Fertilizer options for culturing phyto?

[Salty Rambler]

I'm looking at options to culture my own phytoplankton, and it looks like most successful cultures use F/2 or Miracle Gro liquid fertilizer. Has anyone had success using other types of fertilizer? I assume F/2 and Miracle Gro were chosen for some shared property that promotes growth while remaining non-toxic, but haven't seen anything hinting at what that characteristic may be. Any tips/insight would be appreciated.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Fairly certain (but not positive) that the Miracle Gro was chosen because it was cheaper and easier to find than F/2, while also allowing for growth and wasn't going to inundate the reef tanks/culture systems with excess of any nutrients.

I have tried F/2 (the kind from Florida Aqua Farms), but haven't had success with MG, although I believe it's more of a human error part on my end for the MG usage (maybe the water shouldn't be tinted blue from all the MG crystals?).

Have you tried looking at what F/2 and MG have in common and not in common? That might be able to point you to what works between the two. At least in terms of an ingredient list and what percent whatever molecules you're interested in are.

You might want to look into hydroponics fertilizers, which are used to fuel plant growth in water media.