Growing Algae...

[Jetijs]

What is that? What do you use it for?

[Savvypro]

What is that? What do you use it for?

It's a Paraffin wax film that can be used to seal the openings of things (everything from test tubes, petri dishes, jars etc.). But still allow gas exchange without allowing foreign organisms to pass through as well.

Do a search on youtube, you'll get the idea.

I've been using cling film on some of the Spirulina flasks, but it's not ideal and breaks easily. The parafilm can stretch by upto 200%. And can supposedly self seal - we'll see (never used it before today)

Plus the discarded bits can be used to make fuel

[Savvypro]

[Savvypro]

How to recover from a sample that has gone wrong...

When I was doing the isolation work, it hit me that one could use the same method to recover from a failing sample.

I have a number of samples which I have been neglecting for this very purpose.
So stay tuned...

[Jetijs]

Hi.
My sample that you sent me is now multiplied so much that I need to use 40 liter bioreactor. And it seems to grow faster and faster. Will take some samples under microscope to see which types of spirulina are dominant.
Thanks,
Jetijs

[einarskula]

Live Spirulina

Hi
It's fascinating to read through this thread and see how your work has evolved. Thank you for sharing the experience. I've been searching for ways to get live Spirulina and as you say previously it seems that UTEX is just about the only one that ships to Europe. Strange. But I wanted to ask if its possible to get live Spirulina sent if I cover all the costs?
All the best,
Einar

[Savvypro]

Hi
It's fascinating to read through this thread and see how your work has evolved. Thank you for sharing the experience. I've been searching for ways to get live Spirulina and as you say previously it seems that UTEX is just about the only one that ships to Europe. Strange. But I wanted to ask if its possible to get live Spirulina sent if I cover all the costs?
All the best,
Einar

Depends where in Europe you are located. I can't promise anything, but ask me again in September. I may be willing to ship a sample.

[einarskula]

I'm in Iceland.

[carmonacr]

Hello Algae Folk!

I am very interested in your thread and would love to be a part of it, thanks to you I have seen the AlgaeLabs website and done some research as I would really like to make my own algae food and maybe a business! I am wondering about AlgaeLabs' culture, do they tell you the duplication rate and protein %? Because I found much more expensive strains hereSUPER SPIRULINA CULTURE - SOLEY BIOTECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE and I thought about first understanding how to cultivate the $60 AlgaeLabs strain and work towards a fast strain like the one in the link I provided that needs 8 hours... at only $2,800 a 100ml vial! Yikes, haha it must be worth it!

[carmonacr]

Lighting

I also notice that some people use florescent lights, this I guess would be the blue light that you mention makes the spirulina bigger?
Algae Photobioreactor Basics - YouTube
The American Algae System - YouTube

[IndianaBoys]

Electrostatic Treatment of Plant and Animal Matter

This may be of interest:

Electrostatic Treatment of Plant and Animal Matter

http://www.quantum-seeds.com/Electrostatic Treatment.pdf

Page 18:

6. EXAMPLE: Influence of the electrostatic field on stress behavior

6.1 Retarded Start of Senescence for Green Algae Green algae cultures obtained by smear on algae culture medium in Petri dishes are developed at insufficient illumination (133 μwatt/cm2). Both at a field strength of 1,500 V/cm and at 750 V/cm the cultures outlive comparative material without electrostatic field. The latter already after 1 month shows a distinct deficiency appearance and is after 2 month brown. In the same period of time cultures cultivated in the electrostatic field develop normally.

6.2 Increased Salt Resistance of Ubiquitous Bacteria An arbitrary mixture of ubiquitous bacteria from a soil sample is cultivated in Petri dishes for 5 days in water at room temperature. From this suspension each 1 ml is inoculated into 6 Petri dishes which each contain 15 ml of a diluted seawater medium (see Table 4; dilution 1:2, 1:4, 1:8). 3 dishes are subjected to an electrostatic field of 1,500 V/cm, the remaining serve as control. After 7 days the dishes in the electrostatic field show a distinct increase of the bacteria population, whereas the control dishes do not show any development. The electrostatic field aids in overcoming the salt stress.

In a second adaptation step bacteria from the culture grown at a dilution of 1:2 in the electrostatic field are removed. These serve as starting material for inoculation onto a further Petri dish, which now contains the culture medium according to Table 4. 1 ml of this suspension is transferred into 15 ml seawater medium and the Petri dish again subjected to an electrostatic field of 1,500 V/cm. Within 3 weeks the culture develops completely and reaches maximum equilibrium population. In this manner a ubiquitous bacteria mixture is adapted from sweet water to a saturated salt solution.

IndianaBoys