heres a list of 12 of our algae and thier characteristics.

name.                                            medium                    type                              lipid%      

chlamidomonas reinhardti             soil water                   green                                21.0%

chlamidomonas moewusii              soil water                  green                                14%

dunaliela salina                            sea water                   green                                15%

chlorella pyrenoidosa                    freshwater                   green                                2.0 %

nannochloropsis                          soil-seawater                green                                21.0%

coccolithophora                           soil seawater                 golden brown                     12.0%

chlorella protothecoides                 sea water                    green                                 14.0%

chlorella minutissima                      sea water                    green                                 44.0%

porphridium                                    soilwater                        red                                  9.0--14.0%

tetraselmis chui                               seawater                     green                                 45.7%

isochrysis galbana                             soil seawater             golden brown                        7.0%

pleurochrysis carterae                        soil-seawater              golden brown                       21.9%

courtesy of Ecogenics.........

sorry,

i dont know how the list came out the way it did on this forum i had it all in nice columns the% lipid content  in some of the algaes is under the names of the algae.. my computer has been acting erratically lately.

any how hope this helps. answer a frequently asked question..

 Marc

Marc, Do you sell all of these types of algae? Can you tell me the average growing conditions for each of these?  I am most interesting in C. minutissima and t. chui.

yes we sell these algae in 50 ml tubes and upon request well sell gallon or gallons

 the two you mention are exceptionally vigorous and fast growing  we grow them under 25 and 40 watt cool white flourescent light  and keep the light on 24/7 which seems to be beneficial.

 the temperature in the lab averagesd 75F and we  aereate constantly with an airstone  this supplies them with ambient co2.

. as with all our algae we find them to be quite easy to grow, we feed them a biweekly pinch of cell hi and for spirulina we add a pinch of bicarbonate (Baking soda) evry couple of weeks

 if you look at the latest pix on our website in the pictures section entitled algae cultivation you can see how dense the cultures are.

we intentionally break a few rules here because we want to see how  algae will grow under less than sterile conditions with ordinary lighting.

 in another post we explained how to take a culture from the tube and expand the population... hope this is helpfull.

. its really not that hard to grow algae cultures...and our clients seem to be doing it quite well in thier various scenarios..in fact were shipping two and a half gallons of chlorella pyrenoidosa to a repeat customer in california tomorrow. that is a bit trickier algae as it likes glucose it is a freshwater green algae that seems to interest quite a few people perhaps for its medicinal properties. and its apparent apetite for co2 if you look at our list of cultures youll see that it only has a 2.0 lipid content while chlorella minutissima has a 44.0 lipid content.

we love tetraselmis chui it grows like crazy in fact thatas what im holding in my hand in the pix we recently posted.

Marc...

.

Hi,

 a simple way to make soilwater or soil -seawater.

use distilled or spring water, use good grade of potting soil preferably organically certified.

you can buy this at lowes or home depot.

mix one lb of soil (screened to remove debris) with five gallons of water and boil to sterilise

filter  the "Tea" through a fine mesh filter followed by a coffee filter. boil again and place in a covered container. use in diluted form at 1/2 or 1/4/ strength

 for soil seawater use" Instant Ocean" salt water acquarium mix (redily available at pet stores.)

add a little cell hi occasionally once the algae starts to "green"

hope this helps.

 Marc

Marc,

I think they call it Cell-Hi.

It is available from:

http://www.aquasonic.com.au/NewCatalogue/Hatchery_p_190.pdf

It used to be available from:

http://www.reed-mariculture.com/aquaculture/

It is available in England from:

http://www.variconaqua.com/nutrients.htm
 

Did I get the right thing?  Do you sell it?  If not, does anyone in the USA?

Thank you. I was doubting that does one lb of soil have enough amount of N, P, and K?

In this case, soil water medium can be considered as one of the cheapest medium?

Does anybody know what the actual chemical makeup of "Cell-Hi" is? Often times it feels like these people are taking fertilizer with a few extra trace elements and selling it for ridiculous prices. Would simple N-K-P lawn fertilizer not work as well? I realize that algal cells need more than nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous to truly thrive, but through my own experimentation I have found that algae will grow well (in the correct medium, of course) with the addition of fertilizer and fertilizer alone. Is it truly necessary to go out and by marked up cell food when you can go down to the hardware store and pick up some fertilizer for far less money?

"Variconaqua" produces "cellhi f2p", it was reccommended to us by a highly reputable algae culture company I doubt if they would reccommend any thing less than the best..

 it has worked for us consistantly.

 but waste streams such as hog manure from our ethanol plant  in the form of supernatents were used  after going through our methane digestor when we first started...

 marc

marc

.

DrewM517:

Does anybody know what the actual chemical makeup of "Cell-Hi" is?

Ultimate & proximate analysis will give you these #'s for about $400.

You are right Drew, they are sup'ing up lawn fertilizer. Here is how you optimize your feed. Start with some medium like soilwater and UA/PA the soil. Grow the algae for a specific amount of time then do the UA/PA on the water AND algae. This baseline data will then give you a starting point to increase/decrease individual inorganics to optimize your growth.

Without this step or some substitute, your guessin. Sure, you can grow in soil water... but what happens to the 70% of the stuff in soil water the algae ISNT eating? What is eating that stuff? What is clogging up your algae? Etc...

there is nothing clogging the algae the soilwater is highly  filtered do you really think that UTEX and other culture labs would recommend a medium that wasnt good???

marc

So... you mean that the algae are eating EVERYTHING in the soil? Surely that isnt correct so their must be some loading. And what about the carbs, oils and lignins in the soilwater? The algae eating those too? And what about the inorganics that arnt utilized, those dont just vanish into thin air?

And according to UTEX, they recommend this because they have not optimized all the strains and its easy for them to do with the number of spp they are dealing with. They consistantly say that they are not offering media suggestions that are optimized, rather a starting point. Read it for yourself  under media notes.

Also, they have a very high sterility level so one can get away with some sloppyness.

I cannot believe you keep fighting this point with me Marc.

 froggy

I base my data on thirty years experience  and success with algae culturing.. what do you base your statements on???

 there are very few solids left after  sterilisation and proper filtration

.dont go by evrything you read in the scientific journals.. our experience in the field shows us that algae are far more resilient than one can imagine. ...

. we have gone from selling 50 ml tubes to multiple gallons to laboratories and researchers world wide...

one of our clients has sequestered over thirty percent co2 with  one of our cultures  in one of the most innovative photobioreactors ive ever seen that he designed, when he finishes his testing he will have created a revolutionary algae cultivation system superior in many respects to what is out there now...,,,in fact were sending him two and a half gallons of algae tomorrow, his third re-order.

you may see the good I do as self serving.......

ill continue to do good.

 you may see my generosity as grandstanding........

ill continue to be generous

you may see my warm and caring nature as a weakness........

ill continue to be warm and caring

for you see,its between me and god

it never was between me and you anyway...

 marc

ecogenics3:

 froggy

I base my data on thirty years experience  and success with algae culturing.. what do you base your statements on???

On my 15 years as a field biologist. Also working on nutrient management plans for ag use where we accurately account for all the nutrients in the system. And my years of working in research labs where I have optimize a few systems in my day.

You want to be a pro and do stuff correctly, I layed out what you have to do,  S.O.P.

You want to be a hack and throw everything into your tank and see what happens, go nutz.  

By the way... why would someone that is growing algae have to re-order 3 times? Why did the first 2 die? Why cannot they produce their own algae from the first batch you send? If they have such a good system...why dont they get a 50ml from you and grow it themselves? Seems mighty strange...

you know froggy you are totally absurd and annoying..

 im sure that far more people would contribute  to these forums were it not for your  constant bickering and the fear that they would be subjected to your and a select few other unapologitic flatulators rude comments.

  the reason my client is a repeat customer (one of many) is because as he has progressed with the development of his system to the point that he has expanded the capacity of his facility and needed more cultures from us to meet his development schedule ...

 soil- fresh water medium and soil -seawater medium are cited to be excellent for long term preservation and normal morphology by many of the top experts in phycology and is refferred to, not only by utex but many other algae culture suppliers and researchers., the medium will support a very large range of algae. 

 an appropriate soil source is important, aged soils are preferred, free of chemicals and other pollutants we suggest organically certified potting soils  another good source of aged potting soils is the local greenhouses in ones area, they generally dump each years soils so they can replace them with fresh soils. DR. Richard Starr, without a doubt, one of the top algae experts found used soil from the university of indiana greenhouses to be a very stable soil source. for soilwater media.

  in natural bodies of water, with native algae populations many of which are suitable for biofuels, soil is a natural component of the pond  or lake is it not?. so it stands to reason that properly prepared soilwater medium would replicate a natural condition conducive to  algae growth.

as to economy, though there is a little bit of work to make the soilwater mediums they are certainly less expensive than the minerals and chemicalls used in formulae reccommended for algae culturing. we have used soilwater both fresh water and seawater for years with great success as evidenced by the pictures of our cultures shown on our website under algae cultivation in the pictures section

.oh i forgot  photographic evidence is not acceptable to your little group  you know ,you need to be carefull, in your case ,if you expand your mind any further your butt will get bigger

lolol. just joking.

froggy,

I think that  the conflict between us is merely a matter of viewpoint ,your approach is based on the scientific method whereas we are dealing in the "real world" of the farmer doing it "down and dirty in the field" 

 your expertise may be analitical ( with emphasis on the first four letters of the word lololol.) whereas we deal with the whole array of realtime, hands on, in the field reality of things

.buying the necessary chemicals to create the media that is the norm in the laboratory approach to phycology is not unfamiliar to us in fact we dedicate a good part of our algae manual to complex formulae for growth media. and scientific methodology

.Individuals are free to choose thier own approach to algaeculture. the scientific, the industrial, the biotechnological.. we serve all approaches dealing with all of them with equal comfort.. we wear many hats here ...scientific, agroindustrial, hightech, academic  agricultural, aquacultural etc.

 those who come here to these forums are seeking information the majority are newcomers to the world of algae and for the most part laymen, students and people with the curiosity and will enough to want to experiment.  we try to provide information at the most inclusive level for all.

our seminars aattract students, scientists, businessmen, truck drivers, biodieselers, farmers, and just plain folks who have a hunger to learn.

The economics of growing algae and producing fuel from it is one of the principal stumbling blocks that impedes the progress of this technology. we keep it simple, cheap and easy to build and operate and gear our outreach  and research to the broadest spectrum of our society so that they may be informed in a manner that is concise and  understandable

and. we supply algae cultures in larger quantities and in denser cultures so that more people can get into this at a lower cost with a greater chance of success

.its as simple as that .. we know we cant please evrybody and as einstien said"if we knew what we were doing,it wouldnt be called research"

another giant of creativity, michealangelo said" Ancora Amparo" which means" I am still learning"

with the intellectual snobbery and  sarcastic arrogance you   continiously display, Its a wonder you can learn anything. such offputting behaviour does not set a good climate for learning.

ecogenics3:

.its as simple as that .. we know we cant please evrybody and as einstien said"if we knew what we were doing,it wouldnt be called research"

another giant of creativity, michealangelo said" Ancora Amparo" which means" I am still learning"

with the intellectual snobbery and  sarcastic arrogance you   continiously display, Its a wonder you can learn anything. such offputting behaviour does not set a good climate for learning. 

Maybe you need to take some of your own advice. And quit playing the victim all the time, its getting a bit old. No body is out to get anybody. This is a discussion site, not a 'buy my products/quit critizing me' site.

Lets take some REAL WORLD numbers in what you and I are talking about...

Marc quote '

Hi,

 a simple way to make soilwater or soil -seawater. use distilled or spring water, use good grade of potting soil preferably organically certified. you can buy this at lowes or home depot. mix one lb of soil (screened to remove debris) with five gallons of water and boil to sterilise filter  the "Tea" through a fine mesh filter followed by a coffee filter. boil again and place in a covered container. use in diluted form at 1/2 or 1/4/ strength  for soil seawater use" Instant Ocean" salt water acquarium mix (redily available at pet stores.)

add a little cell hi occasionally once the algae starts to "green"

hope this helps.

 Marc'

In essence, you are utilizing a HUGE amount of time, water and fossil fuels to strip out the water soluble portions of the potting soil and the chunks that get thru your filter in a sterile mix. Im curious as to what the NPK and micro's are actually in potting soil? Answer = is insignificant or they would lable it on the bags. Additionally, how do you even know what the NPK is of the soilwater you just made? Answer = you cant. So you are completely flying blind when it comes to nutrient uptake values. Im also curious about tubidity?  And as to cost and hours of labor? And lastly, what about the thermodynamics and carbon footprint?

Or...

You can do what I said... for $400 and 1 bag of soil water and a few experiments, one can get started on optimizing your inorganic feed.

Additionally on cost... today at the local Co-op, where real farmers buy raw materials.

1lb of Urea = $.52

1lb of P2O5 = $.48

1lb of K2O = $.23

I can go thru the micro's if you wish but all of them together wouldnt add up to one of the macro's.

Im curious Marc, which system is cheaper... $1.23 / 1-1-1 or your system of buying bag after bag of material and all that labor and CO2 exhaust to not even get a standardized 1-1-1? The real world? my @$$

Froggy and Marc,

I think you both have points:

We need to learn how to farm algae.  We need to figure out the rules of thumb that will make it easy to grow algae.  The laboratory can give us guidance on what those rules might be.

Soil water and F/2 give us a place to start with a species and a way to keep a sample alive while we figure out the nutrient needs.  We need to figure out the "feeding schedule" that will grow each species fastest.  Laboratory test can give us the general direction and then the farm will be where we refine it.

Buying nutrients at the farm supply store is probably going to be cheaper than making soil water.

 I saw a suggestion that granite dust be used as a source of micronutrients in gardening. Might be an idea for us.

liberty1:

Soil water and F/2 give us a place to start with a species and a way to keep a sample alive while we figure out the nutrient needs.  We need to figure out the "feeding schedule" that will grow each species fastest.  Laboratory test can give us the general direction and then the farm will be where we refine it.

Buying nutrients at the farm supply store is probably going to be cheaper than making soil water.

I thought I said the same thing a few times now. This is why UTEX and other suggest soil water, because its fast and easy for a starting point. But ONLY A STARTING POINT. The link from UTEX points this out also.

I'll even go one step further, that to NOT optimize your inorganics before you optimize almost anything else is downright DUMB. You will never know if its the fertilizer talking or the other variable that you are testing is talking.

liberty1:

I saw a suggestion that granite dust be used as a source of micronutrients in gardening. Might be an idea for us. 

Granite dust may or maynot have micro's in it. It also is a rock with its high pH. So when you dust it... you break it into little bitty pieces so there is more surface area to work on. Soil and off-gasing of bio-digestion and other chemistry in the soil is typically a weak acid. Therefore what happens is you get a low level of acid washing of the basic rock material and the nut's that were in the rock slowly degrades. Typically the major component one gets off of Granite is K2O.

All of this leads into a concept called 're-mineralization of the soil'. Here is a nice read on the subject.

With all of that being said, Im not sure how all of that would play out in an aquatic condition.