Diy Culture Station

[keithtanbb]

as best as I can fit into my schedule, constrcuted a culture staion with PVC/florescent lites from hardware store, plankton disk arrived from Florida, used brand new goodies containers, rigid pipe from garden supply, brand POPE...

[keithtanbb]

wished I had taken pics of the process, but last sunday was terribly hot/humid, took me full day to do it up, fit it into the cupboard under-neath the tank, I chose pyramid and easily available items, so u guys can modifly and improve on it, as I did...with lots of help from the web, and this site.

[keithtanbb]

these sites inspired me into culturing planktons.....very good onformation

http://www.sjwilson.net/reef/phytosteps.html

http://www.sjwilson.net/reef/

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/breeder2.htm

http://www.reefcentral.com/diy/culture_station.htm

http://www.melevsreef.com/phytoplankton.html

[keithtanbb]

2nd day....I incorporated 2 x 12volts PC cooling fan as I enclosed the cabinet, and it gets warm in there.

[keithtanbb]

the days has come....split the cuture bottles....fed some to brine shrimp I bought from LFS shop.will wait a week before starting the rotifers..

[keithtanbb]

harvested my 2nd crop....started with 1x 1.7 litre bottle,after 1 week 3x 1.7 litre bottle, , now I am running 9x 1.7 litres bottle with 3x 1.5 litre in the fridge, take minumum 5 days to harvest them, Want to keep them fresh.I save some in my fridge will be giving some to friends....Gonna redo my lighting /culture station, I bought 2 slimmer cabinet fluorescent 3 feet lights 6500k strength (with much less heat generated).As I am running the cuture under shelter in the car-porch, temperature goes up to 35 degree celsius!!!! in the noon to 3.30pm period.Will post new pics, (progressice pics)

[keithtanbb]

corals looking fed, and happy 4 hours after feeding, I put the skimmer on a timer to start 6 hrs after the morning feed,as I will be feeding plankton(rotifers later) on a daily basis...needless to point out the benefits of "LIVE" food.I still have 3x(florida Farm) algae Disk and 1x resting rotifer start -up kit.thinking of selling them . Will be using miracle -gro, all purpose fertilizer later as substitute for the plankton feed.

[weishun]

Looking good leh.. teach me how to culture can? hHehehe i pay school fees..

[keithtanbb]

1) you'll need 2x 3 feet fluorescent lights ($25 each) (lumen of 2700k or 6500k(mid-day sun intensity), I prefer the 6500k ;T5-less heat lights fixture from hardware store, electronic ballast which I bought in geyland.

2) 1x 2gang air-pump ($18/), if you plan to have more than 12 bottles running, than you can get 4 gang.

3) some white water pipes as support, or if you have wood/containers to prop up the lights , will do as well (2x L fittings, 4x T-joints, 4 x end joint)

4) 2- 3 metres air-tubings, cut to desired lenght

5) Rigid air lines, or as I have done , gone to far east- florist and used water sprinklers tubings(brand is POPE) ...they are hardy, and dont bend easily.If you are going to Australia, buy them at gardening corner in dept.stores...cheaper....

6) I used goodies containers, as you can see from my post.they cost ard $1/- each, buy like 20, as you run 12 bottles, max, save some as reserve. Plan to freeze the plankton into cubes...(I even bought a vertical fridge from fisher payel....haha.

***) I configure 2 solar panel, to get "free" power to run 4x 12volts PC cooling fans....

The cost is around $125 for the cuture station, and $220 for my one of the solar energy.......(FYI)

[keithtanbb]

from my experience, lesson learnt so far, dont attempt to fluctuate the temperature of the culture too drastically, at room temperatrure up to 35 degree celsius ambient temp. is ok, ( i tried using ice-pack, it crashed!, the color of the culture good indicator of health. I am using alternative plants fertilizers to grow plankton, so be careful of adding them directly into the tank. I think 7 to 9 days before harvesting he culture is better than 5-6 days.Label them, so u know what u put in and the date you start them.I am feeding the cubes plankton for my rotifers.

[keithtanbb]

My DIY culture station....which I gave away, I am hooking up a simmer version using T5 tubes.

[keithtanbb]

the side profile, I only used stainless steel nuts and bolts to fix the lights to the pipes, did not glue the fixture as I want to ba able to vary the hright if I need, so had spare pipes cut to size...stored away

[donstef]

hey keith r u selling can buy from uleh?

[keithtanbb]

sorry man, got a few enquires (they PM me...then went silent...haha) all I was trying to recover was cost/time...anyway gave it to my brother -in-law, but setting new one up. this time using T-5 tubes....cooler than the bigger tubes...running the new station for 2 weeks now....12 bottles per 7 days(better to let them mature than harvest within 5-6 days)