How much phyto do you dose?

[jgsolo32]

300 ml a day before lights on in the morning for my 150g tank.

 

[winzig]

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.

this right here

 

[dzolot]

has anyone run into issues with vermitid snails when dosing phyto? That’s my biggest concern. I had an outbreak in my 220g. Started washing frozen food so that helped. Just worried that dosing phyto will start to feed them again. Anyone have experience with how to deal with this specifically with regards to phyto dosing?? (And don’t say bumblebee snails! Haha)

 

[Peter Houde]

You are all blowing me away with the volumes of phyto you all are dosing. I use AlaeBarn's OceanMagik (Nanno, Iso, Tetra, Phae). The container in which it until recently came instructs 5ml/20gal/day for the first two weeks and gradually increase as needed. I've been dosing 40-50ml/day in my 125g (wild guess, 90-100gal after live rock and gravel bed displacement but sump and refugium addition). I only started using the stuff to feed a clam. Some of my corals are slow growers but others (i.e., mushrooms and montis) already grow too much, too fast. I'm constantly culling. I don't give the latter anything when I target feed. Maybe my nitrates would benefit (as in drop) if I dosed more, but <Man!> the cost!

 

[Dogeatbird]

As to how much: there is no wrong answer, but do keep this in mind. System demand/maturity; newer systems, low density system, FOWLR system will not have as diverse or high demand for phyto.

Generally speaking start slow, and what that means simply is; am I generating more waste than benefits(NO3/PO4 rising

Live or Concentrated: live cultures generally are lower density than(Reef Nutrition) thus a higher dose can be used.(again if you see a rise in NO3/PO4, slow your pour)

Dilute your concentrate. Add some RODI to the decided amount. Refrigerate when not in use. Smell before you dose.( when bad smells like butt!)

Too Much: why is my tank greenish? Man, I just cleaned my glass! May be to heavy handed.

When: phytoplankton begins the vertical migration at dawn in nature. Generally when lights are on. When it may be convenient to have the skimmer off.(temporary and optional)

So how much: If your nutrients are not high, water doesn’t gleam green, glass cleanness acceptable, plumbing not clogged, culture demand.cost not excessive, and tank inhalation loving life; you are not overdoing.

Lastly stir/ tumble refrigerated goods. Phyto settles and can die in storage container.( thus the fantastic refrigerator stirring apartus)

 

[Laith]

EasyReef's Easy Booster Prof is what I use on a doser. Dose 21.6ml per day on a 500gallon system.

 

[MBruun]

I dose 700 ml daily to my 700 liter tank of my own culture of Tetraselmis. It is dark green and density is as I cannot see a pen 4 cm in the culture.
All systems have different usage/demand and export of phyto, and these will change over time. Also all mix and cultures are a little different too.
So to find the sweet spot of how much to dose will vary over time, but it's difficult to really mess things up with live phyto. If nutrients get too high, just stop dose for a few days and then lower the dose

 

[exnisstech]

Come back here and let us know the outcome. If it works I will have a veritable cornucopia of life living in my phyto.

Only 2 days but the baby brine are still swimming around in the refrigerated phyto. I thought there were some dead ones floating but I think they might be unhatched eggs.

 

[BlueBayouReefHTX]

I've been culturing my own for a few months. I've only done three different strains so far. Strangely I have not had any luck culturing motile strains and have had issues with propagation. I've had to rethink my sterilization strategy and have invested in some inline filters in case there is contamination. I'll know more with this next batch.

 

[ReefinIt]

Are people actually seeing a difference dosing phyto?

 

[JonoH]

For larger tanks the only cost effective way is to culture your own.

I will buy a large batch monthly, and do one big dose - tank always looks cleaner and happier afterwards!
My tank is 220 Gal, and i will dump around 1L into it.

 

[Stephers]

Are people actually seeing a difference dosing phyto?

I'm really unsure how much corals gain from it, but I do attribute it to having basically zero nuisance algae.

 

[Gregg37]

Probably a dumb question but I've been wondering what would happen if I added freshly hatched brine shrimp to the phyto since I'm dosing those as well but manually.

You can grow your own live adult Brine Shrimp this way. I do it sometimes. I am sure it is NOT producing the most nutritious adults but it works. Takes me about 3-4 weeks to get from freshly hatched bbs up to full adult size. Some sources say it only takes 10 days, but my culture room is under the basement stairs so it is cool, around 68F. I feed a heavy dose of phyto about every 36 hours.

I culture phyto. I use Poseidon Culture jars because I like the built in LEDs and the lids. I have one culture of nanno, one Tetra and I continually try to culture Iso and Rhodo in my 3rd and 4th jars. I find Iso and Rhodo to be finicky and picky when it comes to lighting.

I feed 120mL of Phyto per day, dosed shortly after the sun sets (lights go out), using a Bettix bottle. My tank is approximately 225 gallons of water and is a mixed reef with LPS, SPS, zoas, one Crocea clam and a couple gorgonians.

 

[exnisstech]

You can grow your own live adult Brine Shrimp this way. I do it sometimes. I am sure it is NOT producing the most nutritious adults but it works. Takes me about 3-4 weeks to get from freshly hatched bbs up to full adult size. Some sources say it only takes 10 days, but my culture room is under the basement stairs so it is cool, around 68F. I feed a heavy dose of phyto about every 36 hours.

I culture phyto. I use Poseidon Culture jars because I like the built in LEDs and the lids. I have one culture of nanno, one Tetra and I continually try to culture Iso and Rhodo in my 3rd and 4th jars. I find Iso and Rhodo to be finicky and picky when it comes to lighting.

I feed 120mL of Phyto per day, dosed shortly after the sun sets (lights go out), using a Bettix bottle. My tank is approximately 225 gallons of water and is a mixed reef with LPS, SPS, zoas, one Crocea clam and a couple gorgonians.

Hey Greg thanks for the info. On raising the brine shrimp do you have to do water changes? If so how do you go about it? I know my fish would enjoy adult brine.

 

[Gregg37]

I use a glass on gallon jar to culture my brine shrimp, with continuous vigorous air just like a phyto culture. I usually just use the same jar that I use to hatch the cysts and feed phyto beginning on day 2, a feeding every ~36 hours or so. I do a water change about once per week, running the entire gallon through a "brine shrimp net", and then using a gallon of new salt water and heavy feeding of phyto. Once they hit adult size, I only keep the culture going for a few days to a week more, feeding them all. I raise adult brine shrimp a few times a year, not on a continuing basis.

When feeding them, I usually add the brine shrimp to a small cup that has no saltwater in it, only full strength phyto and either Vitachem or sometimes Selcon and let this sit to enrich for a few hours before feeding.

 

[beesnreefs]

I culture 5 species myself: T-Iso, Tetra, Rhodomonas, Phaeodactylum, and Synechococcus.
I dose 300mL daily on my 75 gallon. I make it as dense as possible. Pretty much black when mixed all together. And after some experimenting, I've found the minimum amount of fertilizer possible to still get it very dense but avoid excess fertilizer going into the tank. I have more pods than stars in the sky. Makes for happy mandarins.

I'm looking into adding synechococcus to the PHYTO species I grow.

Might I ask where you got your synechococcus starter?

Do you fertilize with f2 like the other species? Or does it need something else?

 

[BlueBayouReefHTX]

I've been culturing my own for a few months. I've only done three different strains so far. Strangely I have not had any luck culturing motile strains and have had issues with propagation. I've had to rethink my sterilization strategy and have invested in some inline filters in case there is contamination. I'll know more with this next batch.

Just an update on this- I have been able to culture Thalassiosira and its pretty easy. 1mL silicate per GAL and i'm able to split it pretty easily. I started following up bleach sterilization with a quick peroxide rinse and I haven't had any crashes so far.

 

[56longroof]

I dose about a cup a day in my tank.