Phyto culture to replace water changes and chaeto

[Daddy-o]

Yes

Well HELLO neighbor!! we are down in Redwood City.

 

[fryman]

Well HELLO neighbor!! we are down in Redwood City.

Hiya!

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Using phytoplankton for filtration is see a few problems. To be able to filter the water a certain flow rate must be maintained. One may install and maintain a culture in a refugium. It is the intention to harvest, otherwise, nothing is removed from the system. Being only 3.5 to 25 µm in size a very fine mesh must be used to keep the phyto in the refugium . The culture will be infected by all kinds of predators, which will affect the growth rate and even may wipe out the culture.
Using macro algae they can be cultured the same way with a lot fewer limitations and difficulties. A stable and reliable growth rate may be maintained and depending on the algae used, they bring food to the table for you and your fish.


Using AAM ( Active Algae Management) a certain growth rate can be installed representing the minimal carrying capacity desired by the user. The nutrient reserve can be managed as desired and the nutrient balance restored by using for the target nutrient modified feed medium to maintain the minimum required growth rate, the same media used for cultivating phyto. ref: MB CMF De Haes 2017-2021
Also, phyto can be used for AAM but in my opinion, it will be much more difficult to maintain the minimal growth rate desired and managing the daily nutrient removal rate.

 

[reefomatix]

Guillard's f/2 is a fertilizer specifically designed for culturing phytoplankton. I get mine from floridaaquafarms.com but there are lots of places that sell it.

For about a year I cultured large quantities of nannochloropsis, isochrysis (T-iso) and tetraselmis. I also have tried out Thalassorira and Porphyridium in smaller batches but was trying to set up continuous cultures and they crashed after a couple months. It looked pretty cool for a little while (see attached pic).

In my experience, tetraselmis is the easiest and most reliable. I know everyone says nanno is the easiest but that has not been my experience. The tet I used in this experiment was started from a 250ml starter left in my fridge for at least a year. I put it into a 5 gallon bucket and it started right back up. Try that with nanno (I have - it did not work out)... Which also leads to the primary reason I used tetraselmis for this - it's the only strain I currently have on hand because none of my other starters were viable. So... yeah I might try starting up some others again but would have to buy them so right now all I have to work with is tetraselmis. But this strain I have seems to be practically bulletproof so I figured it would be the best option anyway.

Thanks for the info. Where/what was your source of pods? How's the upkeep on the cultures, pretty simple I hope?

 

[fryman]

Thanks for the info. Where/what was your source of pods? How's the upkeep on the cultures, pretty simple I hope?

For pods I used Algagen for tisbe and apocyclops and and Reef Nutrition for Tig pods. I know algae barn also sells some pods and I recommend them in general although I've never bought pods from there. They are all abit pricey but after you get a culture started it should last a long time (potential of indefinitely).

My pod culture system is just 1 or 2 gallon (not sure actually) glass tea dispensers from target. I installed an airline, and feed 10ml phyto per hour using a very cheap 5x head dosing pump from amazon. I threw in a couple marinepure balls but dunno if that's necessary. The feed container is filled once a week with live phyto. I also harvest once a week, just pour out of the tea jar with built-in spout, then through a 53-micron sieve from florida aqua farms.

Must of the hassle on upkeep is making live phyto. IME phyto culture is more trouble than pod culture, so if you want the easy route start with pods and just buy food for them. There are lots of options, doesn't have to be live although I think live reduces the risk of overfeeding/ limited potential for a crash from fouling the culture water. I probably waste a lot of phyto, I never let the pods culture go clear and wind up pouring out a bunch of phyto this way.

 

[fryman]

I don't know if ppl are interested but I am repeating the test with a little more control and daily nitrate/phosphate testing. The goal is to verify results. I'm not sure I will try the original plan of using phyto culture for water changes, but I will almost certainly dose phyto and this data could be useful to avoid dumping excess nitrate or phosphate in the tank while doing so.

A couple additional notes:
1) I found that my LED grow lights have varied PAR. I measured ~350 PAR for one light and ~ 250 PAR for another. For this week's testing I used the 250 PAR light. I also added a "low light" control, which was an old 24" fluorescent fixture hung 12 in above the bucket. It measured about 25 PAR at the water surface.
2) Instead of splitting the culture in half, I added 1 liter each bucket from a starter culture which measured 89k cells per ml using a Secchi-calibrated density stick. So I expect this culture to start slower.

• Day 0 - 02.19.2021

Nitrate: 80 ppm​

Phos: 200+ ppb​

• Day 1 - 02.20.2021

Nitrate: 80 ppm (both high & low light)​

Phos: 200+ ppb (high light)​

• Day 2 - 02.21.2021

Nitrate: 80 ppm (high light)​

Nitrate: 80 ppm (low light)​

Phos (high light): 178 ppb​

Phos (low light): 200+ ppb​

• Day 3 - 02.22.2021

Nitrate: 40 ppm (high light)​

Nitrate: 80 ppm (low light)​

Phos: 3 ppb (high light)​

Phos: 200+ ppb (low light)​

• Day 4 - 02.23.2021

Nitrate: 40 ppm (high light)​

Nitrate: 80 ppm (low light)​

Phos: 0 ppb (high light)​

Phos: 200+ ppb (low light)​

Density meas: 17 cm (high light) notably green water now but this is still below the cell density scale, so < 42k cells/ml​

Added ~ 5 drops Neophos to boost phosphate​

I will update over the next few days as I continue collecting additional data.

 

[fryman]

• Day 0 - 02.19.2021

Nitrate: 80 ppm​

Phos: 200+ ppb​

• Day 1 - 02.20.2021

Nitrate: 80 ppm (both high & low light)​

Phos: 200+ ppb (high light)​

• Day 2 - 02.21.2021

Nitrate: 80 ppm (high light)​

Nitrate: 80 ppm (low light)​

Phos (high light): 178 ppb​

Phos (low light): 200+ ppb​

• Day 3 - 02.22.2021

Nitrate: 40 ppm (high light)​

Nitrate: 80 ppm (low light)​

Phos: 3 ppb (high light)​

Phos: 200+ ppb (low light)​

• Day 4 - 02.23.2021

Nitrate: 40 ppm (high light)​

Nitrate: 80 ppm (low light)​

Phos: 0 ppb (high light)​

Phos: 200+ ppb (low light)​

Density meas: 17 cm (high light) notably green water now but this is still below the cell density scale, so < 42k cells/ml​

Added ~ 5 drops Neophos to boost phosphate​

• Day 5 - 02.24.2021

Nitrate: 20 ppm (high light)​

Nitrate: 80 ppm (low light)​

Phos: 9 ppb (high light)​

Density meas: 15 cm (off scale, < 42k cells/ml)​

 

[fryman]

• Day 6 - 02.25.2021

Nitrate: 10 ppm (high light)​

Nitrate: 80 ppm (low light)​

Phos: 3 ppb (high light)​

Density meas: 10 cm (56k cells/ml)​

 

[fryman]

• Day 7 - 02.26.2021

Nitrate: 5 ppm API (high light)​

Nitrate: 4 ppm Red Sea Pro (high light)​

Nitrate: 80 ppm (low light)​

Phos: 4 ppb (high light)​

Density meas: 9 cm (65k cells/ml)​

 

[Reefer of Oz]

Nice experiment. I currently feed phyto and sustain pods in my system but would like to culture both in the near distant future. Thanks for sharing your experience and the data it bears. Extremely helpful for novice reefers such as myself. Keep it coming!
Watching

 

[fryman]

• Day 8 - 02.27.2021

Nitrate: 0 ppm API (high light)​

Nitrate: 0.0 ppm Red Sea Pro (high light)​

Phos: 9 ppb (high light)​

Density meas: 8 cm (75k cells/ml)​

​

I apparently overshot the phosphorus a little, but nitrate is undetectable with both the API kit and Red Sea Pro kit.​

​

I think the theory is sound, but it may be difficult to get exactly 0 nitrate & phosphate every time. Much easier to get just one of them undetectable, with a little excess of the other.​

​

I'm stopping the experiment here and split the culture. I've purchased some nanno, iso and thal. I'm going to see if I can start these back up again.​

 

[Subsea]

In my 25 year mature system, I am heavy with filter feeders including sea Apple and ornamental sponges as well as cryptic sponges.

I see all the filter feeders and micro fana as consumers of nitrate and phosphate, via the microbial loop, this includes coral. From my perspective, populations of nitrate & phosphate consumers are enhanced by the phyto additio.

Let’s seperate fertilizer. I use Guillard f/2 in phytoplankton culture and I use ChaetoGrow in my display tank / algae refugium.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Guillard's f/2 is a fertilizer specifically designed for culturing phytoplankton. I get mine from floridaaquafarms.com but there are lots of places that sell it.

For about a year I cultured large quantities of nannochloropsis, isochrysis (T-iso) and tetraselmis. I also have tried out Thalassorira and Porphyridium in smaller batches but was trying to set up continuous cultures and they crashed after a couple months. It looked pretty cool for a little while (see attached pic).

In my experience, tetraselmis is the easiest and most reliable. I know everyone says nanno is the easiest but that has not been my experience. The tet I used in this experiment was started from a 250ml starter left in my fridge for at least a year. I put it into a 5 gallon bucket and it started right back up. Try that with nanno (I have - it did not work out)... Which also leads to the primary reason I used tetraselmis for this - it's the only strain I currently have on hand because none of my other starters were viable. So... yeah I might try starting up some others again but would have to buy them so right now all I have to work with is tetraselmis. But this strain I have seems to be practically bulletproof so I figured it would be the best option anyway.

That looks delicious, can I have a double shot of that green stuff! Mmmmm....

 

[Belgian Anthias]

An other problem may be contamination of the cultures as the culture water is not free of pests and consumers, as is the case in normal cultures for feed. Contamination by predators may wipe out the culture very fast.