Question on orbital shakers - (Jun/02/2009 )

Hi,

Our lab does a little bit of bio stuff so we need an shaker for growing a flask or two of E. Coli. Since we didnt want to spend a lot of money and didn't need a large one I ended up ordering a small one without paying attention to the orbit which I now think may be too small, 3mm.

Would a 3mm orbit be enough to culture E. Coli and if so what range of rpm should I use? And if not what kind of an orbit would we need?

Its a VWR incubating mini shaker if that helps.

Thanks

I suspect that 3 mm will be too small an orbit. You need something that will effectively stir your culture, which is usually done at about 200-250 rpm.