Spirulina algae LIVE STARTER Culture - Arthrospira pratensis
GROWING YOUR OWN SPIRULINA SUPERFOOD
***Important***
This is 40mL of LIVE SPIRULINA CULTURE. Please quickly remove LIVE CULTURE from the shipping vessel and move quickly to assure the health of your spirulina. This LIVE CULTURE is shipped with a baseline amount of growing medium to make two litres of growing medium. You may also choose a larger quanity of medium for your purposes from the dropdown menu. Please see the chart below to create your spirulina growing medium. The amount of medium correlates to how large of a container you have and how much water you can hold. Please note, it would be ideal to start this quanitty of LIVE CULTURE in 2 litres before moving it to a larger aquarium sized tanks. If you plan on moving into a larger tank, cultivaate this first culture in two litres before transferring, so as to provide optimum growing conditions.
THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS
- 40mL LIVE SPIRULINA CULTURE
- Nutrients
- Liquid Chelated Iron
Nutrient Mix Ingredients:
Chelated Iron Sulfate
Baking Soda
Potassium Nitrate
Ammonium Phosphate
Potassium Sulfate
Epsom Salt
Sea Salt
So you got your culture and nutrients, now what?
1. Find your appropriate sized container and sterilize the hell out of it.
2. Next, fill youir vessel with the chosen amount of DISTILLED WATER that is proportional to the nutrient/iron miture purchased. Follow the table below if you forgot.
3. Next fully dissolve the nutrient package into the water.
4. Add the liquid chelated Iron
5. Place into a sunny warm location, window sill, or under grow lights.
6. a. If using 2 litres, stir/shake every day to aerate and feed CO2 (carbonate) to the spirulina.
6. b. If using more than 2 litres, add an aquairum pump to pump air in and a small aquarium heater to heat ~90 degrees F.
note* Spirulina is an extremeophile: Meaning it has evloved to adapt to extreme conditons and can survive in suboptimal environmental settings.
IF USING SMALLER SIZED CONTAINERS, THIS HAND PUMP IS A GREAT OPTION FOR EASY AERATION
**However, if you wish to obtain optimal yields, heat your tank to 90F and aerate it with a pump
If you have further quesitons, please download this comprehensive growing guide for picture based instructions
DRYING GUIDE
Oven assisted drying
Oven-assisted drying is another effective method for preserving spirulina. Here is a step-by-step guide for oven-assisted drying spirulina:
- Harvest the spirulina: Harvest the spirulina from your growing pond using a fine mesh screen or filter to remove any debris or impurities.
- Rinse the spirulina: Rinse the spirulina thoroughly with clean water to remove any remaining dirt or debris.
- Preheat the oven: Preheat your oven to a low temperature of around 120°F (49°C). It's important not to use a temperature higher than 130°F (54°C) to avoid destroying the nutrients.
- Spread the spirulina: Spread the spirulina out in a thin layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Place the spirulina in the oven: Place the baking sheet with the spirulina into the preheated oven.
- Prop open the oven door: Prop open the oven door with a wooden spoon or oven mitt to allow moisture to escape.
- Stir the spirulina: After an hour, remove the baking sheet from the oven and stir the spirulina to ensure even drying.
- Continue drying: Place the baking sheet back in the oven and continue drying for another hour, stirring every 30 minutes.
- Monitor the spirulina: Monitor the spirulina closely to ensure that it is drying evenly and is not becoming too hot.
- Remove the spirulina: Once the spirulina is fully dried, remove it from the oven and transfer it to an airtight container.
- Store the spirulina: Store the spirulina in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Properly dried and stored spirulina can last for up to a year.
- Use the dried spirulina: Dried spirulina can be used as a dietary supplement, added to smoothies, or used in other recipes. Be sure to follow the recommended serving size and consult with a healthcare professional before adding any new supplements to your diet.
Therapeutic value of spirulina: studies, prospects and questions
Medicinal Information
Key Actions:
Detox Heavy Metals
Support Gut Health
Superfood Nutritional Supplement, contains Omega 6, Gamma-lineolic acid, essential minerals and more!
Regulates Immune System
Genoprotective
It is useful to mention here some of the work linking this product to the treatment of various pathological conditions.
- Iron deficiency anaemia (see «minerals and trace elements»)
- Pernicious anaemia (see «Vitamin B12")
- Vitamin A deficiency (see «pro-Vitamin A»)
- Inhibition of mother-child transmission of HIV (see «pro-Vitamin A»
- Inhibition of infection of T4 helper cells by HIV (see «fatty acids»)
- Protein-energy disorders (see «nutritional trials in human subjects»)
- Cancer prevention through provision of carotenoids (see «pro-Vitamin A»)
- Radiological protection (see «carbohydrates»)
- Strengthening immune defences (see «carbohydrates»)
"Such a profusion of therapeutic applications - genuine or supposed - is bound to leave spirulina with the image of a miracle potion. The fact remains that a simple natural food supplement, endowed with the riches of this product, could well improve a good number of pathological conditions. This is specially so in a world population that is tending to divide itself into the underfed in the developing countries and the badly fed in the industrialised countries." Falquet Jacques et al.
Essential Mineral Content
How to make bioethanol from algae
Harvest
- Harvest and dry the algae: Harvest the algae from a pond or other source and dry it thoroughly. Drying can be done through sun-drying or oven-drying.
- Mill the dried algae: Grind the dried algae into a fine powder using a mill or blender.
Hydrolyze with cellulase
- Add enzymes (cellulase): Add enzymes to the algae powder to break down the complex carbohydrates into simple sugars. Cellulase enzymes can be purchased from amazon, etsy, or hopefully this pharmacopeia at some point. It is likely walmart also has these readily available. But try to go somewhere that is not a tyrranical capitalist corporate beast.
Ferment with Sacchromyces cerevisiae
- Ferment the sugars: Add yeast to the mixture and allow it to ferment for several days. The yeast will convert the sugars into alcohol, creating a mixture of bioethanol and water.
- Distill the mixture: Distill the fermented mixture to separate the bioethanol from the water. The distillation process separates the two liquids by taking advantage of their different boiling points.
- Collect the bioethanol: Collect the bioethanol in a separate container and store it in a cool, dry place. The bioethanol can be used as a fuel source for cars and other machinery.
Enzymatic lyophilization (scarrificaiton) of spirulina
Nutritional Information
Gamma-linolenic acid represents only 10-20% of fatty acids in S. maxima, i.e. 1-2% of dry matter (23, 32, 49), compared to 40% in S. platensis, or some 4% of dry weight. Thus spirulina can be considered one of the best known source of gamma-linolenic acid, after human milk and some little used vegetable oils (evening primrose, borage, blackcurrant seed and particularly hemp oil) (15).
The presence of gamma-linolenic acid (18:3 omega-6) is worth stressing in view of its rarity in everyday foods and its presumed high nutrient value. Normally synthesised in humans from linoleic acid (18:2 omega-6) of vegetable origin, gamma-linolenic acid can nevertheless be beneficently directly assimilated even in cases of disorders or shortfall in endogenous synthesis (44). The importance of these fatty acids lie in their biochemical evolution: they are the precursors of the prostaglandins, leukotrienes and thromboxanes that serve as chemical mediators of inflammatory and immune reactions.
Beta-carotene accounts for 80% of the carotenoids present in spirulina, the remainder consisting mainly of physoxanthin and cryptoxanthin (51). Each kilogram of dry spirulina contains between 700 and 1700mg of beta-carotene and about 100mg of cryptoxanthin; these two carotenoids are convertible into Vitamin A by mammals. For adults Vitamin A requirements are estimated at less than 1mg per day (24), one to two grams of spirulina are easily sufficient to cover them. Moreover, the absence of retinol (free Vitamin A) rules out a possible risk of overdose, as beta-carotene, unlike Vitamin A, is not cumulatively toxic.
Antioxidant, Immunomodulating, and Microbial-Modulating Activities of the Sustainable and Ecofriendly Spirulina
PHYTOREMEDIATION
Sources
Finamore A, Palmery M, Bensehaila S, Peluso I. Antioxidant, Immunomodulating, and Microbial-Modulating Activities of the Sustainable and Ecofriendly Spirulina. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2017;2017:3247528. doi: 10.1155/2017/3247528. Epub 2017 Jan 15. PMID: 28182098; PMCID: PMC5274660.
Li, K., Liu, S., & Liu, X. (2014). An overview of algae bioethanol production. International Journal of Energy Research, 38(8), 965–977.doi:10.1002/er.3164
Falquet, Jacques, and J. P. Hurni. "The nutritional aspects of Spirulina." Antenna Foundation (1997).
Belay, Amha et al. “Current knowledge on potential health benefits of Spirulina.” Journal of Applied Phycology 5 (1993): 235-241.
Furmaniak, Magda & Misztak, Agnieszka & Franczuk, Martyna & Wilmotte, Annick & Waleron, Malgorzata & Waleron, Krzysztof. (2017). Edible Cyanobacterial Genus Arthrospira: Actual State of the Art in Cultivation Methods, Genetics, and Application in Medicine. Frontiers in Microbiology. 8. 10.3389/fmicb.2017.02541.
Volkman, 2008 https://www.scielo.br/j/cta/a/BcDSzjNcN753mfqxGhVr4vy/?format=pdf&lang=en
