Autodosing Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast Live

[crayon]

I have a refrigerated auto doser set up that I use to feed my NPS tank. For the Phyto Feast, I mix up a ratio of 1:4 product to RODI water that is inside the fridge, on a stir plate that is monitored by my GHL Profilux 4.

I’ve been using RODI water cause I thought this might be better as a dilutant than salt water. Except maybe the live Phyto wants salt water as a dilutant instead of freshwater? Thought I would ask here, knowing that sometimes the folks from Reed are on the forum.

Next question. I’m thinking to increase the ratio food to water and maybe go 1:1 instead of 1:4 but that would make the liquid a bit thicker and not sure it would push through the lines as well. It takes about 80ml of fluid to get from the fridge to the tank and although I can reverse the pump to draw the food back into the fridge, it’s not exact and causes some issues. So I have the pump set up to draw the liquid back only 60ml which means some liquid sits in the line outside the fridge and I’m a little concerned that I would have food sitting in the lines at room temperature for 4 hours until the next feed.

The advantage of making the food mix 1:1 is that I can increase the amount that is fed to the tank on a daily basis and not have to mix new food as frequently (I am away from the tank for 3 days most weeks and it’s not a job I can ask my tank sitter to do)

Am I overthinking this?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

@Reef Nutrition

I honestly don’t know the salinity requirments for dilution.


Nothing wrong with overthinking.
It my other favorite hobby.

Dilution is an other way to control your dose. I’d likely do the same.

 

[Reef Nutrition]

I have a refrigerated auto doser set up that I use to feed my NPS tank. For the Phyto Feast, I mix up a ratio of 1:4 product to RODI water that is inside the fridge, on a stir plate that is monitored by my GHL Profilux 4.

I’ve been using RODI water cause I thought this might be better as a dilutant than salt water. Except maybe the live Phyto wants salt water as a dilutant instead of freshwater? Thought I would ask here, knowing that sometimes the folks from Reed are on the forum.

Next question. I’m thinking to increase the ratio food to water and maybe go 1:1 instead of 1:4 but that would make the liquid a bit thicker and not sure it would push through the lines as well. It takes about 80ml of fluid to get from the fridge to the tank and although I can reverse the pump to draw the food back into the fridge, it’s not exact and causes some issues. So I have the pump set up to draw the liquid back only 60ml which means some liquid sits in the line outside the fridge and I’m a little concerned that I would have food sitting in the lines at room temperature for 4 hours until the next feed.

The advantage of making the food mix 1:1 is that I can increase the amount that is fed to the tank on a daily basis and not have to mix new food as frequently (I am away from the tank for 3 days most weeks and it’s not a job I can ask my tank sitter to do)

Am I overthinking this?

Hey @crayon! Thanks for the post! I'm glad you put this out on R2R.

So, if you are using Phyto-Feast Live, do not dilute with freshwater. Since the algae is alive, the osmotic shock is substantial when using this method. If you were to use our non-viable (dead) Phyto-Feast, you can certainly dilute with RO water. Your animals don't care if the algae is alive or dead, just so you know.

If you want to have a smaller amount of food in the feed line, just get some narrow diameter tubing, like 1/6th" inner diameter. This is what I use on my copepods. You always want the food to be completely purged from the line after each feeding. 4 hours residence in the tubing at room temperature isn't too bad, especially if you don't find any narrow diameter tubing soon.

I love those magnetic stirrers! Where did you get them?

I look forward to following this!

Best,
Chad

 

[crayon]

Heya Chad,
Thanks for the info. The stir plates are GHL they work on their control centre.
Thanks for the info on the dilution. Is saltwater at 35ppt ok or should it be more brackish?

So why are you saying the animals don’t care if the Phyto is live or not? Makes no difference In what sense? I always assumed that some of the pickier NPS corals would thrive better with live food.

 

[Reef Nutrition]

Heya Chad,
Thanks for the info. The stir plates are GHL they work on their control centre.
Thanks for the info on the dilution. Is saltwater at 35ppt ok or should it be more brackish?

So why are you saying the animals don’t care if the Phyto is live or not? Makes no difference In what sense? I always assumed that some of the pickier NPS corals would thrive better with live food.

35ppt is perfectly acceptable.

Regarding dead or live phyto, these animals don't care. They will consume either. The cells in our Phyto-Feast concentrate are no longer alive, but fully intact, so when an NPS coral consumes the algae, it receives the same nutritional components that it would if it was consuming live algae. All of our microalgae products, excluding Phyto-Feast Live, that we provide are non-viable and being used in a number of applications. It is the bread and butter of what we do.

Thanks for providing the name of the magnetic stirrer manufacturer/supplier!


-Chad

 

[skijumpersc]

35ppt is perfectly acceptable.

Regarding dead or live phyto, these animals don't care. They will consume either. The cells in our Phyto-Feast concentrate are no longer alive, but fully intact, so when an NPS coral consumes the algae, it receives the same nutritional components that it would if it was consuming live algae. All of our microalgae products, excluding Phyto-Feast Live, that we provide are non-viable and being used in a number of applications. It is the bread and butter of what we do.

Thanks for providing the name of the magnetic stirrer manufacturer/supplier!


-Chad

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but what's the benefit of dosing live instead of regular? when you say its still viable that means in can reproduce in the tank?

 

[Reef Nutrition]

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but what's the benefit of dosing live instead of regular? when you say its still viable that means in can reproduce in the tank?

Some hobbyists claim the live phyto consumes significant amounts of nitrate and phosphate, and out-competes nuisance algae. There is no evidence that this would work on every tank since all aquariums are different when referring to the biological components. When we say viable, we mean that the algae is alive and replicating itself.

Chad