Dosing phyto into a newly cycled tank

[brclark82]

I’m about to order some then / very happy about that

I have ordered from @Jay’sreefbugs before and very good stuff.

I placed a large order a couple weeks ago, half for DT and half to start my own cultures. Unfortunately I was unaware about not trying to culture different species in the same culture so I just dumped those in my DT and need to start over.

Seems he is currently out of stock on the Tig pods but I will be going back for sure.

 

[Dinkins Aquatic Gardens Verified Sponsor]

Hey Guys

I'm wondering if its beneficial to dose phyto in a newly cycled tank.

I'm adding pods as well.

My logic for adding phyto is to increase the pod population and also introduce some diversity to a clean tank to help the tank get through the expected ugly stage.

I've been culturing phyto while the tank is cycling and I have several gallons of it already.

I'm also breeding tig copepods as well.

Just wondering if I'm just wasting my time.

Thanks

Phyto is hugely beneficial to your copepod population. While many copepods (such as the well-known Tisbe, Apocyclops and Tigriopus) eat detritus, phytoplankton gives them additional nutrients and helps them grow more rapidly than they would on detritus alone.

A newly cycled tank won’t have much detritus, of course, making phyto an essential food source for the pods.

 

[Hawgpharm]

I'm doing the same with the 40 gallon startup tank. Pods coming next week and I've already got one strain of phyto going (nanno). Will be interesting to see the initial progression and how they affect the ugly stage.

Keep us posted.

 

[Hawgpharm]

I need to clarify. I got my feet wet with nannochloropsis but after watching Todd Gardner's lecture over phyto and copepod populations and talking to Rob B, I'm only going to culture tetraselmis for the copepods until I try my hand at Isochrysus.

 

[Nemoreef]

I need to clarify. I got my feet wet with nannochloropsis but after watching Todd Gardner's lecture over phyto and copepod populations and talking to Rob B, I'm only going to culture tetraselmis for the copepods until I try my hand at Isochrysus.

Please explain? Is tetra better than nanno?

 

[Hawgpharm]

Check out the graph at 41:45.

The entire video is very informative.