Nitrate and Phosphorus Control via Phytoplankton Additions?
- Thread starter Dana Riddle
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I had been wondering if such a way of tank management was possible before Dana posted his experience with this. The fact that he is getting good results gives me hope that this may be a promising avenue to explore for others.
Dosing nitrate and phosphate into tanks lacking nutrients has always struck me as an odd thing to have to do, and being able to add these lacking nutrients in the form of live phyto would seem to be a better way of doing this. Especially if the phyto is able to be skimmed out, pretty much the ideal high input, high output suggested way of keeping your tank inhabitants fed. Assuming you have phyto consumers that can carry the nutrients up the food chain to your hungry polyps/fish.
I am dosing CaNO3 right now actually to combat an imbalance with PO4. I am down to 0.16 PO4 as of today. Only 0.06 more to go to get back into my target range.
Dennis
Dosing nitrate and phosphate into tanks lacking nutrients has always struck me as an odd thing to have to do, and being able to add these lacking nutrients in the form of live phyto would seem to be a better way of doing this. Especially if the phyto is able to be skimmed out, pretty much the ideal high input, high output suggested way of keeping your tank inhabitants fed. Assuming you have phyto consumers that can carry the nutrients up the food chain to your hungry polyps/fish.
I am dosing CaNO3 right now actually to combat an imbalance with PO4. I am down to 0.16 PO4 as of today. Only 0.06 more to go to get back into my target range.
Dennis
Any update on the phyto additions @Dana Riddle ? Are you still foregoing the additions due to limitation? It would be interesting to see if your nutrients start to rise as a result of suspending dosing.
Dennis
Dennis
sixty_reefer
5000 Club Member
@Dana Riddle hows things going?
Back where it all began
Active Member
Any thoughts on the quality of the algaebarn phytoplankton products? I use their oceanmagik with copepods and have good success.
Back where it all began
Active Member
Also, does your addition of phytoplankton lead to a more rapid build up of material on the tank glass?
Afterburner
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I ran a little experiment over the past few weeks. I dosed a huge amount of phyto in my nano tank every morning....0.5 oz / gal. This would equate to gallons of Phyto a day in a normal tank. I had absolutely no negative affects. In fact, my SPS look better, and my softies love it. My NO3 and PO4 are super low (almost unreadable) even with the copious amounts of pyhto each day, so I guess the PO4 in the Phyto fertilizer is either absorbed by the phyto, or by the corals or pods or ????
I also noticed that I clean the glass more often now.
I also noticed that I clean the glass more often now.
It is a quality product far as I can tell.
When I was growing it and dosing, I never noticed more film algae at all.
I noticed the same. Days where I didn’t dose as much as normal and suddenly I needed to split again so I dumped the rest to refill the container. Never a bad side affect beyond a cloudy tank. Corals always seemed happy with it.
Can’t wait to start back up growing it. Almost ready, phyto chamber ready to go, just need to get some plumbing stuff for the frag tank and it will all be up and running.
Smarkow
Valuable Member
They are supposed to have a pretty thick “shell”/cell wall, so I would think they do better than most species in a peristaltic pump, which is not a particularly harsh environment vs a turbine pump. That being said, I did a quick lit search and could not find specific documentation of this. Nanno is heavily studied for biofuel production so I found this odd... is the tough “shell” of nanno more of a reefer myth? Maybe others will have more insight.
Thanks for your thought
Was wondering about why we would shut down the protein skimmer during the day. Wouldn't it be better to shut it down during the night, that's when the pods are out and feeding?
Wouldn't skimming at night remove the pods from DT where I think we would want them?
Wouldn't skimming at night remove the pods from DT where I think we would want them?
OP
OP
Dana Riddle
2500 Club Member
I've tried various schedules for the skimmer, but am now running it 24 hours/day while adding about 250ml of green water per day.There are literally thousands of pods on the viewing pane of the aquarium, and everywhere else I suppose, even with a Six-line wrasse actively eating them.
Thanks
Smarkow
Valuable Member
So I have worked my way up to 200 cc per day (100 tetra and 100 nanno) in my 210 display with about 80 gallons fuge and cryptic Underneath.... and have not noticed any change in skimmate production. Am I an outlier?
I want to start culturing my own phyto and pods. Being retired it gets to expensive to buy all the time for something I personally think is necessary. What "How to" source do you recommend?
What type of phytoplankton and pods, where to purchase them would you recommend?
Thanks for any help.
OP
OP
Dana Riddle
2500 Club Member
The copepods in my tank arrived on the live rock and I bought a pint of algae from a LFS. You'll need bottles of Guillard's f/2 nutrients for growing the algae. I have a couple of tanks (5 and 10 gallons) to culture the algae. Dose the Guillard's per directions, aerate (coarse air is fine) and light with a LED light. I think any of the major algae/pod suppliers can fill the bill (Algae Barn, Reed Mariculture, etc.) Might be available on Amazon as well.
Thanks
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