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So I’ve been dosing phytoplankton for the past couple of months to outcompete Dino’s and feed microfauna/coral in my system. The Dino’s are 99% gone now after looking under a microscope. What is present under the microscope is diatoms. Multiple species of diatoms it appears. And they now populate my sand bed much like you would see Dino’s do.
Im suspecting that the phytoplankton im culturing and dosing is contributing to this sand bed diatom bloom, probly because of excess silica in the culture being dosed. I stopped dosing phyto yesterday to see if the diatoms disappear.
Has anybody experienced this before? Is there a culture medium for phyto that doesn’t contain silica? Would the phyto (Nanno) grow without a silica component? Im using Guillards f/2 from Mercer of Montana.
Im suspecting that the phytoplankton im culturing and dosing is contributing to this sand bed diatom bloom, probly because of excess silica in the culture being dosed. I stopped dosing phyto yesterday to see if the diatoms disappear.
Has anybody experienced this before? Is there a culture medium for phyto that doesn’t contain silica? Would the phyto (Nanno) grow without a silica component? Im using Guillards f/2 from Mercer of Montana.