Phytoplankton questions

[Oshanickreef]

Hello,

I am currently dosing 1 gallon of phytoplankton on my new 300 gallon system daily. i had a dino outbreak and dosing phyto really helped get rid of them and since then i havent stopped dosing the phyto. i was just curious if i suddenly stop dosing the daily gallon of phyto could that potentially cause problems?

since dosing the phyto i have seen an increase in my baby snail population. i have tons of baby trochus snails and also a small white round snail that significantly cover all my rocks when the lights go out.

 

[KrisReef]

I’m not sure. What all is consuming the phyto currently?
Do you skim the tank?

Otherwise, I say without knowing the answers to my questions, stop adding it and report back with your findings. It’s an interesting topic.

Bump

 

[The_Paradox]

At almost 4L a day I would be worried about nutrients and trace. Assuming you’re using something like F2 fertilizer you have a lot of unknowns going into the tank. That’s what always worries me about dosing phyto. If your tank has found a balance, I would not cold-turkey it. If anything cut back dosing 20% a week or you might trigger some form of ugly.

 

[mjcoussens]

Can confirm with @Oshanickreef here, I convinced him to try this after he saw me doing this on my 200-gallon system. I have been dumping a gallon of phyto into my pod culture, then dumping a gallon of that mix into the tank daily for the past month.

Nutrients are spot on, the fish go nuts when that gallon of culture hits the water, and there's a noticeable extra "fluffiness" to my lps corals. The extra volume hasn't affected salinity as the "extra" water gets pumped out during my awc.

We're using T. Galbana, which is ~10um in size. It will pass through most filter material easily, some might be skimmed out. However, I haven't noticed an uptick in skimmate production at all. Pods are what, ~250um in size? They might be getting trapped with mechanical filtration, but when has anyone worried about that?

Using F2, there are no "unknowns" as the recipe is widely available.

Photos to show the "goo" I dump in and that the tank is full of healthy coral, fish, and not ish.

Cheers,

Matt

 

[The_Paradox]

Using F2, there are no "unknowns" as the recipe is widely available.

You’re more diligent than I am then. I have never tested a ready culture of phyto for trace content like manganese, zinc, etc.

 

[Oshanickreef]

You’re more diligent than I am then. I have never tested a ready culture of phyto for trace content like manganese, zinc, etc.

I must agree with mjcoussins. I feel like i could dose way more than a gallon. All it has done is stabilize and i have only seen positive benefits so far

 

[The_Paradox]

I must agree with mjcoussins. I feel like i could dose way more than a gallon. All it has done is stabilize and i have only seen positive benefits so far

0.5ml/g is a modest dose. The fact you say you see benefits means it is most certainly changing your waters composition. For that reason I stand by I would not suddenly stop dosing.

 

[Oshanickreef]

0.5ml/g is a modest dose. The fact you say you see benefits means it is most certainly changing your waters composition. For that reason I stand by I would not suddenly stop dosing.

ya i think ramping it down a bit might be a good idea. i have a 10 galon tank i have been dosing it in as well so ill stop cold turkey on that one and see what happens before i experiement with my big system.

 

[mjcoussens]

I must agree with mjcoussins. I feel like i could dose way more than a gallon. All it has done is stabilize and i have only seen positive benefits so far

Exactly, everyone dumps in Chaeto Gro or Coral Erect without a second thought. F2 is a defined medium, I know what's in it and can estimate what ends up in the tank. However, that's not of any importance here.

 

[Oshanickreef]

Exactly, everyone dumps in Chaeto Gro or Coral Erect without a second thought. F2 is a defined medium, I know what's in it and can estimate what ends up in the tank. However, that's not of any importance here.

i would also think that the f2 would be used up by the phyto by the time i am dosing it 23 hours later.