I’m sampling pelagic waters off Monterey next month for fish 12S and need a reliable, affordable filtration setup that won’t clog on 0.45 µm filters at 2–3 L per sample. What pumps or field kits have worked for you on small boats, and any SOPs to reduce contamination so results feed cleanly into our MPA conservation assessments?
On small boats I’ve had good luck running a 12V peristaltic pump with single-use tubing and a cheap 5 µm inline prefilter ahead of the ‘0.45 µm’ capsule — off Monterey we consistently got 2–3 L without clogging and no drop in 12S detections. Minor caveat: the prefilter adds a couple bucks per sample but beats swapping capsules mid-draw. Would that fit your MPA workflow, or are you constrained to single-stage filtration?