Growing Biodiesel Algae

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When growing biodiesel algae, several factors must be considered, and different algae have different requirements.

Things to consider...

The water must be in a temperature range that will support the specific algal species being grown.
The type of algal strain being used.
Nutrients must be controlled so algae will not be "starved" and so that nutrients will not be wasted.
Light must not be too strong nor too weak.

Algae can be grown in raceway-type ponds and lakes. However, open air systems have their drawbacks. These include:

Because these systems are open to the weather, sometimes called "open-pond" systems, they are much more vulnerable to contamination by other microorganisms, such as invasive algal species or bacteria.
Because of these factors, the number of species successfully cultivated in an "open-pond" system for a specific purpose (such as for food, for the production of oil, or for pigments) are relatively limited.
In open systems one does not have control over water temperature and lighting conditions.
The growing season is largely dependent on location and, aside from tropical areas, is limited to the warmer months.

A major benefit to this type of system are

that it is one of the cheaper ones to construct, in the very least only a trench or pond needs to be dug.
It can also have some of the largest production capacities relative to other systems of comparable size and cost.

One method around the drawbacks is a variation on the basic "open-pond" system is to

close it off, to cover a pond or pool with a greenhouse. While this usually results in a smaller system, for economic reasons, it does take care of many of the problems associated with an open system.
It allows more species to be grown,
it allows the species that are being grown to stay dominant.
It extends the growing season, only slightly if unheated, and if heated it can produce year round.

Photo bioreactors.

A photo bioreactor is basically a bioreactor which incorporates some type of light source. While almost anything that it would be possible to grow algae in could technically be called a photo bioreactor, the term is more commonly used to define a closed system, as opposed to an open tank, or pond.

Because these systems are closed, when used to cultivate algae, everything that the algae need to grow, (carbon dioxide, nutrient-rich water and light), all must be introduced into the system. A pond covered with a greenhouse could be considered a photo bioreactor.

Different types of photo bioreactors include:

tanks provided with a light source
polyethylene sleeves or bags
glass or plastic tubes.

More things to consider:

In most algal-cultivation systems, sunlight only penetrates the top 3-4 inches of the water. This is because as the algae grow and multiply they become so dense that they block light from reaching deeper into the pond or tank.
Algae only need about 1/10th the amount of light they receive from direct sunlight.
Direct sunlight is often too strong for algae. In order to have ponds that are deeper than 4 inches algae growers use various methods to agitate the water in their ponds, exposing the algae below to light and keeping algae on the surface from being over-exposed.
Paddle wheels can be used to circulate the water in a pond. Compressed air can be introduced into the bottom of a pond or tank to agitate the water, bringing algae from the lower levels up with it as it makes its way to the surface.

Apart from agitation, another means of supplying light to algae is to place the light in the system. Glow plates are sheets of plastic or glass that can be submerged into a tank, providing light directly to the algae at the right concentration from underneath.

The odor associated with any stagnant water that have been taken over by algae is from oxygen depletion in the water caused by the death of algal blooms that have been left to decay. This condition, often results in the death of all fish and marine life, and an even worse smell. In a system where algae is intentionally cultivated, maintained, and harvested, neither problems are likely to occur. The air around an algal pond should actually be very fresh from the oxygen produced.