Phytoplankton Fuge?
- Thread starter Jacked Reefer
- Start date
- Tagged users None
OP
OP
Jacked Reefer
Valuable Member
Maybe you could send a link for inspiration? I just am suprized that I haven’t found a singe person who has attempted this. It seems so simple and with superb benefits and just an all around good idea. Yet nobody has even attempted it. I would love to do some scienctific test and maybe get some sponsorships like the black box study. The main reason I’m doing this is sometimes I feel microbiology is overlooked in the reef aquarium besides the nitrogen cycle. And it includes billion and trillions of species and benefits that have yet to be explored. The final frontier...
Take a look at these products. One is designed to grow and dose phyto: https://poseidonreefsystems.com/
I own one of their Phyto Tanks and culture more than enough phyto for my 165 Gal for cheap.
I own one of their Phyto Tanks and culture more than enough phyto for my 165 Gal for cheap.
Hundreds of industrial scientists work with these systems every day, but There’s a reason they are run by career scientists with years of training...
Send me a ‘research proposal’ and I’ll vet it for you. For free. I’m a 20 year career scientists, phd, masters in microbiology, parasitology and infectious disease, 12 year experience producing vaccine peptides using batch and continuous culture.
You would normally need to be grad school or PhD level for a career scientist to look at a proposal. I’ll do it for free because I’m in the hobby and I like your curiosity.
Hit me up for real life details. I’ll give you my honest opinion, no sugar coating, because I’d rather you spend your limited resources on something that’s going to yield something useable, rather than do ‘experiments’ in your laundry room
Last edited:
OP
OP
Jacked Reefer
Valuable Member
I get that. But this isn’t just about dosing phyto, this is about pushing boundaries. Like that dude with the carnation corals. Almost impossible to keep alive at a hobbiest level but he’s doing it
OP
OP
Jacked Reefer
Valuable Member
Of what can be done at a hobbyist level
I have been working on this for a while now... It is basicly getting the phyto going. Once you have that down it just a drip out and a drip back in. You are not going to be dumping gallons of phyto. into your tank it will be minimal. Just start off manual then you can upgrade to the electronics.
Like most are saying you have to worry about contamination of you culture... be it bacteria, copeopds, whatever. Just make sure everything is sterile.
Like most are saying you have to worry about contamination of you culture... be it bacteria, copeopds, whatever. Just make sure everything is sterile.
OP
OP
Jacked Reefer
Valuable Member
Yeah I was going to start manual so I could master growing phyto before I try and grow it with tank water. Has it been working well for you so far? Do you mind posting a picture of your setup?
No pictures right now, had it going for a couple months and then pulled it down to redo. My whole system is set up kind of the same way. I have one main drain tank with four separate tanks draining in. One is a reef with about ten time the return, one is a what I call my dirty tank with about six time the return, another is macro/ zooplankton with about one time return, and finally the ats tank at about 60 times te return. Just get your phyto started and get that down first then we can move on. When I finish with the new one it will also be a co2 scrubber for the system.
The whole point of the system is to breed livestock without having to mess with it too much mostly just monitoring and manual top-off!!
I can even go about three months without feeding anything.
The whole point of the system is to breed livestock without having to mess with it too much mostly just monitoring and manual top-off!!
I can even go about three months without feeding anything.
It was just a 2 litre with three holes in the top. One for the airline, one for the inflow water, and one for the outflow water. Outflow had an airline valve to open to dump water out adjust for the flow you like. Then add water as it is needed You could also just make a small airlift pump and just have that add a little to the tank and have a float valve when it gets low.
I don't see the sterile input as a major design problem. Just pump in new SW and pump some old SW out from your sump. Thats doable.
What seems the harder design problem is the accumulation of phytoplankton growth medium in the reef tank. Look up the components to F/2 (standard phytoplanton growth medium). You don't want this stuff building up in your tank.
Until we have a practical system for separating phytoplankton from growth media (in labs we used centrifuges, but few hobbyists have those), I think addition of phytoplankton to the tank is better done using a concentrate or dried products.
What seems the harder design problem is the accumulation of phytoplankton growth medium in the reef tank. Look up the components to F/2 (standard phytoplanton growth medium). You don't want this stuff building up in your tank.
Until we have a practical system for separating phytoplankton from growth media (in labs we used centrifuges, but few hobbyists have those), I think addition of phytoplankton to the tank is better done using a concentrate or dried products.
Sallstrom
2500 Club Member
I like our "semi -automatic" dosing regime at my work(public aquaria). We harvest phytoplankton every morning, then refill and clean in needed. Just buckets under a green house LED with air bubbles. 7 buckets, one for each day of the week.
Then we fill a couple of containers next to the tank with those harvested phytoplankton. Those containers are connected to dosing pumps, and the algae is dosed out in 24 hours. Air bubbles in the containers, to keep the water moving and the phyto happy.
This takes about 5-10 minutes a day
My coworker @Lasse has been testing a more automated culture station, so he might have some ideas.
For me, my experience with cultures says to keep it as simple as possible or it won't last in the long run
Then we fill a couple of containers next to the tank with those harvested phytoplankton. Those containers are connected to dosing pumps, and the algae is dosed out in 24 hours. Air bubbles in the containers, to keep the water moving and the phyto happy.
This takes about 5-10 minutes a day
My coworker @Lasse has been testing a more automated culture station, so he might have some ideas.
For me, my experience with cultures says to keep it as simple as possible or it won't last in the long run
Last edited:
OP
OP
Jacked Reefer
Valuable Member
I love you public aquarium thread! I would have the phyto culture connected to a dosing pump. The issue I’m trying to solve is replenishing water and nutrients. And our aquariums have both. I believe Just minimal flow through a culture would be able to cut time spent actually taking care of and dosing the phyto. I definitely understand the simple aspect and I’m trying to keep it so it has minimal failure pointsI like our "semi -automatic" dosing regime at my work(public aquaria). We harvest phytoplankton every morning, then refill and clean in needed. Just buckets under a green house LED with air bubbles. 7 buckets, one for each day of the week.
Then we fill a couple of containers next to the tank with those harvested phytoplankton. Those containers are connected to dosing pumps, and the algae is dosed out in 24 hours. Air bubbles in the containers, to keep the water moving and the phyto happy.
This takes about 5-10 minutes a day
My coworker @Lasse has been testing a more automated culture station, so he might have some ideas.
For me, my experience with cultures says to keep it as simple as possible or it won't last in the long run
Sallstrom
2500 Club Member
Thanks!
Just keep in mind that cultures crash now and then, even if you are very careful avoiding contaminating etc. So just keeping one culture running is a high risk. Therefor we got at least 7 running. One crashes, we got six other ones to take some start up culture from.
And the culture container will get benthic algae on the walls and bottom, competing with the phytoplankton. So even if it's automatically filling new water and nutrients, there's still some work.
If you like to use tank water you need to figure out a way to filter it or even sterilise it. One zooplankton in, the culture will be gone sooner or later
Same with other algaes or bacteria. Maybe the easiest way would be to have a couple "back-up cultures " beside the culture you want to connect to the tank. This way you can accept that that container will get contaminated sometimes, you can restart it with algae from your back-ups. But that will be about the same work load as harvesting each and every day
I've had these ideas myself now and then, but it gets too complicated for me/us. And too much things that can go wrong and to much controls for a setup to save us time. Now my experiment tank at work gets live phytoplankton 24 hours a day, with 5-10 minutes of work a day. If you manage to cut down that work time per day, I'll copy your setup in a heartbeat!
So I really don't want to be negative, it's just a lot of things to keep in mind.
OP
OP
Jacked Reefer
Valuable Member
There is quite a bit to learn you are correct. I have thought of crashing and will periodically harvest some of the i tank culture and refigerate it. (about every 30 days) I also what’s considering a uv sterilizer before the water enters the cultureThanks!
Just keep in mind that cultures crash now and then, even if you are very careful avoiding contaminating etc. So just keeping one culture running is a high risk. Therefor we got at least 7 running. One crashes, we got six other ones to take some start up culture from.
And the culture container will get benthic algae on the walls and bottom, competing with the phytoplankton. So even if it's automatically filling new water and nutrients, there's still some work.
If you like to use tank water you need to figure out a way to filter it or even sterilise it. One zooplankton in, the culture will be gone sooner or later
Maybe the easiest way would be to have a couple "back-up cultures " beside the culture you want to connect to the tank. This way you can accept that that container will get contaminated sometimes, you can restart it with algae from your back-ups. But that will be about the same work load as harvesting each and every day
I've had these ideas myself now and then, but it gets too complicated for me/us. And too much things that can go wrong and to much controls for a setup to save us time. Now my experiment tank at work gets live phytoplankton 24 hours a day, with 5-10 minutes of work a day. If you manage to cut down that work time per day, I'll copy your setup in a heartbeat!
So I really don't want to be negative, it's just a lot of things to keep in mind.
OP
OP
Jacked Reefer
Valuable Member
Kinda, the glass bottle is a cool design but instead of just resting on the tank it will utilize a dosing pump head to constantly pump water in and out of the tank. Constantly subblying desired food (phytoplankton in my case) into the system. I’m trying to eliminate the need for separate cultures.
Similar threads
- Shipping Available
