Aqua Medic plankton reactor Mode D'emploi page 9

1. Reactor's housing 6. Valve for drain and harvest
2. Lighting unit* 7. Air tube
3. Holding plate (2 pcs.) 8. Clip for mounting the lighting unit (2 pcs.)*
4. Retaining clips (4 pcs.) 9. 4 x screw and wall plug (not shown in Fig. 1)
5. Ballast*
* only for plankton light reactor (integrated in the reflector)
Available spare parts: Please refer to www.aqua-medic.de.
3. Operation of the plankton and plankton light reactor
3.1. Microalgae production in the plankton light reactor:
Before starting, the reactor should be flushed with warm tap water. Then it can be filled with cold (25 °C)
but previously cooked seawater. It is important for the first start to cook the seawater so that no foreign
Plankton organisms may enter the reactor. Especially zooplankton (rotifers) or filamentous algae can
destroy the whole system. A single rotifer is enough!
Each 2 ml floreal + iod and ferreal + spureal are added for fertilization. Now, the inoculating culture can
be added.
Cultivation of microalgae:
After inoculation, the culture is slightly green. The light should be switched on now. The optimum duration
of the illumination for microalgae is 16 hours. Illumination for 24 hours gives only a slight increase of the
growth rate.
Under these conditions, the green colour of the culture increases and after some days you can start to
harvest. Under ideal conditions, you can harvest 1 – 1.5 l of algae culture per day. They can be removed
via the valve (6) at the bottom. The missing water is then replaced by fresh prepared and filtered sea
water. Note: Only use perfectly clean cans or buckets to prepare the seawater. Zooplankton may destroy
an algal culture completely in a very short time. The most important factor for successful long term running
the algal culture is to keep it perfectly clean.
Fertilization:
The daily added seawater is enriched with 1 ml floreal + iod and ferreal. The harvested microalgae can be
used to feed the zooplankton culture (rotifers or artemia) or may be fed directly to the aquarium as food
for invertebrates (mussels, spiral worms and others).
Cleaning:
After some weeks of permanent culture, wall growth may occur at the reactor. As soon as the culture is
shaded by this and the algal production decreases, the reactor has to be cleaned. Therefore, the culture
is filled into a clean vessel that can be closed. The plankton reactor is now cleaned with warm water with
the cleaning brush. The clean reactor is refilled with the old algal culture and fresh sea water (1:1).
Filamentous algae:
If nuisance organisms have entered the reactor - e. g. filamentous algae or algae feeding zooplankton,
the reactor has to be sterilized. We recommend to use - after mechanical cleaning with the brush - 2%
H O (Hydrogenperoxyde) for minimum 24 hours. Afterwards, the reactor is filled with cooked and cooled
2 2
down saltwater. In this case, you have to use a new pure culture. If you re-use the old culture, the
filamentous algae would spread out again.
We recommend to use a microscope with a magnification of approx. 400 fold for the control of the culture.
This allows easy recognition of filamentous algae or other nuisance organisms.
Enhancement of the algae production by fertilization with CO :
2
The algal production can be increased for several times if the culture is supplied with CO in sufficient
2
quantity. To do this, a T-piece is put in the air pipe between the check valve (7) and reactor. CO is added
2
via this T-piece to the air. For the CO supply, you need a standard CO unit. The CO is directed from the
2 2 2
bottle via pressure regulator, needle valve, bubble counter with check valve to the T-piece and into the
algal culture.
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