Funnily, this is a very prominent topic - yet I wasn't able to come up with a good answer. So here it is: Is there a recipe for a standard nutrient-depleted medium? In many applications, microalgae are starved to promote the build-up of e.g. lipids. One solution is to just let the microalgae stay in the same (exhausted) medium and wait. But what about centrifuging the microalgae and placing them in fresh medium that is poor in nutrients? And if this is done, how should such a medium look like? Suppose we want to make sure that neigher N nor P are available, does it make sense to take a medium recipe and just omit nitrate and phosphate? We would end up with a strange medium. I would rather like to have a typical "freshwater medium with standard osmolarity and no nutrients". How does that look like? Is there a standard recipe available (that is simple to make)? I had a look at artificial lake water, which is rather cumbersome to make, it seems. Is there something simpler?
Also check https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/nutrient-limitation
Thank you, Chinaza, but neither of your links provides an answer to my question. I am interested in a standardize medium that can be used to keep algae in nutrient-deprived but otherwise non-stressed state. With bacteria, it would be PBS, for example.
Ok, here is my own answer: I propose to use artificial freshwater as defined in this document https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-08/documents/acute-freshwater-and-marine-wet-manual_2002.pdf on pages 32ff. That's what I will try next time at least.
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