Algae Bead FAQs

Open the box and check the vial count against your packing list. Make sure no snap caps popped open in transit. If one did, count the beads you have. We usually pack a few extras for just this reason, which saves everyone a reshipment. Then take the vials out of the bag and spread them in a single layer on a bench or desk under normal room light. Do not leave them in the shipping bag or box.

No. Your beads just spent several days in the dark. In the dark the algae only respire, which pushes the pH down, often below the bottom of the color scale. The indicator shows yellow for anything below about pH 7.6, so a vial can be far below that and still just look yellow. Think of it as algae bead jet lag. Place them in the light until they show a little orange. Then settle them into the normal routine below.

Each lab group usually runs two tubes, a treatment and a control, so one card covers the pair. That is why only half of the vials come with a card on a rubber band. You love trees, don't you? We love trees.

What kills algae beads is usually light and heat together, like a vial sitting in direct sun. Heat alone rarely does it. Bring them inside and let them cool off. Then give them a day or two in light bright enough to read by, about 60 micromoles of photons per square meter per second, for several hours a day. They should work out. We see very few die from heat exhaustion, even in Arizona. If they still show no color change, email us.

On a bench or desk under normal room light, at room temperature. About the light a librarian would be happy to see you reading in. Spread the vials in a single layer so they all get the same light. Roughly 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. The goal is a whole set of vials on the same schedule, all living happily on your bench.

No. The fridge is dark and cold. Cold shuts the algae down and does not extend their life. You may have heard different advice from another company, or even from us years ago. This is the current answer.

Not for long. A day or two in the dark is fine and is how you reset them (see below). Weeks in the dark is not. The algae use up the oxygen in the vial and can die. Keep them out on the bench in room light.

A weekend with the lights off is fine. On Monday, give them their normal room light and they will come back on scale. For a longer break, leave them somewhere with regular room light during the day, out of direct sun.

Yes. You're perfect. That is exactly what you want. It shows the algae are alive and the indicator is on scale. Purple is not the storage goal. A vial sitting at purple has already used up most of its color range, so your students would have less change left to see.

With normal care and light every day, one to three months. If your lab is months away, order now and tell us your lab date. We will hold the order and ship it so it arrives shortly before you need it.

Crack the cap open so air can get in, and keep the bottle at room temperature in room light. A closed bottle runs out of oxygen. Bulk beads are best used within a couple of weeks of delivery. Bulk beads come in water, not indicator, so you will need pH indicator to see a color change.

Put them in the dark overnight before the lab. A desk drawer works. They will come down to yellow. A deep purple vial can take a day or two in the dark, because photosynthesis raises the pH about 50 times faster than respiration lowers it.

Here is what we do before a demonstration. Put the vials near a light, brighter than you would want for reading. Watch them. As each one just starts to turn from yellow to a straw color, pull it aside. Then, when you hand out vials, give each group a treatment and a control that are the very same shade. Every group starts from the same place.

A bright LED, right up against the vial. Touching an LED light strip is ideal, because LEDs stay cool. Our Benchtop Algae Light works well for this. A fluorescent lamp also works. An incandescent bulb throws off heat, so keep it further away and check that the vial stays cool to the touch. For experiments, stay at or below about 40 percent of full sun.

Sunlight: no. Full sun is very bright and carries a lot of infrared, which is heat. A tiny vial has no thermal mass, so it cooks, in about 10 minutes. Once cooked, the beads will not come back, even if they still look green.

Grow lights and incandescent bulbs: many run hot. If you use one, keep the vials far enough away that they stay cool to the touch. A plain LED desk lamp is the safest choice.

Yes, if the beads are on scale before class. They should change color within 20 to 45 minutes touching a bright LED light strip. Vials straight out of the shipping box, or that were stored in the dark for a long time, can take several hours. Getting them on scale in the days before the lab is what makes a short class period work.

Yes. Breath is full of carbon dioxide, which lowers the pH and turns the vials toward yellow, the same thing a night in the dark does. The Ready to Go vials are small, so use a coffee stir straw. It will splash back into their eyes. Every time. Safety glasses are a must.

Work down this list. It is almost always one of the first three.

1. They are still jet lagged. After days in the dark, the pH is below the scale. Give them several hours touching a bright LED.
2. The light is too far away or too weak. Move the vials right up against a bright LED.
3. They were cooked. Direct sunlight kills algae beads in about 10 minutes.
4. They were refrigerated or kept in the dark for weeks.
5. The room is cold. Cold slows photosynthesis down, but the beads should still change color. It just takes longer.

Using our bulk beads with your own pH indicator? Then we cannot vouch for the indicator. If you think it is the problem, check the water with a pH probe or a dissolved oxygen probe instead.

Still stuck after several hours touching an LED? Email us.

Put a vial right up against a bright LED for a few hours. If it changes color, it is alive. If it shows no change after several hours, the algae are most likely dead. Healthy beads are a rich green. Pale, yellow, white or brown beads, or a vial that smells foul, are dead or dying. Green is a good sign but not proof, because cooked beads can stay green. Dead beads cannot be revived. If they arrived dead or died in the first week, email us.

The starting color is usually the cause. A vial that starts deeper in the yellow has further to go. Before you hand out Ready to Go vials, sort them by shade and give each group vials that are the same hue. Then give every tube the same light at the same distance. Vials spread in a single layer during storage also stay more alike than vials stacked in a pile.

That means the algae are alive and doing well. Put it in the dark and it will come back to yellow in 24 to 48 hours. Respiration is much slower than photosynthesis.

It is really rare for algae beads to pick up a bacterial problem, but let us know right away. Email us and tell us how the vials were stored.

Hold the vial up against the pH color card and match the color. The indicator changes from yellow at about pH 7.6 to purple at about pH 9.2. The liquid can go well above or below that range, which is why it pays to keep the vials on your desk and see a small change every day.

One part concentrate to nine parts distilled water. For example, 10 mL of concentrate makes 100 mL of ready to use indicator. Use distilled water, not tap water. Too strong or too weak changes how fast the color moves.

In the refrigerator. The indicator goes in the fridge. The algae beads never do.

We do not recommend it. Indicator drifts as it ages, and a couple of years is too old. Start the year with fresh indicator.

Algae Beads with Indicator, Ready to Go come in 2 mL snap cap vials already filled with pH indicator. Open the box and they are ready.

Bulk Algae Beads are about 200 beads in a bottle of water, with no indicator. You need pH indicator (sold separately) or a pH or oxygen meter to see a change. Without indicator there is no color change.

Make Your Own kits let students make beads from live algae.

See all algae bead products and free lesson plans

Each lab group usually runs two vials, a treatment and a control. Count your groups across all of your class periods. The Ready to Go beads come in packs of 10, 30 and 100.

Yes. Floaters work just as well as the ones that sink.

Algae beads are made from food grade material, but that does not mean you should eat them, put them in your nose, or in your friend's ears. That is gross. Do not do it. Ages 6 and up.

Finished beads and solution go in the dry trash. The drain is fine too, since Chlorella is not invasive, but the trash is better.