List of Media and Recipes
Maintenance of cultures
Cultures sent to customers remain alive for at least 14 days provided that the following precautions are observed. Cultures should be unpacked immediately after receipt and stored at 15-18°C under low light intensity (north window, no direct sun light, or weak white fluorescent light). Screw caps or vessels should be loosened but not removed. Further maintenance or multiplication of cultures requires transfer into new culture media. This presupposes experience in simple microbial techniques.
Many species are cultivated and dispatched on agar media (cited in SAG Database as "Medium Ag") for safety reasons but develop their morphological characteristics only in liquid media, e.g. flagellates, colony-forming Volvocales and Chlorococcales. For teaching purposes these species should be transferred into liquid media 2-3 weeks before demonstration, e.g. into Soil Water Media, Basal Medium, or Desmidiacean Medium.
Culture Media
The following media have proved suitable for the maintenance of cultures in test tubes at the SAG for many years. The recipes originate from E. G. Pringsheim and W. Koch, unless stated otherwise. It must be emphasized that the maintenance medium indicated is not always the best medium for the cultivation of a species. There are other media which are just as suitable, e.g. those given in the catalogues of other culture collections of algae (Thompson et al., 1988, Watanabe and Nozaki, 1994, Andersen et al., 1991, Rippka and Herdman, 1992, Starr and Zeikus, 1993). Mass algal culture often requires more concentrated media (for recipes and methods consult Kuhl and Lorenzen, 1964; Starr, 1971; Stein, 1973; Guillard, 1975; Werner, 1982; Castenholz, 1988; Richmond, 2004; Andersen, 2005).
All solutions should be made up with de-ionized water. Media are usually prepared from stock solutions of macronutrients, trace metals, and vitamins which are added to a large proportion of the final volume of water in order to avoid precipitation.
Media may be used as liquid or solidified by 1.0-1.5% agar. Media recipes that are used in agarized form at SAG are cited as "Medium Ag" in SAG database. Before sterilization the agar has to be dissolved in the medium in a steamer. After this test tubes should be filled with 10 ml of the hot medium, closed with cotton plugs, sterilized (usually by autoclaving at 121°C for 15 min.) and may be stored for several weeks, after cooling, in a refrigerator. Solid media for Cyanobacteria are prepared by mixing, after cooling to 50°C, equal volumes of separately autoclaved double strength solutions of the mineral salts medium and either agar to give a final agar concentration of 0.6-1.0 %.
- A note on biphasic soil-water media is available here
- A list of phycological culturing literature is available here
| +V | Basal Medium with 10 % Euglena Medium and Vitamins |
| 1/2SWEg | Brackish half-strength Euglena Medium |
| 1/2SWES | Brackish Water Medium |
| 1/2SWES+Na2SeO3+B12 | Brackish Water Medium with Selenite and B12 |
| 1/2SWES+Na2SiO3 | Brackish Water Medium with Selenite |
| 3NBBM+V | Bold's Basal Medium with Vitamins and triple Nitrate |
| Acid | Cyanidium Medium (= Acid Alga Medium) |
| Acid B1 | Cyanidium Medium + B1 |
| Acid B12 | Cyanidium Medium + B12 |
| ASM15+V+Ammon. | Artificial Seawater Medium with Vitamins and Ammonium |
| ASM30+V | Artificial Seawater Medium with Vitamins |
| B | Beggiatoa Medium |
| BG 11 | BG 11 Medium for Cyanobacteria |
| CaE | Soil Water Medium with CaCO3 |
| Chilo | Chilomonas Medium |
| Diat | Bacillariophycean Medium |
| Dun | Dunaliella Medium |
| Dun. acid | Dunaliella acidophila Medium |
| Eg | Euglena Medium |
| ella | Polytomella Medium |
| ErbsE | Soil Water Medium with Pea (= ErbsE ) |
| ErbsMS | Soil Water Medium with Pea and Loamy Soil with Sand (= Erbs MS) |
| ErbsS | Soil Water Medium with Pea and with Sand (= Erbs S) |
| ES | Basal Medium |
| ESP Ag | Basal Medium with Peptone |
| f/2 | Enriched Seawater Medium "f/2" |
| GerstE | Soil Water Medium with Barley (=GerstE) |
| K Ag | Kuhl-Medium for Unicellular Green Algae |
| Malz Ag | Malt Peptone Medium |
| MBB+V Ag | Modified Bold's Basal Medium |
| MiEB12 | Desmidiacean Medium |
| MiEB1B12 | Desmidiacean Medium with Vitamin B1 |
| MiEg1/2:1/2 | Half-strength Euglena Medium with Minerals |
| MiEg1:1 | Euglena Medium with Minerals |
| NH4E | Soil Water Medium with NH4MgPO4 |
| Ochr | Ochromonas Medium |
| PES | Provasoli's enriched Seawater |
| Pol | Polytoma Medium |
| PolGu | Polytoma Glucose |
| Porph Ag | Porphyridium Medium |
| Spirul | Spirulina Medium |
| SWES | Seawater Medium |
| SWES+Na2SiO3 | Seawater Medium with Silicate |
| TOM Ag | Modified Bold's Basal Medium for Heterotrophs |
| Vol Ag | Volvox Medium |
| WC | WC Medium |
| WEES | WEES Medium |
| WeizenE | Soil Water Medium with Wheat |
| Z | Zehnder-Medium for Cyanobacteria |
| Z 45/4 | Zehnder- 45/4 Medium for Cyanobacteria (without nitrogen) |