Mark,

Thank you for your comment, I definitely forgot to mention the so what factor. I just very recently got this project idea after coming across the micro-controller Arduino while performing my own experiments on microalgae. I thought it would be worth the effort to attempt automation and I would feel relieved if there was already someone out there doing the same thing so we could team up because I want to see an inexpensive automated algae photobioreactor in the public domain. It should be noted that I am not an expert in phycology and I hope one will join the developers team soon, however, this project is merely an idea and I would like for it to take on a life of its own and begin evolving in an open source platform the sooner the better.

There are some general precursors for every-day products that can be extracted from various algae like deodorant, toothpaste, shampoo has glycerin a co-product of biodiesel which can be made from algae, ice packs, shaving cream, and even an electronic cigarettes nicotine solution contains a form of polypropylene. Basically if the economy was reversed and everyone wanted items to be as inexpensive and abundant as possible instead of trying to always make a profit on supply shortages, oil companies would switch over from poisoning our common precious oceanic resources with crude oil (million year old decomposed algae) before further exploration into a more sustainable and abundant venture researching and developing similar products from algae.

I personally plan on using this photobioreactor for modifying culture environments to research lipid(oil) production variables. Not expressly related to this project but I do also plan on experimenting on various methods of extracting oil from the cultured microalgae strains. I am a biodiesel enthusiast and have been researching and experimenting on my own for some time with waste vegetable oil.

I presume some folks will want to look into certain edible strains of algae like Arthrospira which are acclaimed for their nutritional values as well as the possible heavy metal detoxification effects of ingesting or utilizing Eukaryotic microalgae in waste water treatment facilities. (Hugo Virgilio Perares-Vela, et al. "Heavy Metal Detoxification in Eukaryotic Microalgae." http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/legacylib/mlahcc.html 2005) --- I can't remember MLA so please excuse the format. I promise to make an effort next time.:D

Separating one strain of algae from another is beyond the scope of the first few prototypes of this project and would require further research and modifications of the unit I had in mind. I encourage anyone who would like to add such a mod to the AlgaeFarm because that would be truly bleeding edge stuff. However, being that I live in a region which only has fresh water, for example, it may be plausible to increase the salt content of the culture media therefore creating an environment in which fresh water algae grow poorly in order to favor growth of a salt water species. Nannochloropsis (DIA ~2-4 µm) is however a pretty hardy microalgae Genus I've noticed that does well near either environment and may be difficult to remove with such methods. Nannochloropsis is also well known for having a reasonable lipid content as well as being a prime food source for many aquatic species. Various culture banks exist which have near pure - pure algae cultures that can be introduced into a sterile culture media and grown in a covered positive pressure environment with low micron air filters between the air pumps and the reactor. Of these for some reason http://ccap.ac.uk I can remember and sticks out in my mind is a culture bank of algae and protozoa, but these are mostly for lab grade, critical experiments, and can get rather expensive for the DIY'er or hobby biologist.

pH can be time consuming to test and control accurately as well as flicking a switch at precise times to trick the algae into reproducing at varying intervals. Further, having the desired nutrient levels can prove to be difficult and a time consuming process when it may be interpreted that a given reading from an electrical conductivity meter can just be corrected with pH down instead of adding more iron or phosphorus. A mistake which will just stress out the algae even more and give precedence to spiraling out of control and yielding a crashed culture.

As a personal recommendation from one friend to another, I think for you Mark one of the most prominent ways that I believe you would find time well spent harnessing the energy potential of algae is not with an experimental photobioreactor but rather in researching and developing your very own aqua culture. I'm not sure where your located, and therefore your local regulations, but definitely something to look into is tilapia farming. I've heard them referred to as the new chicken and they're gaining popularity fast. They definitely hold major potential for an off the grid, abundance oriented, supply of protein. The best part.... They were not raised in the Gulf of Mexico or off the coast of Japan. Talk about a valuable trade commodity when you know they were raised in clean water and fed all organic algae that you cultured yourself.

This information is at the very least close correct to the best of my knowledge, I am not an expert I am just passionate about learning more and teaching others about algae. So if there are any mistakes and especially negligent or misleading content please correct me as this will challenge my beliefs and guide me towards the truth. Thank you again for your comment, as it helped me improve this project and the projects website.

Regretfully, I believe I may have reached my bandwidth limit as I am using a free hosting service, so if anyone knows of any good hosts please let me know, inexpensive is a major major plus and linux, apache, mysql, and php a requirement.

Thank you,

Tyler Hinz