Phyto

[DYIguy]

I've been culturing my own phyto for over a year, startted with a kit from Mercer of Montana. My cultures have crashed a couple of times and I've had to start over with cultures I bought on Ebay. I just bought a culture from Algae Depot- the palest culture I've ever seen. I don't think I could sell or even give it away to fellow members. I made a complaint with them and this was their repsonse. I've attached a photo of thier product
Am I wrong?

We're sorry to hear that. We run each phyto culture through lab testing and each batch may vary on density but we understand your unhappiness. We are more than happy to refund your order if you'd like but we also want to let you know that density doesn't define the health of the culture. Just be cautious what you're getting from other folks on the market because they might not run their cultures through the vigorous testing that we do through the use of various lab tools.​ Their latest response Mercer definitely has some of the darkest phyto on the market. We pull cultures at a specific time of the stationary phase but some wait longer to go darker. We like to leave a day or two of growth to lengthen the life span.

 

[horseplay]

Chris - I got a bottle of Phyto from Dinkins from RAP. It's a mixture of species. Are you able to use it to culture or it has to be single species?

 

[DYIguy]

Chris - I got a bottle of Phyto from Dinkins from RAP. It's a mixture of species. Are you able to use it to culture or it has to be single species?

Not sure, but I don't see why you can't. worse that can happen is that one species would take over/ grow faster. I also assume that it's cultured with mixed species to begin with

 

[mrehfeld]

Different cultures have different hues and color. It could depend on lighting cycles, fertilizer, age of culture .....

I reluctantly bought culture from a LFS, when I ask what type it was they couldn't tell me.

You're going to get what you pay for. If you want 100% certainty, you should be sourcing form a scientifically run lab that supplies research type facilities.

 

[Boehmtown]

I've only really been happy with reef nutrition. Besides them I feel like it's not that potent. If it's a blend it might be lighter in color also, some of the strains are brown or very light colored. Reef nutrition has the thickest phyto in the game. Culture that. Nano should win out over time. I had good success doing that. If you want a specific strain rob_z's reef has a good video on phyto and he names a couple of places to get reliable lab grade stains for reasonable prices.