultures thickened significantly, nothing else changed.
Also no need to heat these cultures so long as they are at room temp... 65-75 Degrees is plenty fine.
A fresh,live, active culture should smeel Fresh,earthy,oceany smell. Some may smell a little acidic (like tomatoe soup or pureed tomatoes) that is fine... You don't want it to smell rotten like a bad egg... This most likely means you cross contaminated or allowed bacteria in the culture, resulting in decay... You will need to toss this batch and conatiners... Sorry but you will need to start that strain over... dont try to salvage it, you won't be able too at that point the decay will persist most likely, as the bacteria or cross contaminated strains will still be present.
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