Personally, I start by purchasing Velvet Green and add that to some bottles already bubbling with day-old mixed saltwater. I prefer Velvet Green because of it's brighter deeper green pigmentation. That pigmentation transfers to the inverts. You can even see the blue-green pigmentation that looks like food color in water that has collected from splashing on the inside top of the container if the water level is close to the top.
Two or more culture bottles is a good idea.
Water changes in my 10 gal are done daily as I take out a pint of tank water and replace it with greenwater! So I'm not too concerned anymore about the standard 10% monthly water change.
The greenwater must be kept uncontaminated by never getting any tank water in the culture. Tank water, even a drop of it from a hose or dry container, probably has a live rotifer/algae eating bug, or inactive cyst in it. That's all it takes to start a family of rotifers to eat up the algae. The good thing is that you then can feed that to the tank! Many inverts love rotifers!
In another thread, Suzy mentioned the yellowish green water that starts foaming. Sometimes if you let it grow the green algae like Velvet Green can reclaim their territory, especially if a teaspoon of fertilizer is added. Otherwise just dump it in your tank and start over. Starting over is easier than all the procedures that Mountain Corals has to go through to keep their Velvet Green culture going.
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