SO dumped whole bottle of phyto in a 9g nano :lolsob

[bobdesi]

Came home to find my partner had dumped the entire contents of our shipment of pods and phyto into our 9g nano. Honestly my fault because we normally just get pods and we dump those in no problem, but I got the combo with 8oz pods and 16oz bottle of phyto and didn’t tell her it was coming nonetheless the dosage for phyto. Fortunately she turned the pump off before and noticed the back of the all in one turned pea soup green and when I got home I siphoned maybe 8oz out of the back. My brief search shows we either will be fine or will have a nutrient spike but understandably couldn’t find anything on 473x recommended dosage lol. Basically wondering if I need to do an emergency water change before turning the pump back on? Thank you for any help in advance and on a separate note if there are any tips to be a better forum citizen then just posting when I need help I would gladly take those too.

 

[Lemons]

Eh, you'll probably get one heck of a nutrient swing. Aka flat lining your nutrients lol, but besides that you just have a man made phyto algae bloom LOL

Essentially harmless, but can be tough to get rid of without UV or filter feeding inverts and animals.

The only real harm would be if the culture instantly died and caused a massive ammonia spike. But if its live stuff you just have a slimers green tank for a bit

 

[Kasrift]

Came home to find my partner had dumped the entire contents of our shipment of pods and phyto into our 9g nano. Honestly my fault because we normally just get pods and we dump those in no problem, but I got the combo with 8oz pods and 16oz bottle of phyto and didn’t tell her it was coming nonetheless the dosage for phyto. Fortunately she turned the pump off before and noticed the back of the all in one turned pea soup green and when I got home I siphoned maybe 8oz out of the back. My brief search shows we either will be fine or will have a nutrient spike but understandably couldn’t find anything on 473x recommended dosage lol. Basically wondering if I need to do an emergency water change before turning the pump back on? Thank you for any help in advance and on a separate note if there are any tips to be a better forum citizen then just posting when I need help I would gladly take those too.

I wouldn't add stress it. Water change if you want, but you can dose way more live phyto than they say.

 

[Kasrift]

I culture live phyto. I was going away for a week and wouldn't be able to split the culture so I dumped one and a half liters right into the tank, I have a 32 gallon fluval. No issues.

The thing with live phyto is they consume nitrate and phosphates. As pointed out by @Lemons , they will die, but it shouldn't contribute to an ammonia spike because they will slowly starve, turning into nutrients themselves that would be uptaken by the rest.

I've actually found dosing helps keep my nutrients lower, they consume while alive and I'd imagine are like carbon dosing when they die. I once read an analogy on copepods in the tank and the tiny amount of dosing on labels for phyto that essentially was stating that a copepod is tiny and it's like you standing in a giant field and someone tossing 5 water bottles in and hoping you find it (let's assume 5ml of phyto). Super tiny organisms in a giant tank with a tiny amount of single celled organisms won't exactly feast on the phyto added some a lot will get caught in mechanical filtration.

To make a long post even longer, I dose about 4 oz a day in my 32 gallon. I have a stocked tank, but you get the gist. I have pods everywhere (and a mandarin, six line, and springeri damsel to consume them). On water change day, I actually dump a ton more in to create a phyto bloom in the morning and water change it out in the afternoon.

 

[bobdesi]

Thank you both for your super quick and reassuring replies gonna do regular 40% water change tomorrow will report back

 

[Lemons]

Thank you both for your super quick and reassuring replies gonna do regular 40% water change tomorrow will report back

Haha ofcourse! Would have been a different story if it was like alk buffer or something but phyto is probably the safest thing you can "overdose" LOL

 

[bobdesi]

Just to close the loop on this the tank was clear by the morning though the skimmer collection was green. Phosphates jumped to .07 (they are typically between .03-05 at this point right before the water change). Thanks again for the help and reassurance!