Our strains are kept in a liquid medium for faster shipping. Agar slants are available upon requests. The benefit of an agar slant is the algae last longer but agar slants contaminate easily. You will need to use sterile equipment when handling agar slants.

Ask the Expert

Each strain has enough nutrients for approximately 4 days of growth. They will remain stable for up to a week afterwards. It is recommended to purchase nutrients to keep the strain growing until it is acclimated to your growing conditions and nutrients.

Algae need nutrients and light to grow. It is recommended as soon as your algae are delivered take it out of the package and slightly open the cap for gas exchange. Place under fluorescent light for 16 hours at 2500 lux (~2 inches away from a 25-watt bulb). Then change the lighting schedule to 14 hours on, 10 hours off.

Nutrients should be added every 4 days. Nutrients are available in our store. Depending on shipping times you may need to add nutrients right away. It is up to you to take care of the algae and keep it growing.

Algae Disposal Method:

Here is a procedure to properly dispose of algae in an environmentally friendly way.

1. The water and the algae growing in the water both need to be treated to be absolutely sure every cell has been affected.
2. Add bleach to a total of 5% v/v.  An example of this is to add 5 gallons of bleach for every 95 gallons of water.
3. Leave the bleach water solution to work in a lighted area for one hour.
4. To avoid clogging drains you may want to filter out and solids from the water and discard.