i want to attempt to culture phyto for my mandarin that i intend to get and i want to get a brief synopsis of what is required in case i missed something. i know i need a light a container of some sort airline tubing and an air pump. am i missing anything? can i use the 20 gal high tank to culture the phyto or would there be problems with this?

here this should cover you
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/podcast-episodes/557-culturing-phyto-video-podcast-episode-39-a.html
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/podcast-episodes/726-q-5-podcast-episode-46-a.html
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/podcast-episodes/2262-starting-phyto-culture-podcast-episode-71-a.html
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/podcast-episodes/2370-all-about-phyto-podcast-episode-73-a.html

and just FYI, mandarins dont eat phyto, they eat copepods.. ;)

also some anecdotal evidence out there that they will eat smelt roe (little orange fishy eggs on top of some sushi) as well...

i want to culture the T. iso but i hear it is difficult to culture. i think it was episode 73 where the lady talks about the benefits of T. iso so i wanted to do that one but i hear from others that it is hard please advise?

its not hard just different... My experience states the recipe for Nannoclopsis will not work for isocryis.
im still finalizing my "recipe" and will be publishing it soon

Cool looking forward to that Rob.

Yeah, I have been able now to make two large batches of Nano that I started from from a Culture by a company called Reef Crew(unfortunately they do not ship to the US) but their product is very dark and likewise my 4 litre glass container gets really dark in 7 days.

Thanks Rob I follow your reciepe for the Nano, but I have a similar rubbermaid storage container like yourself but mine says 2.5 gallons as opposed to 2 gallons like you mentioned in your videos. So to compensate for the difference I put either 9 or 10 ml of the (sorry forgot the namer) (fertilzer grow stuff that was in your video)

thank you

Macsturm

ps I heard Vista runs faster on a Mac :)

actually, mine are 2 quarts, not 2 gallons..
im going to publish my recipe for iso in a podcast and in the forums, but its probably a few weeks out. so far its just minor changes to nanno, but i need to make sure it stays stable for me.

I thought that your container of make up water was ro/di water in a 2 gallon container with 8ml of fertilizer and your actual phyto containers were 2 quarts

sorry if I am mixed up
Macsturm

ah.. yes, ok.. you are right, i thought you were thinking my phyto containers were 2 gallons...
yes i culture in 2 quart containers and have my culture medium in 2 gallon containers.

Just wondering if you need to microwave the water b4? I have a ro/di unit.

if you are using RO/di water, there is no need.
you "can" but you will find that its not needed and really becomes a time waster... lol

thnx a lot....and thank you very much for educating us Rob. Well appreciated!