Phyto

[Reefing102]

I also use @Eldredge phyto blend. From pming him, he usually recommends starting out at 3ml/10 gallons/day.

I usually dose at night and about 15-25ml (depends on how I’m feeling that day). I haven’t had any noticeable comebacks of nuisance algae’s except if I miss a few days of dosing. (Anecdotal probably but yea).

 

[Gtinnel]

Sand is a bit "dirty" but today is maintenance day. I do not touch my sandbed, other then to stir it up. This tank was basically "rip cleaned" about 2 months ago when I took it down to have new floors installed.

Your corals look happy. I just skimmed through your build thread. I cried a little when I saw that you threw away frogspawn.

 

[homer1475]

LOL that frogspawn I've had almost 10 years now. I've thrown away probably close to a thousand heads by now. It just grows so unwieldy. I have it under the stylo now, and that seems to keep it in check. I won't get rid of it simply because my clown has taken it as it's host.

And yeah I tend to forget about my build thread. Haven't psited in that for a long time, but nothing really to post about either. Tank is on cruze control. I feed the fish, test twice a week, and do a weekly 10G WC.

FWIW...

I used to have great polyp extension on my sps, actually rather hairy. But I let my wife talk me into buying an angel, and there goes the polyp extension.

 

[Gtinnel]

I also use @Eldredge phyto blend. From pming him, he usually recommends starting out at 3ml/10 gallons/day.

I usually dose at night and about 15-25ml (depends on how I’m feeling that day). I haven’t had any noticeable comebacks of nuisance algae’s except if I miss a few days of dosing. (Anecdotal probably but yea).

Thanks. I don't know why I didn't consider asking for dosing recommendations from the person selling it. Is there any advantage you've seen to dosing at night instead of during the day?

 

[Gtinnel]

LOL that frogspawn I've had almost 10 years now. I've thrown away probably close to a thousand heads by now. It just grows so unwieldy. I have it under the stylo now, and that seems to keep it in check. I won't get rid of it simply because my clown has taken it as it's host.

And yeah I tend to forget about my build thread. Haven't psited in that for a long time, but nothing really to post about either. Tank is on cruze control. I feed the fish, test twice a week, and do a weekly 10G WC.

FWIW...

I used to have great polyp extension on my sps, actually rather hairy. But I let my wife talk me into buying an angel, and there goes the polyp extension.

Wish I lived closer I'd buy some of the frogspawn that you throw away. I guess ultimately a coral growing enough that you have to throw part of it away is a good problem to have. My wife has wanted me to get a coral beauty for a while now but I refuse to.

 

[Reefing102]

Thanks. I don't know why I didn't consider asking for dosing recommendations from the person selling it. Is there any advantage you've seen to dosing at night instead of during the day?

Honestly I don’t see an advantage. Mainly for me it’s when I actually remember to dose it

 

[Eldredge]

So I've been reading enough about phyto that I want to see if it makes a difference in my tank. When I went to order some I see that there are various strains. What strains do people use and how would I know which one is best? I'm considering ordering a blend from a user on here that seems to get good reviews.
Also, how much and how often does everyone dose, because I am seeing wildly different amounts that people dose per 10 gallons. When does everyone dose, because some people say to dose at night when the corals are more likely to feed, and then others say to dose during the day because phyto does better when the lights are on.

There is so much conflicting information on phyto that I'm not sure what to believe. I'm still not completely convinced that it is that beneficial, but I want to try it for a month or so and see for myself.

I am a big believer in the benefits of phyto. I am convinced that a live blend is the best for dosing a reef tank. Different organisms have different requirements as far as size, motility, and nutritional profile are concerned. A good blend will meet the needs of all of the organisms. If you have one specific organism you are growing, a blend may not be the best option, but in a reef, I think it is ideal.

There are benefits to live phyto rather than non-living. Dosing live phyto will provide food for the organisms that require living cells, and it is very difficult to overdose. Non-living phyto needs to be treated like any other non-living food, and care should be taken to not overfeed. With live phyto, unless you get totally crazy, the cells will just live in the system until they are consumed or filtered out. As the phyto is dosed regularly, the organisms that consume it will grow and multiply to a point of equilibrium, so almost any amount of live phyto dosed on a regular basis will be beneficial.

I have received many reports of various benefits from dosing a live phyto blend. I am confident that you will see an increase in small organisms, filter feeders, and general bio-diversity in your system. You should see an overall improvement, and may see some of the specific improvements mentioned in this thread.

Good luck with your system!

 

[Reef.]

Thanks. I don't know why I didn't consider asking for dosing recommendations from the person selling it. Is there any advantage you've seen to dosing at night instead of during the day?

phyto comes in different concentrations, normally the bottle will have a recommendation as to dosing amounts as the seller will know the strength of their phytoplankton.

 

[Gtinnel]

phyto comes in different concentrations, normally the bottle will have a recommendation as to dosing amounts as the seller will know the strength of their phytoplankton.

Makes sense considering some are noticeably darker than others. I'm just going to order from the user on here and use his recommendation. His prices are better than most places and I like supporting a hobbyist and fellow forum member.

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

I also believe there are great benefits to dosing LIVE phyto on the regular. I have been doing it for several months now and believe my reefs are benefiting.

I culture my own, two types, Nannocloropsis and tetraselmis. This helps with variety as they both are different sized and have different nutritional profiles.

I typically add 1ml per gallon of each type. So for me it is a 100ml total a day on each 50g water volume system. (i have 2 systems)

I dose it in the evening about 3hrs before lights out. This just fits my schedule well. I do not turn off my skimmer or any other filtration. I add the majority up top to the display and i add a bit to the refugium in the sump.

Ive been tracking my phytoplankton culturing adventure on instagram. @doubleadeejay feel free to check it out. Lets learn together

#freefluencer

 

[Gtinnel]

I also believe there are great benefits to dosing LIVE phyto on the regular. I have been doing it for several months now and believe my reefs are benefiting.

I culture my own, two types, Nannocloropsis and tetraselmis. This helps with variety as they both are different sized and have different nutritional profiles.

I typically add 1ml per gallon of each type. So for me it is a 100ml total a day on each 50g water volume system. (i have 2 systems)

I dose it in the evening about 3hrs before lights out. This just fits my schedule well. I do not turn off my skimmer or any other filtration. I add the majority up top to the display and i add a bit to the refugium in the sump.

Ive been tracking my phytoplankton culturing adventure on instagram. @doubleadeejay feel free to check it out. Lets learn together

#freefluencer

Thanks for the input. I'm definitely going to try it out. If I feel it's beneficial after trying it for a while I may start making my own and then try and find a way to auto dose it. I'm lazy and if I have to do it by hand I will eventually stop doing it as often as I should.
I don't really do social media (other than I begrudgingly have a Facebook account that I don't use), so I can't follow (or whatever they call it) you on Instagram.

 

[Anthony Scholfield]

Thanks for the input. I'm definitely going to try it out. If I feel it's beneficial after trying it for a while I may start making my own and then try and find a way to auto dose it. I'm lazy and if I have to do it by hand I will eventually stop doing it as often as I should.
I don't really do social media (other than I begrudgingly have a Facebook account that I don't use), so I can't follow (or whatever they call it) you on Instagram.

My pleasure I understand about the social media thing, its all good, just wanted to put it out there. Instagram is all im a part of. I think it is a lesser evil of them all lol

When it comes to auto dosing phyto i know a few have done it with success but i dont think it is common. It seems more complicated to auto dose phyto than to just manually dose it from what i have found.

 

[Gtinnel]

When it comes to auto dosing phyto i know a few have done it with success but i dont think it is common. It seems more complicated to auto dose phyto than to just manually dose it from what i have found.

The complications, from what I've read, are that is has to be stirred and kept cold. I can use an auto stirrer and keep it in a mini fridge. I'm just not really sure what to do about the liquid that gets left in the line. Find a doser than I can run backwards to pull it back out maybe. Idk I guess I'll worry about that if I decide to keep using it.

 

[G Santana]

I use the stuff off of Amazon from Mercer of Montana. I bought a two bottle kit along with a bottle of fertilizer and started dosing to help with my GHA problem and to feed pods in the tank.

I don't know if it was instrumental with the GHA problem, but it's all gone and the pod population is booming.
I dose 50ml a day manually.

I have been splitting cultures for months and have a stash in my fish fridge.

I turn my seltzer bottles into phyto bottles. After initial cost, it's fairly inexpensive to culture.

This is my basement laboratory today lol

 

[las]

So, im still trying to grasp the effects on nitrate and phosphate. Some people say it will lower those nutrient levels, some say it will raise them and other say no effect. Seriously, what is it?

At first I thought that it was supposed to lower them. And , I imagined that my display tank became a giant refugium. I was very much hoping this would be the case!

 

[Reef.]

So, im still trying to grasp the effects on nitrate and phosphate. Some people say it will lower those nutrient levels, some say it will raise them and other say no effect. Seriously, what is it?

At first I thought that it was supposed to lower them. And , I imagined that my display tank became a giant refugium. I was very much hoping this would be the case!

live phyto is meant to lower nutrients and dead raise them.
I would think if the phyto did lower nutrients it would not be by a significant amount, tho a raise in nutrients, especially PO4 could be quite significant depending on what food source the phyto was fed.
I definitely wouldn’t use phyto for a primary or even a secondary nutrient export method.

 

[las]

live phyto is what im talking about. i was told it would very effectively lower nitrate and phosphate

 

[Lyss]

live phyto is what im talking about. i was told it would very effectively lower nitrate and phosphate

If you don't have enough livestock in your tank consuming it it'll die off and increase nutrients. I dose a small amount of live phyto daily -- started with one popular brand and had the issue I just mentioned, but it wasn't for lack of filter feeders to consume it, for some reason my feather dusters weren't consuming it to the point where they began fading, being inside their tubes most of the day. It did end up increasing my nitrates. So I changed the brand of live phyto to one that is much more concentrated, and the feather dusters are THRIVING. My cleaner shrimp attacks the pipette when I dose, and I also notice corals extending their tentacles when I dose it. I have noticed the general tank benefits with this brand that I wasn't getting with the other.

 

[las]

so i should go for the denser phyto?

 

[Lyss]

so i should go for the denser phyto?

In my experience that was best, but I think it all depends on your tank which may be different from mine -- lots of people use the first brand I tried and say great things about it, it just didn't end up being for me. In either case I would start slow vs. dumping a lot in initially. I still only do about 5 -6 ml daily my 20g.