James: you can and shd do in the field. WE made a small portable- that can be assembled in the field isolation chamber with perspex sheet. We worked in the field for about 21 days with such arrangement. While coming back from Andman islands, we were lucky to get a good captain who allowed us use an empty container as lab. It takes almost two days to return and we utilised that time also. Sterilise with spirit. Enjoy and Happy time!

Thanks Bapuji. I think making an isolation chamber might be on the extreme. I was wondering if I could just prepare some agar plates ready and while out at sea do the serial dilutions with the sediment samples and maybe pipette a few microL onto a plate and spread? 

James: you can do it- but contaminations shd be minimised. Your surroundings in the field are difficult. Isolation chamber is very easy and cheap. Make it just like an aquarium box! It is not difficult. pl try.

or you can use a fire as a flame and work on the area around it that also help in reducing the contamination. I know that the maximum time you could keep your water sample is for 4 hours, and after that the community changes, so you should do it in the field.. Enjoy and take photos

Thank you Ghada. Yea what I did was made like a little cubicle using sheets and heavily sterilized the area with ethanol. I also had a flame going and everything just to reduce whatever contamination I could. It was a success, managed to isolate a few strains and still working on them now.

Thank you Ghada. Yea what I did was made like a little cubicle using sheets and heavily sterilized the area with ethanol. I also had a flame going and everything just to reduce whatever contamination I could. It was a success, managed to isolate a few strains and still working on them now.