Why Your 100-Gallon Phytoplankton Order Ships in One 5-Gallon Bucket

That's exactly how it's supposed to work — and it's one of the things that makes Hydralife different.

Our concentrated phytoplankton is centrifuged down to a single 5-gallon bucket before it leaves our facility, no matter whether you ordered a 25-, 50-, or 100-gallon dose. The "gallon" number on the product page measures the live phytoplankton biomass — the working biological dose — not water weight. You're paying for cells, not for liquid.

Why we ship it concentrated

Live phytoplankton cultures grow at extreme cell densities inside our closed-system photobioreactors — billions of cells per milliliter. Once a batch is ready, we centrifuge it to remove the surrounding growth medium without damaging the cells. The result is a thick, intensely green concentrate that contains the same total dose as the diluted version, in a fraction of the volume.

What that gets you

• One overnight box, not a pallet. Lower freight cost. No liftgate, no loading dock, no scheduled freight delivery.

• One bucket to receive, one bucket to pour. No storage headache, no inventory of pails sitting around losing potency.

• A healthier culture on arrival. Less mass in transit means faster delivery and a smaller temperature swing in the box.

• A meaningful edge over chemical alternatives. Algaecides like Cutrine and copper sulfate ship heavy and bulky because the active ingredient is dissolved in liquid. Hydralife's active ingredient is alive and reproduces — we can concentrate it and let your pond do the rest.

How to apply the concentrate

Acclimate the sealed bucket to your water temperature by setting it on the shore for 20–30 minutes. Then pour directly into the current of your water body from shore, dock, boat, or inflow. The cells rehydrate within seconds and start consuming phosphate, ammonia, and nitrate immediately.

If you want to spread the dose across multiple inflow points or apply by sprayer, dilute the bucket on-site with pond or fresh water in a clean tank — cells tolerate dilution well.

Want more dose for a larger water body?

Order multiple buckets — one per 25/50/100-gallon dose. Each bucket ships overnight on its own. For institutional buyers, government accounts, and water bodies over 100 acres, contact Hydralife directly at (303) 219-0623 or service@hydralifesolutions.com for volume pricing and dosing protocols.