Could I see the bacteria in aquarium sustrate?

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Josep
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Could I see the bacteria in aquarium sustrate?

#1 Post by Josep » Wed Apr 28, 2021 3:31 pm

Hi. I started with a cheap microscope, because I needed it to identify some aquarium algae plague, but I really enjoy the time I spend looking through the microscope, So I took one more step, and buyed a Swift SB350B. I discovered this wonderfull.... Now I want to take a look for autophic and heterotrophic bacteria living in the sustrate... is that possible? I am newbie, so I have no idea how to proceed, if taking a sustrate sample will be enought, or if I must do a culture in a petri dish, or what. Even I am not sure if I can see those bacteria in my microscope... so, please, could you point me in the right direction? What should I do?

THANKS

charlie g
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Re: Could I see the bacteria in aquarium sustrate?

#2 Post by charlie g » Wed Apr 28, 2021 5:03 pm

Hello Josep, there are a lot of types of bacteria which are large enough to be observed moving about with simple transmitted light microscopy of wetmount slides ( a very thin layer of water sample under a glass coverslip placed on the glass microscope slide).

Please tell us the range of microscope objectives you have on your currently enjoyed microscope? charlie g, fingerlakes/US

DonSchaeffer
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Re: Could I see the bacteria in aquarium sustrate?

#3 Post by DonSchaeffer » Thu Apr 29, 2021 2:56 am

Use the highest magnification you have. Use a bright bright field. Close the iris down to get maximum depth of field. You will see them.

Josep
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Re: Could I see the bacteria in aquarium sustrate?

#4 Post by Josep » Thu Apr 29, 2021 8:08 am

First, thank you for the answers. The magnification levels I have are 40X, 100X, 250X, 400X, 1000X, and 2500X. The microscope comes with 4x, 10x, 40x and a 100x oil inmersion objetive, and the eyepieces are 10x and 25x.

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75RR
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Re: Could I see the bacteria in aquarium sustrate?

#5 Post by 75RR » Thu Apr 29, 2021 9:58 am

.
If you use oblique illumination you don't have to close down the condenser iris nearly as much - improving resolution and giving a cleaner brighter image.

Remember that the condenser for medium and high magnification objectives should be up close to the bottom of the slide, say a couple of mm or so from it.

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... lique.html
Zeiss Standard WL (somewhat fashion challenged) & Wild M8
Olympus E-P2 (Micro Four Thirds Camera)

Josep
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Re: Could I see the bacteria in aquarium sustrate?

#6 Post by Josep » Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:39 am

75RR wrote:
Thu Apr 29, 2021 9:58 am
.
If you use oblique illumination you don't have to close down the condenser iris nearly as much - improving resolution and giving a cleaner brighter image.

Remember that the condenser for medium and high magnification objectives should be up close to the bottom of the slide, say a couple of mm or so from it.

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/ind ... lique.html
I made some PLA 3D printed dark field filters, this could be right? Anyway I will try to find how filters for oblique ilumination are designed... maybe I can print them too.
Thanks.

jmp
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Re: Could I see the bacteria in aquarium sustrate?

#7 Post by jmp » Thu Apr 29, 2021 12:29 pm

I will try to find how filters for oblique illumination are designed... maybe I can print them too
Here's a link to a post in this forum where a member shared a set of filter designs for 3D printing.

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