Phytoplankton D3

[matttheguy]

Just want to check. Does phytoplankton grown under artificial light produce D3? I assume not as I know normally for animals UVB light waves are required for D3 synthesis. But not sure if it's different for phytoplankton as from my understanding it's produced during the photosynthesis process so not sure if different mechanics are at play.

In the event typical plant growing lights don't allow for this has it been tested if exposure to artificial UVB lights (like what's used for reptiles) allow for this?

I know UVB doesn't penetrate deep into the water but it should be enough for the containers used for the plankton as long as the light can directly access the water (and not filtered by a glass lid etc).

Obviously the reduced water clarity from the high concentration of phytoplankton I assume would reduce this penetration further but given the fact the plankton is being circulated constantly due to the air stone it should all get time at the surface where the UVB is still penetrating anyway.

I'm just thinking this might be a viable way to enrich Copepods and other feeders with D3 as I know pretty much all aquatic life get it dietary with the original source being phytoplankton.

Or do people do a different method to enrich their feeders with D3?

Thanks

 

[matttheguy]

Btw I'm aware you can simply add artificial diets or enriched frozen foods/add supplements to provide most fish with D3.

But I'm specifically asking this to see if doing this is enough to enrich the feeders for fish that I need to give live feeders too. Such as fry or if I decide to keep seahorses (this is what's triggered this post specifically).

As I'm considering giving seahorses a go after I move and am considering doing something similar to how I've kept pipefish before were I setup the aquariums with very minimal mechanical filtration, the mechanical filtration was a bit of very course sponge that was like a 5x10cm rectangle about 1cm thick at an overflow in a sump. The rest being biological (loose porose rock), macro algae, filter feeders and a couple of crabs in the sponge chamber. This was to allow feeders/larvae to move through the system without getting killed in the filtration.

I had it so most of the pipefish food came from livefood colonies breeding in the setup and I only fed them once or twice a day directly as more of a supplement. But could go away for a week and have someone pop over once a day or 2 to give an extra feeding.

This worked for them without considering D3 enriching the livefood but obviously if I can enrich it that would be better.

I'm considering doing an improved version for seahorses to allow me to only need to artificially feed them 2 times a day but also it not being the end of the world if I go away and have someone feed them once a day or 2 (I would also dump a bunch of extra live feeders cultivated in a separate system specifically for live feeders in before leaving to be extra sure).