New Culture Site

       Hello readers! (If there's any) Today, I am going to share with you my new culture site. Previously, I have cultured my microalgae, Isochrysis, in a semi-open hatchery located at the Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMACS), USM. Based on my research project entitled ‘Production of High Nutritional Microalgae for Aquaculture Feed’, I have decided to culture my Isochrysis at the semi-open hatchery using natural resources such as sunlight in order to reduce the production cost. The nutritional value obtained was quite good, too. However, there were two major problems encountered during the experiment:

  

1. Contamination caused by protozoa and ciliates that might affect the growth rate of the algae as well as decrease the algal's biomass.

-->Isochrysis cultured at culture room

-->Isochrysis cultured at semi-open hatchery

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2. Difficulties in manipulating the parameters for optimization of the culture. It was very difficult to control the essential parameters for the algae growth such as temperature and light because these parameters depend on sunlight. Principally, the biochemical compositions of algae such as fatty acids, protein, carbohydrates can be manipulated by modifying the culture parameters.

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Isochrysis cultured in 300 liters aquarium at semi-open hatchery

-->Isochrysis cultured in 1000 liters tank at semi-open hatchery

Therefore, I decided to culture my microalgae in a closed room equipped with an artificial light, hoping to resolve the aforementioned problems. The results obtained will be compared to the semi-open hatchery culture site as to determine the proper site to produce a better nutritious microalgae. First of all, I needed to get the equipment to set up the lighting system.

Equipment	Quantity	Price/unit (RM)	Actual price (RM)
- 2 x 40W F/L Fitting	8	19.00	152.00
- Fluorescent tube	16	5.00	80.00
- Starter S-10	2	13.00	26.00
- Light dimmer	2	0.50	1.00
- 2 x 40 Metal     reflector	8	9.50	78.00
- Flexible wire	12m	2.60	31.00
TOTAL:			RM 366.00

-->2 x 40W F/L Fitting and Fluorescent tube 

Starter S-10, light dimmer and flexible wire    

2 x 40 Metal reflectors

Once the equipments were mounted together, here is the lighting system...

Four fluorescent tubes for each rows (5000 - 6000 Lux)

Light dimmer installed to control the light intensity

I will update again once the new culture site is fully completed and ready for microalgae culture. See you guys soon!

Prepared by : Mohammad Basri Eshak

Credits to : Shahidan (CEMACS staff)

Alginate Beads (Immobilised algae)

          We use alginate beads to preserve our microalgae stock for a long period of time. Most researchers believe that it can last for at least 9 months, so its usage saves time and cost as we do not need to frequently subculture the stock. Preparing alginate beads is very simple - all that we need are sodium alginate, calcium chloride and glycerol. Below is our Nannochloropsis sp. encapsulated with sodium alginate:

 

  Calcium chloride and sodium alginate

Nannochloropsis sp.

Nannochloropsis sp.

Prepared by   : Mohammad Basri Eshak

Pictures by     : Mohd Adip Fadhil

Credit to          : Mr Soh Chee Weng (Texchem researcher)