{{Unsourced, date=September 2014
A seaweed cultivator is a device which grows
seaweed
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...
, usually in weekly or bi-weekly cycles. It is not to be confused with people who are seaweed cultivators themselves, usually performing manual cultivation of seaweed using large
net
Net or net may refer to:
Mathematics and physics
* Net (mathematics), a filter-like topological generalization of a sequence
* Net, a linear system of divisors of dimension 2
* Net (polyhedron), an arrangement of polygons that can be folded up ...
s in open waters (mainly in Asian countries).
Seaweed cultivators (the devices) are just now becoming available to the public, mainly because of the LED (
light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (cor ...
) which has made low-cost, reliable, and waterproof illumination sources (especially in the red 660-nanometer spectrum) feasible. Seaweed cultivators are an offshoot of
algae scrubber
An algae scrubber is a water filtering device (not to be confused with a scrubber pad used to clean glass) which uses light to grow algae; in this process, undesirable chemicals are removed from the water. Algae scrubbers allow saltwater, fr ...
s, which were developed to
filter aquariums. By replacing the aquarium with a reservoir of fertilized
seawater
Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has appro ...
, a stand-alone cultivator becomes possible, and even a desktop cultivator is possible if the size is small enough or if the reservoir is placed beneath the desk.
The type of seaweed that can be grown in a seaweed cultivator is currently limited to green types, mostly Angel Hair and
sea lettuce
The sea lettuces comprise the genus ''Ulva'', a group of edible green algae that is widely distributed along the coasts of the world's oceans. The type species within the genus ''Ulva'' is ''Ulva lactuca'', wikt:lactuca, ''lactuca'' being Latin ...
, because other types such as Nori require more complex control of the water temperature and other variables. Angel Hair and sea lettuce, however, can be grown at home at room temperature.
Algaculture
Seaweeds