Cultivation of Monoraphidium sp., Chlorella sp. and Scenedesmus sp. algae in Batch culture using Nile tilapia effluent.

Monoraphidium sp., Chlorella sp. and Scenedesmus sp. algae were cultured in three volumes of Tilapia Effluent Medium (TEM) in comparison with the Bold Basal Medium (BBM) (Nichols and Bold, 1965). Specific growth rate (μ'), biomass dry productivity (Q), volumetric productivity (Qv) as well as lipid and protein content were measured. Then, volumetric productivities for both lipids and proteins were calculated (QVL and QVP). In Scenedesmus sp., BBM produced higher μ' and Qv than TEM in 1.5L volume. Chlorella sp. showed a higher QVL for BBM than TEM. Any observed difference in protein or lipid productivities among volumes was in favor of a greater productivity for 1.5L volume. Even when TEM had a larger protein content in Chlorella sp. than BBM, QVP was not different. Current results imply that TEM can be used as an alternative growth medium for algae when using Batch cultures, yet productivity is reduced.