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Well, my algea died a couple of days ago. I got carried away with applying too much liquid fertilizer to my sample and, after a bloom, it died. I was pumping atmosphere thru the system, used 'soil water' as a medium and things were going slowly for about three weeks. I became impatient and added two ounces of Miracle grow to my 16 quart aquarium. The algae bloomed quickly and then died, almost as quickly.

At first I was discouraged, but, I started out with 15 ml sample with barely visible Bb, and based on the mass of cells I filtered out, thru paper, I conclude the 'soilwater' worked well. During the first three weeks the water was becoming slightly cloudy with green and a few clumps of algae were visible hanging onto the sides of the aquarium.So, I believe the miracle grow was the culprit (including myself, of course).  I will begin again and will break the 15 ml sample into 4 separate aquariums (one quart plastic bottles with atmosphere pumped thru each.. From there, I will test waste water from a septic system I made for canine fecal matter.

 took some of this waste water a couple of weeks ago and poured it onto some yellowing plants in my yard. WOW, what a transformation in the plants. Much of the green has returned and the plants look very vigirous. The problem will be determining how much is adequate without killing the algae growth. If it was easy it would already be done.

 Hello everyone,

sgtrock, sorry about your algae. Just like you, Im trying to grow algae as well. But unfortunately, for some reason or the other they keep dying on me. Im using plastic containers to grown them in. Its not completely sealed from the environment though. Im using distilled mineral water as medium and CO2 from the atmosphere for their growth. Im not using any pumping mechanism like you though. I believe the algae has got everything it needs to grow and procreate albeit the growth might be slow. But I don't know if its the setup Im using or something else, but for some reason the algae dies after a few days.

You said you were pumping CO2 into the system. How are you pumping it? Are you using an electrical pump?

If there is nothing proprietary involved in your setup, you would do me a huge favour If I could take a look at your setup. A picture of some sorts, would give me a generic idea of what is actually involved in keeping the algae alive. I hope thats not too much to ask.

Thank you. 

Thanks. No secrets with me. I am using aquarium pumps. I am using atmosphere from my septic system, I get 550 to 600 ppm CO2 from that atmosphere, about 150 to 200ppm more than atmosphere. The soil water medium is necessary for nutrients required by the algae to grow. It is made with organic potting soil 1lb:5 gal distilled water. Boiled, strained, boiled again and strained again. It has a light amber hue. The potassium and nitrogen are leached from the potting soil and the boiling kills any stray bacteria.  I am using florescent lights, 40 watts, placed about 6 in from the plastic container. It was starting to look real good. The algae would still be alive had I not introduced the miracle gro, IMO. Well, when the new Bb sample arrives I'll start over.

 Sgt,

There have been reports that Miracle-Gro kills algae.

I have seen the recommendation to cap the bottles loosely - so the air can escape, but contaminates can not get in.  Also they recommended filtering the air going into the compressor (or after the compressor).  I have not seen a filter for an aquarium size air pump. 

Sorry about the problem - let us know what happens. 

go to the pictures page on this forum or to our website under algae and youll see clear pix of our laboratory set up. also we have posted "expanding algae cultures" on this forum go back in the archives to past posts to read it.

marc

Hello everyone,

Marc, I checked out the pictures on the ecogenics website. I have a few questions regarding the setup. I can see that you are using cylindrical plastic containers with narrow openings at the top. I think they are 1 or 2 liter containers. Seeing as it is, by virtue of the shape of those plastic containers, the surface area they posses is not much unless there is light throughout the circumference of the container. Then how is it possible that the algal growth in the containers is very dense. And what are the thin tubings going in and out of every container?

May I also ask what strains of algae you are growing in those containers in the picture? And what about the approximate oil content per container in that picture. I know it would be very less, but it would be easy to visualize if you can pen a number to it. 

I tried looking for the pictures on this website you mentioned above, Im not able to find it. Could you please tell me where the pictures are on the website. Right now Im searching for posts on "expanding algae cultures".

Thank you. 

I received my replacement sample of botryococcus braun ii from UTEX yesterday. I arrived in a 15 ml tube and was a brilliant green color, with some cells floating at the top.I made my soil water medium (1/5 lb organic potting soil: 1 gal distilled water), boiled, strained, boiled again, strained two more times and cooled to room temperature. A very clear slightly amber color. I devided the sample into 4 separate test tubes and one 50 ml flask. mixed sample and soil water filling up to 2/3 of each container. I am thinking about baking soda as a co2 source. I have a 60qt clear container, with lid, and want to mix the baking soda and vinegar to make co2 in an open jar, or flat dish,  within the large container. The tubes and flask will be open and the container closed with the lid. I don't know how much soda and vinegar to make the most concentrated atmosphere. I could use some help here. Further down the line, as the different sample  tubes grow, I hope, I want to increase the size of the flask and use an aquarium pump, placed within the container, to constantly cycle co2 into the flask from the container atmosphere. Lots of help here would be much appreciated. Well, thats were I stand. NO MIRACLE-GROW!!!. I have spare soil water and it should last until samples outgrow flasks. Further down the line, I want to use sanitized secondary waste treatment water from a septic system for canine waste I created. I hope the same boiling and straining procedure will produce a very concentrated soil water. Lots of help needed there. Also created a composting garbage can for paper and grass clippings. I am hoping the co2 concentration during decomposition while composting will prove to be an adequate co2 source.  Always can use help with that idea, too.  DAMN, I sure need lots of help with ideas. So please post frequently with your opinions and knowledge.

 Sgt.

You need to hook up the aquarium pump immediately - the algae in each conatiner needs CO2 and agitation.  The pump cannot go in the conatianer - keep it dry.   WalMart has tubing, manifolds and airstones.

nesna,

 those are glass one gallon jars (pickle jars in a former life and free for the taking) those are air lines form small airpumps, the algae get more than enough light from ther cool whiter flourescent fixtures that are placed over the jars since the algae is constantly agitated they all get thier turn at the light which is on 24/7 the cultures have been growing continiously for four years now, they are dense bacause we  feed them and keep them at the  right temperatures  we have just expanded our culture collection and will be adding many more cultures soon if you are serious about algae i reccommend our "how to grow algae" manual or that you attend one of our seminars.we have a list of cultures on this forum look back through for "lipid producing algae"

 Miracle Gro has quite a lot of copper sulfate in it - that's the most likely suspect for your kill. It's a micronutrient but levels over about .1 ppm kill planktonic algae and levels over .2 ppm are toxic to fish. CuSO4 is widely used to *kill algae in ponds*. The commonly recommended level to kill algae in agricultural ponds is .2 to .6 ppm as sulfate - .05 to .15 as metallic copper.

 Miracle Gro reports .07% Cu available. Thats 700 ppm Cu or 2800 ppm as copper sulfate before dilution.

So its very easy to get over micronutrient levels into the toxic realm.

Miracle-Gro Ingredients (reported)

The All-Purpose Plant Food has a 15-30-15 ratio, meaning that there is 15% Nitrogen, 30% Phosphate, and 15% Potash.

The primary ingredients in the Miracle-Gro powder are as follows:

• 5.8% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
• 9.2% Urea Nitrogen
• 30% Available Phosphate
• 15% Soluble Potash
• 0.02% Boron
• 0.07% Copper
• 0.15% Iron
• 0.05% Manganese
• 0.005% Molybdenum
• 0.06% Zinc

Derived from: Ureaform, Ammonium Phosphate, Urea Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Boric Acid, Copper Sulfate, Iron EDTA, Manganese EDTA, Sodium Molybdate, and Zinc Sulfate. .

That Miracle Grow is pretty strong, I own my own pool company and killing algae is what I'm good at, I had one customer that had very aggressive algae problems, within a week he went from clear water with 5ppm chlorine after a liquid shock, to a green pool.

I found out later he was spraying Miracle Grow on his plants that sit at each corner of the pool, so just the over spray that went in a 18,000 gallon pool was enough to be aggressive.

So it does help, you just have to figure out exactly how much is too much according to how much water you have.

 Another possibility might be to use a different brand that doesn't contain cooper.