Our tank's biology up close

[jason2459]

Great work as always, Jason!

I have to ask. What magnifications do you find most useful for algae and bacteria identification?

Thanks, more coming from a couple other samples.

As for magnifications that is a range of them.

10x is good for scoping around looking for interesting areas to zoom in on and still see details. 4x was to far out and pulled that from the scope.

20x is great for the larger critters and following them. 40x was just to close up for those that were moving around quickly. 20x was a great addition but it's not common to come with a microscope as standard. I bought mine separate.

40x is a great balance of details and getting up close. Probably one of the best for a balance of magnification and quality.

60x starts to lose some of that quality but still holds on to some of it while getting pretty close. Another add on I bought and I really like and doesn't come standard with most microscopes. Slightly more magnificiation then the 40x but better image quality then a 100x.

100x I'll use briefly here and there. The quality is noticeable here but work it for when I really want to get up close and personal to some bacteria. If you are using 20x or 25x eyepieces the quality is even worse. Problem is the standard 100x that comes with microscopes are oil and spring. So you have to put oil down on the cover slip for best quality. This makes it so you can't go back to another spring lens that doesn't use oil (aka dry). If you do you could damage the objective. So, once I put down some oil I could go back to the 4x, 10x, or 20x lens but not the 40x or 60x that are dry spring objectives. Which 40x is one of my favorites. That annoyed me so I invested in a 100x dry objective which was the most expensive objective I've bought so far. But it's been worth is as I like to switch to the 100x and back to the 40x or 60x quite often.

 

[Brew12]

Thanks, more coming from a couple other samples.

As for magnifications that is a range of them.

10x is good for scoping around looking for interesting areas to zoom in on and still see details. 4x was to far out and pulled that from the scope.

20x is great for the larger critters and following them. 40x was just to close up for those that were moving around quickly. 20x was a great addition but it's not common to come with a microscope as standard. I bought mine separate.

40x is a great balance of details and getting up close. Probably one of the best for a balance of magnification and quality.

60x starts to lose some of that quality but still holds on to some of it while getting pretty close. Another add on I bought and I really like and doesn't come standard with most microscopes. Slightly more magnificiation then the 40x but better image quality then a 100x.

100x I'll use briefly here and there. The quality is noticeable here but work it for when I really want to get up close and personal to some bacteria. If you are using 20x or 25x eyepieces the quality is even worse. Problem is the standard 100x that comes with microscopes are oil and spring. So you have to put oil down on the cover slip for best quality. This makes it so you can't go back to another spring lens that doesn't use oil (aka dry). If you do you could damage the objective. So, once I put down some oil I could go back to the 4x, 10x, or 20x lens but not the 40x or 60x that are dry spring objectives. Which 40x is one of my favorites. That annoyed me so I invested in a 100x dry objective which was the most expensive objective I've bought so far. But it's been worth is as I like to switch to the 100x and back to the 40x or 60x quite often.

Thanks for the input. I was guessing there isn't much need for anything close to the 1000x+ magnification settings on higher end scopes. Just wanted to make sure I was right on that count.

 

[jason2459]

Sample from the overflow

Sliced on the left and pipette on the right

 

[jason2459]

Green algae, looks like some brown/red algae, and cyano.

Overflow_Sample04-0001 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0002 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0003 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0004 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0005 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0006 by Jason, on Flickr

Found some sponge spicules
Overflow_Sample04-0007 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0008 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0009 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Green algae, looks like some brown/red algae, and cyano.

Overflow_Sample04-0001 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0002 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0003 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0004 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0005 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0006 by Jason, on Flickr

Found some sponge spicules
Overflow_Sample04-0007 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0008 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0009 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Overflow_Sample04-0010 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0011 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0012 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0013 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0014 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0015 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0016 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0017 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0018 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0019 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Overflow_Sample04-0020 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0021 by Jason, on Flickr


Found what looks like vibro
Overflow_Sample04-0022 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0023 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0024 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0025 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0026 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0027 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0028 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0029 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Overflow_Sample04-0030 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0031 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0032 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0033 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0034 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0035 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0036 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0037 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0038 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0039 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Overflow_Sample04-0041 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0042 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0043 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0044 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0045 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0046 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0047 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Overflow_Sample04-0048 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0049 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0050 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0051 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0052 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0053 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Overflow_Sample04-0054 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0055 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0056 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0057 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0060 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Overflow_Sample04-0061 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0062 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0063 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0064 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0065 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Found what looks like vibro through out

Overflow_Sample04-0066 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0067 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0068 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0069 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0070 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0071 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

Vids on flickr for now

Overflow_Sample04_01 by Jason, on Flickr


Overflow_Sample04_02 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04_03 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04_04 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04_05 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04_06 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04_07 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04_08 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[jason2459]

It's very possible you have a branching cyano bacteria. Looking it up now. Which is cool. Well, to see it under the microscope it is.

Overflow_Sample04-0064 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0062 by Jason, on Flickr

Overflow_Sample04-0007 by Jason, on Flickr

 

[Scubabeth]

So neat! This may be a silly question, but in two of the stills I saw a star shaped "something." Do you know what that was?

 

[jason2459]

So neat! This may be a silly question, but in two of the stills I saw a star shaped "something." Do you know what that was?

If I had to guess is that its from a type of foraminifera.

 

[Scubabeth]

If I had to guess is that its from a type of foraminifera.

I just looked those up; I had no idea such organisms existed! Thanks!! So cool!

 

[jason2459]

They are very cool and this is one moving around with it's cytoplasm.

While I was playing around with the darkfield I ran accross the weird overexposed object except it had feelers, for a lack of a better word, stretching out all around it. I went back to darkfield again toward the end of this video. I didn't have it recording when I first ran into in darkfield.

 

[jason2459]

Finally got the mystery black mat uploaded

Sliced off chunk plus pipette pulled.