Sampling Air For Bacteria
Bacteria air samples are taken by impacting air onto some suitable growth media. Two of the commonly used samplers are Andersen (N6 Single Stage) and Reuter Centrifugal sampler (RCS). The Andersen sampler uses petri-dishes while the RCS uses agar strips. For environmental bacteria, a general purpose media such as Tryptic (Trypticase) Soy Agar (TSA) can be used.
Sampling Surfaces For Bacteria
Sterile cotton swabs can be used to sample for bacteria contaminating surfaces. The swabs are then sent immediately to a laboratory for culturing and identification of the bacteria to genus or species.
The problem of using a single type of media is that some molds may not grow well (or may not grow at all) in the selected media. Hence, although such molds may be the dominant contaminants in the air, they may end up being missed or underestimated. The solution, therefore, is to use more than one type of mold sampling media or select one that is known to support a wide range of environmental molds. A good example is Malt Extract Agar (MEA). The problem with this media is that it also supports the growth of bacteria to some extent. 
If the environment sampled is contaminated with bacteria, the bacteria grow faster than molds and interfere with mold growth. This problem can be overcome by incorporating a suitable antibiotic or other suitable compounds (e.g., Rose Bengal) into MEA to suppress bacterial growth. Rose Bengal not only suppresses the growth of bacteria but also restricts the spread of fast growing molds thus making it easy for 
Direct microscopy allows identification of the dominant contaminant (at least to genus level) regardless of whether the mold is dead or cannot grow on media used.
After plating onto DG18 and MEA and incubation (see petridishes marked “B”), Stachybotrys appeared on MEA but not on DG18. These observations clearly indicate how wrong conclusions can be made if the right type of media is not used either in air sampling or culturing of bulk samples.
The mold training course started as a half-day course covering topics such as:
Viable air samples are often collected on agar media either in strips (if using Reuter Centrifugal Sampler) or in Petri-dishes for Andersen sampler. Unlike non-viable air sampling, detection and subsequent enumeration and identification of airborne fungal particulates collected on growth media depends on whether the spores and hyphal fragments are viable and whether the media used can support their growth into colonies. For this reason, 
Is Non-viable Fungal Air Sampling Alone Adequate? In most cases viable air sampling is only used in situations where identification of the moulds to species level is required. However, our observation in the lab seems to suggest use of 
Since both non-viable and viable air sampling have limitations, using either method singly is not adequate. To obtain conclusive information on the level of contamination and the diversity of airborne fungi in a building, taking both viable and non-viable air samples is preferable. We recommend the Calgary Health Region’s protocol, “Fungal Air Testing, Investigation and Reporting Requirements for Residential Marihuana Grow Operations (Revised May 2006)”. With few exceptions, the protocol requires that fungal air sampling consist of both viable samples (e.g. RCS or similar) and non-viable samples (e.g., Air-O-Cell) taken side by side.