ZC-Aquarientechnik is a company you’ve likely never heard of. We’ve admired a few of their products for sometime, particularly the Zinn Reactor. Although it lacks some of the bells and whistles of the Grotech PhytoBreeder2, it’s simplicity is very attractive. This ingenious “reactor” allows the simultaneous culture of both Phytoplankton (Nannochloropsis sp.) and Rotifers (Brachionus [...]
ZC-Aquarientechnik is a company you’ve likely never heard of. We’ve admired a few of their products for sometime, particularly the Zinn Reactor. Although it lacks some of the bells and whistles of the Grotech PhytoBreeder2, it’s simplicity is very attractive.
This ingenious “reactor” allows the simultaneous culture of both Phytoplankton (Nannochloropsis sp.) and Rotifers (Brachionus pilcatilis). This works by allowing Phyto to pass through a semi-permeable membrane/screen to feed the rotifers and the waste of the rotifers to feed the phyto.
Below is an image from Marko Hagga’s set up, with the rotifers up close in the second image:
In this article Marko writes:
“It is an excellent product to cultivate phyto- and zooplankton with a minimal amount of work. Once you set it up, it can function for up to a month or two with very little maintenance. It has worked for me for up to two months without any crash of the system. I now clean the reactor once a month and start the cultures again. I will never go back to the bottles again.”
Given the dual function of the reactor, this looks to be a nice alternative to traditional “bottle” phyto cultures. You can find them at select European Retailers for ~$150 USD. Custom sizes are also available.
If you’d like to read more on culturing your own phyto, head over to Melev’s site for a great step by step guide.
