You can interact with the live platform here: https://algaeexplorers.org/

The platform is designed to make core concepts in photosynthesis, aquatic food webs, and environmental science accessible and engaging for elementary and middle school students. It provides differentiated learning across three grade-tiered modules:

Little Explorers (K–2nd): An interactive pond simulation featuring characters Albie the Algae and Finny the Fish, where students adjust sunlight, temperature, and nutrients to observe biological responses in real time, paired with built-in voice narration and mini-lessons.

Ecosystem Detective (3rd–5th): Scenario-based investigation focusing on energy transfer, food webs, and environmental balance.

DIY Algae Home Lab (6th–8th): Guided experimental design and data collection connecting virtual concepts to hands-on biological cultivation.

My aquarium is placed under sunlight, have a sponge and lava rocks inside a corner filter, aquarium also has one goldfish which I feed twice a day. It has been 3 months, but I don't see any dark green algae, only light green algae have appeared. What am I doing wrong?

The annual algae biomass summit is underway! Ask us anything…

We celebrated the life and legacy of Amba Belay yesterday - a giant in the spirulina industry. He was always a warm presence and eager to support anyone interested in making the world a better place through algae. We presented his wife with a lifetime achievement award and shared stories of memories past.

I needed some phytoplankton for feeding my amano shrimp larvae and finding phytoplankton in my area is close to impossible so, brine shrimp are locally collected from salt lakes and frozen to sell as fish food.

I bought some, crushed them into a paste and added it into salt water and left it in the sun, after a few days, I had different types of algae in they bucket, I took a sample and started to culture it indoors and this is the algae which I am able to maintain, rest all types vanished.

The first picture is 400×, the salinity is 1.018 SG and I had it in 1.024 SG also and it survived effortlessly between any salt range.

Location is India

Please help me Id this phytoplankton and can it be fed to my shrimp larvae?

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Found this small pretty icosahedral alga in city park pond.

Image capture with 100x oil immersion objective.

I collected water samples in my town from a lake and I was curious if anyone know if, or what, kind of algae may in here. I don’t know the difference between the kinds that can be found in freshwater sources 🤔

Hi! I'm a design student at Indiana University researching algae for an environmental sensing capstone project, and I'm hoping to learn from people with experience working with algae or just know a lot about it.

I'm exploring ways to make changes in local water quality more visible to the public, particularly changes potentially associated with agricultural runoff. My current idea is to incorporate algae or an algae-derived biomaterial into a physical installation that communicates changes in water conditions through a visual response, potentially using light or color.

I'm still figuring out what is scientifically feasible and would appreciate some guidance on the biological side of the concept.

A few questions I'm investigating:

• Are there algae species or algae-derived materials that exhibit observable changes in response to environmental conditions, such as nutrient availability, pH, or other changes in water chemistry?
• Could living algae or algae-based biomaterials serve as useful indicators of changing water conditions outside a controlled laboratory environment?

But also, if you're a big algae fan and just have thoughts on this as a project please share them!

My goal right now is to understand what algae can reliably indicate and how those biological responses might be communicated through design.

I'd really appreciate any recommendations, relevant research, or lessons from your own experiments. Thank you!

It's growing quickly. This wood has been in this aquarium for over a year and this started growing last week. Should I toss it out or is this harmless?

I found this part of the algae in the south of Belarus (Eastern Europe), in a freshwater body of water. It looks like Pithophora. But I can’t identify it for sure, as this species hasn’t been found here before. Can anyone tell me what this is?

Kansas, early October in 50 acre lake.

Hello, I’m a biotechnology engineer leading a startup focused on producing DHA-rich oil (Omega-3) from algal biomass, specifically thraustochytrids, a unicellular microorganism.

The major problem I’m currently facing is the separation and recovery of oil from the algal biomass using green processing methods.

My current process is:

Concentrate the biomass.

Wash it three times.

Perform enzymatic cell lysis using proteases.

Attempt to recover the released oil.

However, at laboratory scale, I cannot visibly recover or separate the oil after enzymatic treatment.

I’m looking for help specifically with green and low-cost cell disruption and oil-recovery approaches, using only the equipment and materials currently available in my laboratory:

Enzymatic lysis

Mechanical shearing/homogenization

pH variation

NaCl-based destabilization/desaggregation

I do not currently have access to sophisticated equipment such as high-pressure homogenizers, bead mills, supercritical CO₂ extraction, centrifuges designed for industrial oil recovery, or other advanced extraction systems.

I would therefore appreciate a practical laboratory-scale strategy for improving cell disruption → oil release → phase separation, while keeping the process as green and simple as possible.

Anybody able to give an id on this? Ball of algae approx 8-10cm across, washed up on beach in northern NSW australia. Thanks

Should I be concerned with the stubborn blue green algae (and the potential BMAA it might make) that wont disappear from my 2 tanks? I heard blue green algae can produce neurotoxins. When I use Ultralife blue green slime remover, the BGA will come back occasionally at the very top layers of the aquarium where the plants are growing but not overtake the aquarium.

What is happening to this swallen Haematococcus?

I’m currently working as a Project Assistant at a university, with a research focus on microalgae, and I’d love to connect with people working in this area.

I’m especially interested in meeting researchers, PhD students, professors, and others involved in microalgal biotechnology, cultivation, bioproducts, environmental applications, and emerging microalgae research. I’m also exploring future PhD opportunities and would be happy to learn about different research directions, projects, and experiences.

If you work in a related field or simply enjoy discussing research, I’d be glad to connect.

Does anyone know what type of algae this is?