First off, if you don't know much about the topic, don't bother answering. I'm pretty knowledgeable about this. Second off, if you know what you're doing, I'd like a second opinion.

I've recently had my curiosity piqued by a rocksalt candle I bought in the Salzberwerk in Salzburg. I'd like to see if I can culture any halophilic bacteria that may be growing on it, and if I can, view them under a microscope. You know, just for the hell of it. My plan is to take a swab off the candle and try to culture it in a salt-rich agar solution. The question is this: could this method have room for improvement? And would halophilic bacteria grow on rocksalt?

My second experiment is just based on ozone gas. In a chemistry lecture, I was told that it was a powerful enough oxidizer to oxidize the cell walls of bacteria and protein coats of viruses. I'd like to see that for myself. My design in this case is to culture a random swab off the counter or something (after performing a 10^-6 dilution, of course) and putting it in a sealed container, then jury-rigging a spark generator of some kind to generate ozone. I'm thinking of improvising with an electric barbecue lighter.

Any holes in the procedure? Let me know.