Water sample preservation
Depending on what you are trying to look at, for zooplankton you can take water samples and filter them through a 100-200um mesh and store them in glass or plastic bottles. For my research we used mason jars that were cleaned thoroughly. After filtering just submerge the biomass in 70-90% ethanol and they can be stored in a fridge for quite some time. 

If you want to look at phytoplankton, you can look into using Lugols Solution for preserving your samples. The nice thing about using lugols is that it will stain the phytoplankton as well. Your best bet for these is to store in amber bottles and keep in cool dark place. Here is a decent guide on how to collect the samples and prep the solution.