http://www.instructables.com/id/Food-of-the-Future-Window-DIY-Spirulina-Superfood/

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Food of the Future: Window DIY Spirulina Superfoodby SpirulinaFan on July 23, 2013

Table of Contents

Food of the Future: Window DIY Spirulina Superfood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Intro: Food of the Future: Window DIY Spirulina Superfood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 1: Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Step 2: Tank Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 3: Hardware Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 4: Medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 5: Adding your culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Step 6: Mark you water level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Step 7: Cover tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 8: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 9: Growing Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 10: Repeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Step 11: Harvesting Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Step 12: Harvesting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Step 13: Enjoy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

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Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

http://www.instructables.com/id/Food-of-the-Future-Window-DIY-Spirulina-Superfood/

Intro: Food of the Future: Window DIY Spirulina SuperfoodHaving your own spirulina window farm is one of the easiest most satisfying things you could ever take on. It is an environmentally friendly way to produce and consumea complete protein and nutritional source! Algae Spirulina is 25 times more efficient per squared foot than any other plant, which makes it optimal for indoor growth.Integrating algae into our homes can be one of the most significant things that can impact our nutrition. It is truly the food of the future as it contains all of the amino acidsand is a complete protein!

Step 1: HardwareTo grow Spirulina at home you are going to need some hardware to optimize and automize the process. Most of it is readily available at your local pet or fish store.

10-20 Gallon Aquarium TankAir PumpHeaterAir LineBubble WandThermometerFood Grade Harvesting tubePh StripsBi ValveHarvesting Cloth

The only thing that you will need to get from a specific source is your initial spirulina culture. SpirulinaSystems.com is the most affordable source.

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Food-of-the-Future-Window-DIY-Spirulina-Superfood/

Step 2: Tank SetupFind a south facing window for your tank. You can either use a table to place tank, or you can place a piece of wood on the window sill to make a shelf for the tank. Placetank on top. You can also grow spirulina in a greenhouse!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Food-of-the-Future-Window-DIY-Spirulina-Superfood/

Step 3: Hardware SetupStart by arranging the bubble wand around the wall of the tank. This will aerate the spirulina. Suction cup you heater to the wall of the tank. The clear harvesting tube isalso suctioned to the glass of the tank. Now, run your air line to the bivalve: then to the bubble wand and the bottom of the food grade tube.

Step 4: MediumThe growing medium is the water solution that spirulina can grow best in. Since spirulina grows in alkaline environments, you have to make your water alkaline. This canbe done by adding 16 grams/liter of sodium bicarbonate to non-chlorinated water along with other nutrients: Ammonium Phosphate, Sea Salt, Potassium Nitrate. Themost important of those is of course the sodium bicarbonate that creates an environments that resembles the ash lakes in nature in which spirulina grows.To simplify the process, you can buy these nutrients pre mixed like I did. Again, SpirulinaSystems was pretty affordable.2.5 Gallons of non-chlorinated water along with 1 of a cup of pre-mixed nutrients is the recommended amount to start the culture.

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Step 5: Adding your cultureOnce your starter powder has dissolved and your water has reached room temperature or higher, you can now add spirulina to the medium. Adding spirulina to coldwater can shock it, its like taking a cold shower! Only pour in 3/4 of your bottle so that you may have some in reserve in case anything happens to your first culture!

Step 6: Mark you water levelA simple step to record your water level is to use a book mark. This is used because water naturally evaporates so you need to replace the water that evaporatesperiodically.

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Step 7: Cover tankAdding a glass or plastic cover can decrease the amount of evaporation and help keep in the heat at night. This will also prevent contamition from any airbourneorganisms.

Step 8: At this point you can add Chelated Iron. It completes the nutritional needs of spirulina. Iron deficiencies are noticeable, just as they are in plants. Slight yellow shade is anindicator of iron deficiency.

Step 9: Growing PeriodThis is where spirulina will begin to use the sun, CO2 from the air and the nutrients you added! Its nice to know that CO2 sequestration helps the environment AND itfeeds your spirulina, which will feed you! In a time lapse anywhere between a few weeks and a month, it will begin to get more populated.

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Step 10: RepeatRepeat the previous steps to double your culture: Add another 2.5 gallons with Starter and Iron. Do this until your tank is full. If your culture is a good performer you canadd 5 gallons at a time! Once your culture is well populated it replicates far quicker. In ideal conditions, it replicates (doubles) every three days! Much faster than mostplants and it can do it year round!You can now officially can call yourself a spirulina Farmer! Take a moment to understand the monumental significance of this! Spirulina superfood is being produced inyour own home in an environmentally friendly way that does not require transportation, excessive water, and does not create runoff like most commercial plants! A pat inthe back is well deserved!

Step 11: Harvesting SafetyYou are just a few steps away from easy harvesting. Over the last two years of research and development, I have been eating spirulina with healthy outcomes. Toreplicate that, you just need to follow simple steps. Spirulina has an advantageous characteristic that allows it to grow in highly alkaline environments, meaning pH levelsof 10 and above. This dramatically decreases the chances of foreign organisms growing your culture because they just can't survive in that kind of alkalinity. To safelyharvest you simply have to wait for your culture to reach an approximate pH level of 10 using readily available pH strips.

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Step 12: HarvestingOnce at the safe pH level you can set up your Integrated Harvesting Tube. It is important to only use a material that meets FDA standards because you want to use safefood grade elements in your spirulina farm. I got my kit from Spirulinasystems.com.Once you open the valve leading to the harvesting tube, fluid should begin to rise and flow.You can now tie your harvesting cloth to the end of the tube with a rubber band to catch the spirulina flowing through the tube while letting the clear medium flow backinto the tank.

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Step 13: Enjoy

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Comments3 comments Add Comment

Kiteman says: Jul 24, 2013. 3:32 PM REPLYWhat, you just eat it raw and unprocessed?

SpirulinaFan says: Jul 24, 2013. 3:59 PM REPLYYes, exactly. Live!The Aztecs used to make fresh spirulina cakes from local lakes.

Drying destroys much of the essence. Live spirulina also tastes nothing like powder spirulina. People say it has a fishy taste when you eat processed.That is because the cell wall has been ruptured. Cost is another benefit of growing it yourself. Average cost of powder spirulina is 30-40 dollars a pound.I have been able to grow it live for about 2.5 dollars a pound.

SpirulinaFan says: Jul 24, 2013. 3:55 PM REPLYhttp://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spirulinasystems/food-of-the-future-home-grown-spirulina-superfoodJust another link with resources.