Live microalgae (phytoplankton) for aquarium bioremediation? Anyone test this notion?

[steamman]

I did this by accident too. I added pods and a bottle of phytoplankton. I had to use a UV sterilizer to clear it up. Water changes did nothing. Skimming with Deltec AP702 removed nothing. When I had the culture going in my tank I had undetectable nitrate and phosphate levels. Just like diving in NJ waters.

 

[steamman]

JS where you running GFO? Phytoplankton needs iron. I was using GFO to help with phosphates when this happened.

 

[Tajaba]

Hi, Theres a tank here in Thailand that cycled the tank using Phytoplankton instead of the regular way. It worked well and you can see the sponges grow faster than in traditional systems. However after 3 months in (after adding live stock) GHA still outcompeted the Phytoplankton in the system. So I'd say it didn't quite work.

 

[steamman]

Hi, Theres a tank here in Thailand that cycled the tank using Phytoplankton instead of the regular way. It worked well and you can see the sponges grow faster than in traditional systems. However after 3 months in (after adding live stock) GHA still outcompeted the Phytoplankton in the system. So I'd say it didn't quite work.

I cycled my tank like that by accident. I understand that you need iron to keep phytoplankton culture. Do you know if they got the iron from GFO? I was running GFO but stopped while I was trying to diagnose the green water.

I may see if I can start up the phyto again in the tank and keep it under control. My tank is 5 months old. No GHA. Small spot of Cyano but that could be because I let my nutrients climb a little to high (nitrates 15 and phosphates .11). The cyano is going away by itself now.

 

[Tajaba]

I cycled my tank like that by accident. I understand that you need iron to keep phytoplankton culture. Do you know if they got the iron from GFO? I was running GFO but stopped while I was trying to diagnose the green water.

I may see if I can start up the phyto again in the tank and keep it under control. My tank is 5 months old. No GHA. Small spot of Cyano but that could be that I let my nutrients climb a little. The cyano is going away by itself now.

The Iron from GFO is quite minimal at best since it is in a form that Phyto (or any algae) can't use. In all my systems I always dose Fe/Mn as a way to boost my Refugium tanks for better cultivation time and nutrient uptake. I haven't done regular waterchanges in 4 years so theres that. But My take on the topic at hand is that using Phyto for filtration "In Theory" works. But the setup is very complicated since in our reef tanks have alot more biological competition than people think. Phytoplanktons grow fast because they are fragile as heck and anything and everything will eat/outcompete them. Once you start adding in livestock, they will quickly be decimated and what you're left with is sponges and featherworms

 

[steamman]

I feel like you would have to remove filter socks and turn of the skimmer. Would be interesting to seen some one heavily dose a tank with phyto for a couple of days and then filter it off and see how it change the parameters. Could be dangerous though if the phyto crashed.

Skimming does not remove phytoplankton. At least it had no effect on my tank. I have a 150 gallon tank with a 30 gallon fuge. I use a old Deltec AP702 skimmer on it. It is a beast. If a skimmer was going to remove live phyto this one would do it. I do not run filter socks and I don't know the micron size of the phyto is. I think you would need a really fine micron filter to remove it phyto with a filter sock.

 

[steamman]

The Iron from GFO is quite minimal at best since it is in a form that Phyto (or any algae) can't use. In all my systems I always dose Fe/Mn as a way to boost my Refugium tanks for better cultivation time and nutrient uptake. I haven't done regular waterchanges in 4 years so theres that. But My take on the topic at hand is that using Phyto for filtration "In Theory" works. But the setup is very complicated since in our reef tanks have alot more biological competition than people think. Phytoplanktons grow fast because they are fragile as heck and anything and everything will eat/outcompete them. Once you start adding in livestock, they will quickly be decimated and what you're left with is sponges and featherworms

I was doing weekly water changes of 40 gallons. When the water really greened up I did even more frequent water changes. It only helped clear the algae a small amount for that day. The green came right back with a vengence.

I just looked up the trace elements of Reef Crystals and It has a lot more iron in it than sea water. So that would explain where the phyto got its iron from. If I kept changing water I kept supplying the iron the phytoplankton needed to grow.

I don't know what form iron comes out of GFO. I do know that seawater has a content of 0.06 and Reef Crystals have around 0.099 - 0.157.

As far as usable iron for the phyto I am not a chemist. Is Iron-Manganese (Fe-Mn) more usable than
Fe+++ + 3OH- à Fe(OH)3

Ferric iron + hydroxide à iron hydroxide

 

[Tajaba]

I'm not a chemist either but what I use is chelated Iron Fe(3+) and liquid manganese mixed together.

Very small amount of manganese to iron though.

And yes, adding new water to an existing culture with fertilizers do make more phytoplankton If I could get my water green I like you did I'd be setting up a gorgonian and filter feeding tank in a heartbeat.

 

[steamman]

I'm not a chemist either but what I use is chelated Iron Fe(3+) and liquid manganese mixed together.

Very small amount of manganese to iron though.

And yes, adding new water to an existing culture with fertilizers do make more phytoplankton If I could get my water green I like you did I'd be setting up a gorgonian and filter feeding tank in a heartbeat.

I didn't add any fertilizer. I fed my tank heavy and the water changes that's it. I do not have much livestock in the tank now as It is only 5 months old. I do have some SPS and LPS frags along with a full stock of fish for this tank.

 

[Katrina71]

I want to know more. Please keep posting this discussion.

 

[steamman]

I added 6 oz of live nannocloropsis today. It is a small amount. I will probably add another 8 oz tomorrow. When my accident happened I added 8 oz. It is from a different supplier so I don't know what the density difference is.
I left my skimmer on as I did the first time the culture started in the tank. If the phytoplanketon culture takes off it will take a week or so.

 

[Tajaba]

I added 6 oz of live nannocloropsis today. It is a small amount. I will probably add another 8 oz tomorrow. When my accident happened I added 8 oz. It is from a different supplier so I don't know what the density difference is.
I left my skimmer on as I did the first time the culture started in the tank. If the phytoplanketon culture takes off it will take a week or so.

try adding a sponge/ clam (maybe only 1 at first) to balance it out and see if you can keep the culture going as well. This might turn out to be epic

 

[steamman]

After adding the live culture only two days ago my nitrates went down from 20 to .2. This seems like an awfully fast drop in nitrates. I am sure my testing is accurate with Salifert kit. Not the best test kit but it is what I have right now. I dose carbon and I am going to keep dosing to keep the bacterial population up if I can. I am dosing 12 - 15 ml of NoPox daily in my 150 with 30 sump.

I don't see a major difference in the water color yet but it has only been a couple days. I will start feeding very heavy again to make sure there is enough nutrients in the water for the algae. I don't have any other algae growth in the tank to out compete the Nannocloropsis for the available nutrients.

I have started my own live culture outside of my display tank today. This is my first time culturing live algae.

On another note my male Bangaii is still holding his first batch of eggs. I hope he can make it another week to release. I built a fake sea urchin but he doesn't seem to like it. I am going to make an attempt to let him release in the display tank and then I will remove the babies from the open water of the display tank.