Can Seachem's phytoplankton be used to start a culture?

[Karen00]

Hello fellow salties,

I finally dipped my toe into the wonderful world of salt. It's a 5g brackish setup so I don't know if it qualifies for the build thread section but nonetheless I love mixing up my bucket of salt and checking it with my refractometer and making sure it matches my tank. It feels so high tech. Haha. Thankfully I had a wealth of knowledge behind me from reading all the posts on this site but admittedly putting theory into practice is a bit of a jolting experience. Mixing my first bucket of salt was a bit of a disaster but it's all good now.

I have a couple questions about phytoplankton that I couldn't find answers to so I'm hoping you can help.
1. Can Seachem's phytoplankton eventually begin to seed itself in a tank or does it simply die when it goes through the filter? Or is it not active enough to seed itself?
2. Can a culture be started using Seachem's phyto? The bottle I have will last for awhile but it would be nice to start my own from this if it's possible.

I keep the bottle in the fridge if that makes a difference.

Thanks.

 

[JosephM]

From my understanding seachems phyto is non-viable, it is unliving and has preservatives in it. That means it will not be consumed by certain organisms that need live phyto, such as feather dusters, and it can not be used to start a culture. Live or dead phyto will not start to seed itself in a reef tank, it will be consumed and exported through various filtration methods. Tbh you don’t want it ‘seeding’ your tank because then it can crash in your tank and will leave you with a little mess

 

[vetteguy53081]

No , because it is a culture. It is contains fatty acids, carbohydrates, vitamins and proteins and cannot be recultured.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Hi,

If you are interested in culturing phyto pick up this from Amazon

Live Marine Phytoplankton Culture Kit 2, Nanno/Tetra​

It is simple, even though it seems hard add first. Just need cheap air pump with a plastic valve and hose to add.

 

[Dilan Patel]

no it is not live. I started mine from mercer on amazon comes with 2 bottles and fertelizer for like 20

Here is a link to my thread that has a complete rundown on how my operation works, experiments with different fertilizer amounts and time intervals. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/culturing-phytoplankton-experiment.714534/

 

[Karen00]

From my understanding seachems phyto is non-viable, it is unliving and has preservatives in it. That means it will not be consumed by certain organisms that need live phyto, such as feather dusters, and it can not be used to start a culture. Live or dead phyto will not start to seed itself in a reef tank, it will be consumed and exported through various filtration methods. Tbh you don’t want it ‘seeding’ your tank because then it can crash in your tank and will leave you with a little mess

Thanks for this! I thought I read that Seachem is living phyto. I'm glad I asked. I better get some live stuff just in case. Thanks also for that mention about seeding in a tank. You made a very good point. I didn't think about the possibility of it crashing a tank.

 

[Karen00]

Hi,

If you are interested in culturing phyto pick up this from Amazon

Live Marine Phytoplankton Culture Kit 2, Nanno/Tetra​

It is simple, even though it seems hard add first. Just need cheap air pump with a plastic valve and hose to add.

Awesome, thanks for this! It's always good to have recommendations from folks who have had success with a product. I have a couple extra air pumps and plenty of tubing to get started.

 

[Karen00]

no it is not live. I started mine from mercer on amazon comes with 2 bottles and fertelizer for like 20

Here is a link to my thread that has a complete rundown on how my operation works, experiments with different fertilizer amounts and time intervals. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/culturing-phytoplankton-experiment.714534/

Thanks for the recommendation and thanks for your link on how to set this up. I watched a few YouTube vids but it looked a little tricky but that's what I thought about mixing salt at first!! It actually makes sense once you do it. Haha. It looks like I have a new project to start. So far my inhabitants seem healthy so hopefully they are feeding on the dead stuff but I rather get started with live.

 

[JosephM]

If you want some good starter cultures at a great price PM @Eldredge thats where I got all my starting cultures and fertilizer and they’re going strong

 

[Karen00]

No , because it is a culture. It is contains fatty acids, carbohydrates, vitamins and proteins and cannot be recultured.

That makes perfect sense. Thanks!!

 

[Karen00]

If you want some good starter cultures at a great price PM @Eldredge thats where I got all my starting cultures and fertilizer and they’re going strong

Excellent. Thanks so much for this recommendation! I have to get working on this soon so I appreciate hearing of things that are working well for people.