Scenedesmus Dimorphus

The species of algae I want to use is called Scenedesmus Dimorphus. You can see a picture of it at:

http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/utex/algaeDetail.aspx?algaeID=3674

This is also the site I plan on ordering it from. S.D. has been observed to have a lipid content of 16-40% by dry weight, and 21-52% carbohydrate by dry weight. This lipid content is one of the highest of all known algae, and also a very high carbohydrate content. We might be eventually able to turn the leftover carbohydrate biomater into ethenol one day, but I'm not worried about that now.

S.D. is a freshwater algae, which I think is also good since you don't need to control for salinity. That's just one less variable we have to worry about. Also I think freshwater algae tend to have a high lipid consentration because they need more bouyancy.

I'm still not ready to order, even though I have all my chemicals. I've been renovating my basement, and we just finished all the construction, but I'm still cleaning up. When I have all of the solutions ready, then I'll order. I do not want the algae to die right after I get it.

The growth medium I'm going to start with was used in a Navy experiment from 1954. Here is a link to the summary of it:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=540499&blobtype=pdf

They were able to achieve a growth increase of 21,000 times of the course of 21 days. This was ofcourse in very controlled conditions, but hopefully we can hit something at least a quarter of that.

Not paying for a website

All,
This is where I'm going to post progress on the energy company, which by the way we need to come up with a name for. And by we, I mean myself, Keith, Paul, and Mark. Keith and Paul, Mark is a friend of mine here in Northern Virginia and he has some got ideas on long distance automation, but we'll get to that later. Paul, you met him at the Super bowl party. The guy drunk on the couch. Mark, Keith is a friend of mine from up in Michigan, and he's got an MBA, so I'm hoping for some help from him setting up the company. And Paul is the guy who bought me that Settlers of Katan game and he said he would look into link a computer to some monitoring equipment...
Speaking of which, Paul, I found this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/USED-CORNING-PH-METER-MODEL-220-SERIAL-11589_W0QQitemZ330131792130QQihZ014QQcategoryZ58191QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

It's a used pH meter that I think could be hooked to a computer. There's no way I'm paying $50 for a meter that the seller can't even verify works. I do have a borther-in-law in Houston though, where it's being sold... I doubt this will go anywhere, but this is the type of equipment I'm looking for.

I will start posting pictures of some of the equipment and chemicals I've purchased soon. And the test bed I'm hoping to put in Mark's backyard. It faces South and is very sunny.

That's all for now. Comment if you'd like, or if you have any suggestions on a better way to colaberate than this website.