Phytoplankton for control of Phophates and Nitrate in the Reef

[Dr Blue Thumb]

What else is growing in my phytoculture? bacteria? or does the phyto win the battle? does it all depend on how long I culture? how long is the life span of phyto? if some phyto dies will bacteria start to feed on it?

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]

What I do is I go crazy investing thousands of dollars into a habitat for my organisms. Then I will seperate those which can make me money into their own habitats. From there I sell and make money to fund my experiments. I do not make tons of money, but One day I will buy a shrooms like this:




Then I will sell it for a more reasonable price. All the while learning about things such as:

Business
electricity
carpentry
hospitality
photography
videography
biology
marine biology
computers
wesites
forums
chemistry
geology
propagation
aquaculturing
microscopes
etc etc I enjoy it and wish to one day make I living @ this one day, even If I need to go to school to do it. I am currently suffering from adhd,anxiety,depression,autism (Aspergers),schizo-affective disorder,agorophobia, these are mostly disabiliities and I am on disability ODSP, plus I have a paper route, this is what supplies me with the income I need to try to turn a hobby and something I love into a career.

If I fail, then Oh well, my dream is to open up an aquaculture facility here in Windsor ontario Canada, ranging from selling copepods, phyto to coral and sponges to name a few things. If it does not work then maybe 10 years from now I will hopfully be hired by a a company in the oil, medical, sewage threatment etc industry

I would like some suggestions I am not getting younger? should I give up on my dream? bite the bullet and work a Job where people will tease me and spit on me? or should I try something different? and become an entreprenuer?

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]

I recently saw the BRS video comparing different lighting on cheato algae growth and nutrient export. They also measured peak pH under the three different lights. The difference in control tank pH (about 8.1) and the light (Kessel H380 on grow mode) with the maximum pH (about 8.6) was huge. I have to think that a big part of this was due to phytoplankton and not just macro algae.

Of course, the problem is export. Unless you have something consuming phyto and growing, or a skimmer removing phyto, you aren't exporting NP. Phyto consuming NP vs. bacteria consuming NP is probably a good thing. I dose carbon, but I think I'm going to order a Kessel H380 for my fuge. If nothing else, high pH for my tank.

Keep me posted on the light I would like to give it a shot? I am going to bite the bullet and give a small skimmer a shot at first. This will allow me to keep large amount of organics in my tank still, all the while being able to add more fish.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

What else is growing in my phytoculture? bacteria? or does the phyto win the battle? does it all depend on how long I culture? how long is the life span of phyto? if some phyto dies will bacteria start to feed on it?

There will certainly be bacteria, but if you are not adding a carbon source or starter bacteria cultures, photosynthetic organisms will thrive to a greater extent.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

A little hard to read but does this seem accurate for nutritional composition of Phyto:

Such a list is of little value. Seawater also contains every inorganic ion listed, and many if not all of the organics listed will be in any food at some level.

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]

how about the culture water from phyto this will have iodine etc in it? then say if I dosed 5 cups a day to 100G aquarium then at the end of the week I took out 35 cups would there be little a benefit to doing this? if a high grade of salt was used?

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]

I read somewhere that sea salt was given to pigs in their food and this was suppose to be a benefit i think?

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]

There will certainly be bacteria, but if you are not adding a carbon source or starter bacteria cultures, photosynthetic organisms will thrive to a greater extent.

Would you suggest putting a carbon source in the phyto culture to encourage bacteria growth? this will mean if it is possible that there will be a larger range of size of food for marine organisms?

And this is where a microscope would come in handy?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

how about the culture water from phyto this will have iodine etc in it? then say if I dosed 5 cups a day to 100G aquarium then at the end of the week I took out 35 cups would there be little a benefit to doing this? if a high grade of salt was used?

The culture overall, including the phyto itself, will have whatever iodine you added to the culture to begin with. I don't consider inorganic iodine a useful additive to reef tanks, but the iodine in the phyto itself may (or may not) be beneficial to some organisms we keep.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Would you suggest putting a carbon source in the phyto culture to encourage bacteria growth? this will mean if it is possible that there will be a larger range of size of food for marine organisms?

And this is where a microscope would come in handy?

No, you want the phyto to dominate. You can grow bacteria in the tank itself if you want.

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]

This is the closest I got without a scope i would like to get even closer:












Here is my old phytoplankton station:





It is pretty simple design I made it cat proof so the bottle do not fall.

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]

Do sponges cells talk/communicate to one another? I heard that their cells can be seperated then the cells will then pull themselves back into a new sponge to be capable of rejuvination. This I believe is being studied @ the moment, Does this sound true? Because this is the next thing I want to try under the scope but need to make sure I get the right scope?

Also i want to view algae cells under the scope too. If I am ever blessed enough to own one or have access to one?

 

[Reef Nutrition]

I use a phosban reactor and fill it with argonite the large size this I think increases pods and bacteria, I heard that bacteria are so powerful that they can decompose a blue whale all by themselves.

A little hard to read but does this seem accurate for nutritional composition of Phyto:




I have autism and what I like to do in order to understand things better is that I use pictures and diagrams like this:

Bacteria:



I use forums like this to educate myself at the same time that I may be able to hopefully educate others. If I use bad links or bad theories or give bad info then please correct me? I may be off a bit in my hypothesis and grammar, but if I am off in my grammar please to not throw away everything else based on that. I also like to prove that inwhich I think might be possible and I am willing to be the person to try it out and risk my tank, to hopefully one day prove what is and not possible. Please take everything with a grain of salt inwhich i say, because what works for me is extremely difficult for te average Reef enthusiast.

All phytoplankton have different nutritional compositions. The chart you posted cannot be applied across the board. Each species, and even strains within species, have vastly different compositions. This is one reason why we (RMI) provide a blend of species in our products. For example: Nannochloropsis spp. lack DHA. DHA is an essential fatty acid for marine larval fish. To make up for this, we add other species of algae that do have DHA, so that when the aquarist cultures and enriches their rotifers, the prey item is fully enriched insuring that the larvae develop without deformities or heavy mortalities. Also, I culture copepods and would never feed them just one species of algae. In live feeds aquaculture, we have found that a binary or trinary feed approach yields more productive cultures and a more valuable live feed.

-Chad

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]

I see that is why I feed my fish frozen too, ontop of dried fish food for the same reason, colour and health. Is there a powder form of Dha I can add with my phyto for the health of my microzooplankton? Such as cyclopeeze freeze dried powder plus Nanno phyto for the harbacticoid copepods to feed on before feeding them to coral?

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]

EPA is very high in the nannochloropsis oculata phyto and it seems to be the right size for sponges. Is there a bacteria high in DHA? I do not think corals or sponges care that nanno is low in dha?

I will assume that the naturally occuring bacteria in the tank will supply DHA to sponges and coral and......?

My new phytostation will have half phyto High in EPA and the other half will be an organism or a phyto high in dha.

Like Isochrysis galban?

 

[Reef Nutrition]

Isochrysis spp. is rich in DHA. I have no idea what essential lipids are required for any given marine sponge. Bacteria can indeed synthesize DHA, but I don't know if those species exist in a reef tank.

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]

Phyto seem like the way to go for dha and epa for now. I think tigriopus californicus seem like a good carriers?

nanno phyto i think is nonmotile and iso is motile. so how does the benthic harpacticoid tigriopus californicus get the dha from iso phyto? or can one dry the Iso phyto out and give it to the harpacticoids in a powder?

If I cultured tigriopus californicus can i feed them live to some coral like shrooms and maybe zoas/palys and gut pack them with phyto?

 

[sundog101]

This is one reason why we (RMI) provide a blend of species in our products.

Is each species cultured separately, or can they be together? I started my culture from a batch at my lfs. I have no idea what species it is.

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]

One species of phyto will dominate over the other, leaving only one algae ultimately in the culture . When I want to get the proper dha and epa in my phyto I have to culture both Iso and Nanno seperately.

Detritus cycle:

 

[Dr Blue Thumb]