How much phyto do you feed your tank?

J1a

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For reference, this is the color of the phyto (mainly isochrysis and thalassiosira) and zooplankton (cyclopoida and rotifer) when I mix it with 500ml of aquarium water.

I feed 1L of this per day.

PSX_20220210_233327.jpg
 

ClownSchool

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Just curious how much phyto everyone here feeds their tanks? Currently my wife is managing my tank for me, and since we are buying from Algaebarn, it gets dosed daily, at 5mL per 20 gallons . If I was home, I'd be growing it to feed, like I did with all my previous systems, and dosing it at much higher levels.

I'm attaching a picture of my old 110 immediately after feeding to show how much I added every evening. I believe this is what kept my thorny oyster, flame scallops, sponges, and feather dusters so happy. I added roughly 2-3 of these bottles daily, using a blend of Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis, Isochrysis, Rhodomonas, Chaetoceras, and Thalassiosira, all grown in separate cultures, then poured together to feed the tank and feed copepod cultures. Water in the display would clear within 2 hrs of dosing, but it was done in the evening just before lights out, with a refugium on an alternate light schedule to help prevent CO2 from spiking and O2 from dropping.

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I always add my pods and plankton to my refugium. I was told to wait until lights out if I added them to the display tank.
 

StewL6

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You really need to get it thick like pea soup. If you can see the back of the tank go ahead pour it in there. Love walking up to a emerald green tank.
 

Morpheosz

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This may or may not be a debated topic, but as I'm thinking about getting into a phyto dosing routine on my relatively new tank (going on 2 months), I'm curious if people are doing it with or without filter socks? I'm guessing more without, but I've yet to take the plunge and remove mine. I've tried for a day here or there but so far my limited experiments have seemed to show it have a noticeable effect my water clarity within hours. It could have been coincidence. I don't have a good concept of the size of the phyto vs the mesh of the sock.
 

CrimsonTide

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Dosing 5ml/day for my 30g. Seems I'm on the low side compared to most of ya'll.

In the morning, right before my lights turn on. Turn skimmer off for 2 hours after.

What time does everyone dose?
I have a 30g and I dose 30ml-40ml a day and do it about an hr to 2hrs before lights go out. That happens to also be when the fish and coral get food as well so it just all works. But most people dose an hour or so before lights out. I sometimes forget and dose when the lights go out as well. I think 30ml is a little low on my tank. I will probably up it to 40-50ish soon.
 

Gedxin

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I have a 30g and I dose 30ml-40ml a day and do it about an hr to 2hrs before lights go out. That happens to also be when the fish and coral get food as well so it just all works. But most people dose an hour or so before lights out. I sometimes forget and dose when the lights go out as well. I think 30ml is a little low on my tank. I will probably up it to 40-50ish soon.

Do you turn off your skimmer whilst dosing? If not does it not go crazy with such a significant dosage?
 

CrimsonTide

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Do you turn off your skimmer whilst dosing? If not does it not go crazy with such a significant dosage?
My skimmer never turns off. It doesn't go crazy. I know some of the phyto gets sucked up by the skimmer I can tell by the color instead of that brown sludge color it turns more greenish but I like to keep the oxygen in my water. I dump it straight into a powerhead and let it go all over the tank. I dose the phyto right after I turn all my pumps back on after feeding fish and corals. But the skimmer doesn't go crazy. If it did I would turn it off. Its never excessive skimming.
 

drblank1

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Just curious how much phyto everyone here feeds their tanks? Currently my wife is managing my tank for me, and since we are buying from Algaebarn, it gets dosed daily, at 5mL per 20 gallons . If I was home, I'd be growing it to feed, like I did with all my previous systems, and dosing it at much higher levels.

I'm attaching a picture of my old 110 immediately after feeding to show how much I added every evening. I believe this is what kept my thorny oyster, flame scallops, sponges, and feather dusters so happy. I added roughly 2-3 of these bottles daily, using a blend of Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis, Isochrysis, Rhodomonas, Chaetoceras, and Thalassiosira, all grown in separate cultures, then poured together to feed the tank and feed copepod cultures. Water in the display would clear within 2 hrs of dosing, but it was done in the evening just before lights out, with a refugium on an alternate light schedule to help prevent CO2 from spiking and O2 from dropping.


I don't know much about phyto, but all that green seems like it would cause a PO4 issue. Would it?
 

J1a

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I don't know much about phyto, but all that green seems like it would cause a PO4 issue. Would it?
Phyto bound phosphate will not be detected on hobby kit unless you give the phyto time break down (could be very long because the presence of the cell wall). The culture media, on the other hand, may contain a fair bit of phosphate.

Supplementing phosphate may not necessarily be a bad thing. Some high export setups really require this high flux of phosphate and nitrate to sustain both the export mechanism (bacteria, macroalgae etc) and the corals in the aquarium.
 

Ef4life

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I feed no liquid phyto, I’ve tried in the past with no real noticeable effect. I do however feed a mix of multiple different powdered coral food daily

a small amount gets dropped via auto feeder 4x a day (mixed in with pellet food for fish). And in a large dose with the frozen food mix for dinner.

I’d guess about 3-4 grams of powdered coral food per day.
 

reefer_evo5

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I have a 20g AIO nuvo tank and I dose 15mls of algae barn ocean magik to my tank daily in the morning with 1ml of red sea reef enery plus. everything seems to love it.
 

RobB'z Reef

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Phyto bound phosphate will not be detected on hobby kit unless you give the phyto time break down (could be very long because the presence of the cell wall). The culture media, on the other hand, may contain a fair bit of phosphate.

Supplementing phosphate may not necessarily be a bad thing. Some high export setups really require this high flux of phosphate and nitrate to sustain both the export mechanism (bacteria, macroalgae etc) and the corals in the aquarium.
I agree, that's why it's important to monitor cell density when culturing. It gives an idea of when perhaps that media has been exhausted and uptaken by the phyto. I've found the use of a secchi stick to be good enough for our hobby grade efforts. @Anthony Scholfield had been doing some experimenting with culturing phyto using reduced mediums. I generally recommend working your tank up to 1ml/gal/day minimum. I've found some success in helping maintain nutrients in my previously hard to maintain nutrient low tank. We worked on a video where we talk about measuring cell density for culturing at home on my YouTube channel.
 

Jerrym21

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I dose 100ml per day into my system of approximately 220-230 gal. Phosphate stays at .07 so that’s not an issue. My real issue is trying to keep nitrate above 0. No mater how much I feed, I can’t get it to rise.
 

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