Colonial versus Filamentous algae culture in free suspension or immobilized in alginate beads

An experiment comparing growth and ammonium uptake of colonial and filamentous algae when culture in free suspension or immobilized in alginate beads took place from 1 September until 20 September 2012. In this experiment I wanted to investigate which of the two algae had higher growth and higher ammonium uptake. On top of that, I wanted to know whether these two algae would grow better if they were immobilized in alginate beads. The finding of the experiment was no significant difference was found between the microalgae on the growth and ammonium uptake. However, higher growth was observed when the algae were immobilized in alginate beads than when the algae were cultured in free suspension.

Day 1

Right- microalgae in free suspension culture; Left- microalgae immobilized in alginate beads (Day 1)

Algae immobilized in alginate beads (same amount of algae were inoculated in beads and free suspension flask)

Filamentous microalgae in free suspension (Day 1)

Day 16-Algae in free suspension

Day 16- Algae in beads

Day 16- Algae in beads

Control beads, filamentous algae in beads, and colonial algae in beads