Phytoplankton and copepod system

[MNFish]

Tomorrow is harvest day for the phytoplankton. For the pods I plan on just refreshing water and adding phyto. The instructions call for about 1 cup of phyto to restart the culture so that is the plan. Not sure yet how many cups to add to copepods I am thinking 5?

 

[MNFish]

Harvest #1

I did not realize how dark it was till I put it into another container without the light!

I restarted with 2 cups of phytoplankton. Put a decent amount into the pods. Dumped a ton into each of my 3 reefs and coral immediately had noticeably larger extensions. Next time I will take before and after pictures. I put all the pods back in as they were not yet as dense as I wanted.

Pods are 2 on left phytoplankton 3 on right cannot believe the stared out as light green last time.

 

[MNFish]

I forgot to mention have about a gallon left over in fridge. I am going to attempt to see what the upper limit is to dose before I see any negative effects....

 

[MNFish]

 

[MNFish]

 

[Fishy888]

I’m going to look into this setup. The last time I tried to culture phytoplankton it was a colossal failure from day one. To be fair though it was a DIY system that I blasted with grow lights.

How long do the lights stay on each day? I’ll likely start with nannochloropsis when the time comes. I might try apex pods this time around. My LPS would probably benefit from them quite a bit.

 

[MNFish]

I’m going to look into this setup. The last time I tried to culture phytoplankton it was a colossal failure from day one. To be fair though it was a DIY system that I blasted with grow lights.

How long do the lights stay on each day? I’ll likely start with nannochloropsis when the time comes. I might try apex pods this time around. My LPS would probably benefit from them quite a bit.

I am doing lights on for 16 hours a day.
This set up is super easy, and comes with very detailed instructions. I admire the diy set ups that I see but did not know where and how to start.

 

[trsmith18]

Is there a risk of overdosing your tank with photo and increasing nitrates/phosphates?

 

[MNFish]

I had to travel for a while for work got back and harvested today instead of Friday. The phytoplankton was super nice. I put 2 cups into each one to restart about half of one in each copepods system 1 jar into the fridge and the rest into my reefs.

 

[MNFish]

Is there a risk of overdosing your tank with photo and increasing nitrates/phosphates?

I have been dumping a lot into my 75 about 1/2 gallon or more a week and have not yet noticed any ill effects. However it has only been 2 weeks.

 

[MNFish]

Still did not harvest copepods but there is a ton of growth!

 

[beesnreefs]

Thanks for doing this thread @MNFish! My wife and I ordered two Poseidon phyto reactors yesterday…this thread has us more excited than ever for our phyto culturing adventure!

 

[MNFish]

Thanks for doing this thread @MNFish! My wife and I ordered two Poseidon phyto reactors yesterday…this thread has us more excited than ever for our phyto culturing adventure!

I really like the system, I hope you like it as well!

 

[MNFish]

So this weekend I harvested again, dumped about 1/2 gallon into my 75 and started one culture of

Tetraselmis:​

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I started it as normal with 1 bottle and to be honest when I added enough gallon to fill it, it looked like it was only water.

However today it is almost as green as my other cultures.

 

[MNFish]

The one in the middle is the tet as soon as i started it up

This is the culture today about 3 days of growth.

 

[MNFish]

I also harvested some copepods this weekend, they are growing very well. I will take a picture of the strainer next time I clean it out they are a ton.


Also forgot to mention I really like the square bottom bags I bought, the flat ones work well as well and are about same size as the bags that came with.

 

[beesnreefs]

The one in the middle is the tet as soon as i started it up

This is the culture today about 3 days of growth.

We grew nanno and tet the first two weeks and had the same experience. Then my wife did some reading and decided she wanted to make a four-strain blend for the tank so she ordered starters for iso and porphyridium. She started the culture for them a couple of days ago

 

[MNFish]

The tet grew great, I am on 2nd culture but it was very very dark:

Harvested more copepods today as well. Overall I love this system, takes some practice to figure out best way to harvest and rest but my fish and corals seem extra happy.

 

[SneaksMcdoogle]

Following

 

[Wildcats1023]

I have my culture started