Im in Florida right now and i just began to grow algae.

i have a couple questions since i am new to this whole thing. First, is there an actual alternative to cell-hi, or is a fertilizer even needed to grow the algae?

next is shock osmosis an effective way to withdraw oil from the algae, and if not what method is? I bought tetraselmis from marc and i hope to possibly be able extract the oil to home brew some biodiesel eventually.

Ask Marc for a copy of his manual - covers all aspects of growing.

From what I have read so far, osmotic shock is a reasonable good way of extracting oil. I have not got to trying it yet but will soon.

I will be partially dewatering the harvested cells by either centrifuge or just drip drying, and then dropping it all straight into a tank of distilled water. Hopefully the oil will float to the surface and the dead cells to the bottom, making getting the oil easy.

Let us know how you do.

 Linus,

I have heard Miracle-Gro suggested, but Marc recommends Cell-hi. 

thanks

there are many options for fertilizing the algae, some of our clients are using effluent from methane digestors (supernatents) with incredible results, some with horse manure and some with  cattle and pig manure( liquified and sterilised.) we establish a relationship between algae and tilapia fish the fish eat the algae and the algae eat the fish poop in a mutually symbiotic relationship. cell hi is great and fairly economical if you can find it.. in our manual we have many formulations guilliards etc. but you have to mix various elements and they can be costly.. we are working on a liquid fertilizer that will have universal properties that can be shared by  high lipid algae in particular. for growing money making spirulina algae feeding it bicarbonate of soda works very well minerals are also provided from a soil water mix prepared from sterilised cured old soils from  our organically certified  hydroponic systems.

marc