Courses / Build Your Hatchery

Course Content

Design a Layout
Draw a Blueprint Stage Your Hatchery
Assemble Your System
Configure Your Tanks Cut Your PVC Glue Your PVC Do a Runthrough & Troubleshoot
Build Additional Equipment
Seeding/Transfer Tubes Spool Stands Tank Siphons
Lesson 3 Build Additional Equipment

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Seeding/Transfer Tubes

Large PVC tubes that can hold a seedspool inside have a dual purpose in the hatchery. First, they can be used for the act of seeding, where a seedspool is submerged in a spore-dense solution to encourage the kelp spores to settle on the seedstring. Then, at the end of the season, they can be repurposed as transportation vessels to move the seed spools from the hatchery to the farm.

Seeding tubes used during inoculation at Alutiiq Pride Marine Institute
Seeding tubes can be repurposed to transport mature spools from the hatchery to the farm.
Foam ring holding the spool in place inside a settling tube. Photo Credit: Allegra Anderson Photography

Seeding tubes should be sized up 2” from the size of your spools to allow for about 1” of buffer around the spool. Their height should be about the same or longer than the length of your spools.

To build, glue a flat PVC cap on the bottom of the tube to prevent any leaks, and use a flat cap on the top of the tube. During transport or seeding, to keep the seedspools upright and prevent them from bumping into the walls of the tube, you can make foam rings from any variety of rigid-cell foams. The foam rings should fit the inner diameter of the tube, and then have a hole in the middle that fits the outer diameter of the spool. One will be used for the bottom and another for the top of the tube.