Co2 for Phyto

[Kerusso316]

Is anyone using co2 to grow phyto.I think it would produce much better than without.However the KISS principal comes to mind[Keep it Simple Stupid]If you are using it ,are you using a ph controller?where do you have it set?Bubble rate?etc.........Thanks

[KathyL]

Air works well enough for me.

[Greshamh]

you only need co2 if your growing mass amounts. Common air is just fine.

[aantreklik_jared]

be careful... i crashed some TIso by lowering the pH too much with CO2

[thejrc]

I've tested on a small culture and had amazingly accellerated growth rate when I got it adjusted right. Running constant almost always caused a crash as ph would bounce at lights out so I found best to use a solenoid and run only with lights on.

CO2 injection on my main culture rack is my next project (time and $$ providing). You have to be careful though, with increased growth rate you have to be on top of your splits otherwise the culture will eventually kill itself off as other nutrients dissapear. Without CO2 I typically run an 8-10 day split time with it I was around 3-5 days. It makes for a lot of extra work that could prove disasterous should you forget!

[Xalt75]

You can buffer the pH using carbonate. The algae do indeed grow faster, but be aware that higher CO2 concentrations may influence the lipid concentrations of the algae. In this study, Thalassiosira was found to produce much less Fatty acids, to the point that acartia was producing 7 times less eggs. That's obviously not what we want....

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3324536/