Courses / Routine Maintenance

Course Content

Biosecurity Protocols
Reduce the Risk of Contamination
Daily Chores
Create a Routine Check and Adjust Aeration Check and Adjust Water Levels Check Water Temperature Spin Spools a Quarter Turn Look Over All Mechanical Equipment Monitor Water Quality
Weekly Chores
Make a Schedule Water Changes
Nutrient Addition Sterilize and Store Equipment
Resources & Tools
Kelp Hatchery Forum
Weekly Kelp Nursery Maintenance Checklist
Download file
Lesson 3 Weekly Chores

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Nutrient Addition

Depending on your water source, the seawater being used may have very limited nutrients. Because of this, you will want to add nutrients to support quick and hardy kelp growth on your spools. As a reminder, GreenWave uses an F/2 solution made from F/2 powder for dosing our grow tanks.  Since we have flow-through tanks that refresh at 100% daily, we dose with 1 mL of F/2 per 10 L of seawater in our tanks two times per day, typically around 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. This number may change if you don’t have flow-through tanks or aren’t changing 100% of the water per day. You can refer to the Environmental Conditions chart to see how the dosing changes throughout the season. Previously, GreenWave used Guiillard’s (F/2) Marine Water Enrichment Solution, more commonly referred to as F/2. For our 75L tanks, we added 10mL of Part A and 10mL of Part B of F/2 solutions. If you choose to use the more traditionally-used nutrient, Provasoli Enriched Seawater (PES), it is recommended to be added at the concentration of 10mL of PES per L of tank size. Read more about choosing and preparing your nutrient solution in the Preseason Prep course.

A hatchery technician adding nutrients to a tank. 

If you have a closed system where you conduct a full water change each week, add nutrients after you’ve completed your water change. If you have a flow-through system where water is constantly displaced, add nutrients everyday to make up for the continuous outflow of water and dilution of the nutrients in your tank. The amount of nutrients you add each day will depend on your tank’s daily turnover rate (how much water is replaced per day). If you are losing and replenishing 10% of your water each day, then add 10% of the recommended dose of nutrients. 

Industry Tip

If you’re using F/2, be sure that Parts A and B do not mix with one another in their storage containers. This can spark unwanted growth in the containers which can be introduced to your tanks during the next nutrient addition. Always use a dedicated pipette for Part A and Part B to ensure there is no cross-contamination between the bottles. You can add each part directly to the culture tank; they don’t have to be mixed in advance.