Phyto culture giving off foul smell but continues to grow

[djf91]

Hello everyone,

I’ve been culturing Nannochloropsis in my garage (natural sunlight) for the past several months now. My most recent batch I decided to let grow longer and become darker than previously. It continues to get darker by the day, a very dark green and is now on the 3 week mark. Within the past couple of days it has started to smell quite bad, almost like a rotting smell that was not previously there. I would be worried, however the culture appears bright, dark green which I assume means it’s healthy.

Has anybody experienced this foul smell with darker, mature cultures? I added a 1/2 gallon to my reef this morning.

 

[Saltyreef]

Hello everyone,

I’ve been culturing Nannochloropsis in my garage (natural sunlight) for the past several months now. My most recent batch I decided to let grow longer and become darker than previously. It continues to get darker by the day, a very dark green and is now on the 3 week mark. Within the past couple of days it has started to smell quite bad, almost like a rotting smell that was not previously there. I would be worried, however the culture appears bright, dark green which I assume means it’s healthy.

Has anybody experienced this foul smell with darker, mature cultures? I added a 1/2 gallon to my reef this morning.

Without the proper agitation, as cells start to die is where you get the rotten smell. Most may still be alive.

Its not going to harm your reef...just think of it as salmon that smells a little extra "salmony" before its actually spoiled lol

 

[djf91]

Without the proper agitation, as cells start to die is where you get the rotten smell. Most may still be alive.

Its not going to harm your reef...just think of it as salmon that smells a little extra "salmony" before its actually spoiled lol

Thanks for the response.

Yea, I figured it would probly be ok. Corals seem to still love it and it also seems to keep Dino’s away.

It gets plenty of agitation from a bubbler, so I was surprised by the smell this morning.

I could never grow it in my fish room under LED lighting , but it thrives in a window in my garage, even with temps in the 30’s.

 

[Saltyreef]

Thanks for the response.

Yea, I figured it would probly be ok. Corals seem to still love it and it also seems to keep Dino’s away.

It gets plenty of agitation from a bubbler, so I was surprised by the smell this morning.

I could never grow it in my fish room under LED lighting , but it thrives in a window in my garage, even with temps in the 30’s.

Yea sometimes the cultures just start to crash as the population of cells increases

 

[djf91]

Yea sometimes the cultures just start to crash as the population of cells increases

Yea I hope to use this culture up in the next few days as I have just started a new culture. But other than the smell, this culture shows no signs of crashing….idk

 

[Saltyreef]

Yea I hope to use this culture up in the next few days as I have just started a new culture. But other than the smell, this culture shows no signs of crashing….idk

The longer you leave it, the more it will continue to degrade. A slight rot smell is not bad vs the whole thing smelling like roadkill after a week in the sun.

 

[djf91]

The longer you leave it, the more it will continue to degrade. A slight rot smell is not bad vs the whole thing smelling like roadkill after a week in the sun.

So it will crash and go clear eventually?

 

[Saltyreef]

So it will crash and go clear eventually?

It depends....
It could be one of a variety of issues.

I think if the culture is crashing after 3 weeks, you are going too long between batches and its running out of food or its so thick the light cant penetrate.

 

[djf91]

But I don’t think it’s crashing. It continues to get darker green by the day. Only the smell is off now.

 

[Saltyreef]

But I don’t think it’s crashing. It continues to get darker green by the day. Only the smell is off now.

It should normally smell similar to broccoli when the cells arent dying.

 

[fryman]

A dark green color indicates alot of dead cells. At 30C nanno doubles every day or 2 at the most. If you are not removing the dead cells, they are just rotting away. Might as well pour fertilizer into your tank.

Turn off air and let it sit for a few hours. The dead cells will sink to the bottom. Gently pour off the top of the culture and use this to restart using live nanno cells.

*Live nanno is a bright flourescent green, almost unnatural-looking. Dead nanno is a more dark, forest green. Also if you see particulate in the culture it's likely clumps of dead cells. You do not want these, it's basically decomposing organic matter. Nanno cells are 4microns so you cannot see them and they do not stick together when living.