How much phyto do you dose?

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I'm trying to figure out phyto dosing. At the rates I'm seeing that are recommended, I may need to culture my own in order to keep up.

 

[vlangel]

For my 75g, I do 1 or 2 syringes daily. I think its about a quarter of an oz (my puppy chewed up the little cup Algae Barn provided to measure. My pods do seem to be increasing. I have heard that a little phyto goes a long way.

 

[Amstar]

I got .5ML per gallon in my tank -- if you see good results and your nutrients aren't raising to much/spiking you can try to slowly go up to 1ml per gallon

 

[MONTANTK]

Back when I was dosing phyto I believe I was doing 1ml per gallon

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

For Fish only its about 1 ml per gallon, I would double or even triple that if you have corals. I culture my own and dose about 70 ml per day in a 40 breeder with sump. but my corals are LPS and softies that have not grown out very much. It does have an effect to lower the nitrates and will also end up in your filtration/skimmer

 

[Kmst80]

I dose 576 ml per day, spread out over 16 hours. That is on a 200 gallon system. Filterfeeders love it. Keeps nutrients under control too. Obviously I have my own cultures, Nano,Tetra and Iso. Just started culturing rotifers too.

 

[Amstar]

for those that are dosing higher than 1ML per gallon -- did you work your way up to your current dosage? what helped/made you decide to stop at the dosage you are at? parameters? How much phyto you had on hand?

when you dose -- how do you dose -- just syringe/measuring cup to the correct ML and then dump in -- is there a certain time you do it -- night /day?

for those that dose throughout the day -- do you dose into the sump? into the main tank? in front of a powerhead?

overthinking yes -- but just like hearing others methods

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

I dose 576 ml per day, spread out over 16 hours. That is on a 200 gallon system. Filterfeeders love it. Keeps nutrients under control too. Obviously I have my own cultures, Nano,Tetra and Iso. Just started culturing rotifers too.

I "was" culturing rhodomonas lens and tetraselmis chuii, but I lost my rhodomonas culture due to me. Not putting all my eggs in one basket to prevent this from happening again.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

for those that are dosing higher than 1ML per gallon -- did you work your way up to your current dosage? what helped/made you decide to stop at the dosage you are at? parameters? How much phyto you had on hand?

when you dose -- how do you dose -- just syringe/measuring cup to the correct ML and then dump in -- is there a certain time you do it -- night /day?

for those that dose throughout the day -- do you dose into the sump? into the main tank? in front of a powerhead?

overthinking yes -- but just like hearing others methods

I tend to dose in the middle of the day, if I am not here wife handles it. All at once so max effect is achieved for corals, filter feeders, and pods. Based on the amount you dose, determines how you do it

 

[exnisstech]

12ml a day dosed at 0.5ml every hour in a tank with 5g total.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

12ml a day dosed at 0.5ml every hour in a tank with 5g total.

how you dosing, settling to me would be an issue . I do see the benefit of a constant supply. But have not worked on how to do it

 

[exnisstech]

how you dosing, settling to me would be an issue . I do see the benefit of a constant supply. But have not worked on how to do it

Not my idea but I use a modified mini fridge with a stirrer on a timer to stir 5 minutes every hour in between the doses.

 

[Amstar]

ohh that's a cool/good idea. the stirrer just off of amazon? Do you know what temp the mini fridge runs at ? I have a wine fridge that I have white worm cultures in (running at 61 degrees - not sure if that is cold enough for phyto)

 

[Kmst80]

Not my idea but I use a modified mini fridge with a stirrer on a timer to stir 5 minutes every hour in between the doses.

Similar approach here, I got 2 litres sitting on a magnetic stirrer. Only difference mine is not cooled and only stirred once a day for 15 minutes. I figure dosing 36 mm per hour will move it a bit too.

 

[Kmst80]

I "was" culturing rhodomonas lens and tetraselmis chuii, but I lost my rhodomonas culture due to me. Not putting all my eggs in one basket to prevent this from happening again.

I've been lucky so far, the nano culture is running 3 years now, tetra and iso 2 month. I do sterilize equipment with isopropyl.

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Not my idea but I use a modified mini fridge with a stirrer on a timer to stir 5 minutes every hour in between the doses.

love your tanks, thanks for the information I need to grow

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

I've been lucky so far, the nano culture is running 3 years now, tetra and iso 2 month. I do sterilize equipment with isopropyl.

I learned to not skimp on sterilization

 

[JGT]

Not my idea but I use a modified mini fridge with a stirrer on a timer to stir 5 minutes every hour in between the doses.

Cool idea though I’ve never refrigerated mine. I grow it in my basement where it can be 90 in the summer and 40’s in the winter . Never had a problem with it going bad.

 

[exnisstech]

Cool idea though I’ve never refrigerated mine. I grow it in my basement where it can be 90 in the summer and 40’s in the winter . Never had a problem with it going bad.

That's good to know. This is my first time using phyto and most of what I read says to refrigerate if it's being stored. I don't culture it so what I buy lasts about 1.5 months and and I wasn't sure about storing it warm.

 

[JGT]

That's good to know. This is my first time using phyto and most of what I read says to refrigerate if it's being stored. I don't culture it so what I buy lasts about 1.5 months and and I wasn't sure about storing it warm.

Yeah I have a couple gallon vat so it goes couple months between refreshing and no issues. Use it until I’m down to about half of vat and then transfer to a temp container, wash out the main vat and pour back in. Top off with fresh sw, add f2 and good to go. I even combined this with my pods so I grow my photo and pods together in 1 vat.