Dosing Phytoplankton

[Hambone6299]

If I were to create a way to keep the phytoplankton in a cold reservoir would it be possible to set up an automatic dosing pump to deliver a certain amount several times per day? If so, how much would you recommend dosing for a 120 gallon reef heavy system?

I am a quadriplegic and find it hard to do a daily dosing manually for my corals.

Thank you in advance for any help or tricks! Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated

 

[andrewey]

Since this is your first post, welcome to Reef2Reef!

I don't know of any commercial products at the moment, but there are some threads here where people have set up dosers to dose phyto/pods/etc. where the culture was stored in a fridge. If you're ok with tinkering and can set up a fridge/doser system, various methods exist for re-suspending the phyto in between doses. That being said, every method I saw cost a bit of money (dedicated mini fridge, doser, stir bar or recirculating pump on a timer)- I haven't seen any that were under a few hundred dollars in parts. Just wanted to make you aware that it isn't the cheapest way to dose live phyto, but if you can swallow the cost, I can link some of the builds.

 

[Hambone6299]

Thank you for the welcome! I really appreciate it!

Do you know any substitutes for phytoplankton when it comes to feeding coral? Something that I could put in an auto feeder or, if liquid, I could put in a dosing unit?

 

[Dilan Patel]

the way I am doing it is I set up a magnetic stirrer to run 30min x2 a day. I leave a 7 day supply of house cultured phyto under my stand with no fridge just ambient temp and dosed through a pump. I figured since I culture in room temp it should be able to stay out for a week at a time.

 

[SMSREEF]

Welcome to Reef2Reef
I don’t know of a way to keep Live Phyto cold and dose via doser. But there is a product that is preserved that you could look into.

Easy reefs - microalgae specialities for your aquarium or cultures. A Fitoplancton Marino SL website - Easybooster

Easy reefs micro algae specialities from the symbiosis between Fitoplancton Marino SL and Veta la Palma. Microalgae natural products with high technology. Self-production, highly technical compounds, providing balanced nutrition for omnivorous fish and marine invertebrates.”> <meta name=

www.easyreefs.com

 

[Hambone6299]

the way I am doing it is I set up a magnetic stirrer to run 30min x2 a day. I leave a 7 day supply of house cultured phyto under my stand with no fridge just ambient temp and dosed through a pump. I figured since I culture in room temp it should be able to stay out for a week at a time.

are you using the Poseidon phytoplankton method to culture your phytoplankton? I thought of investing in this as well. I would be interested in learning how to culture my own, as well as creating a food source for my pods! Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you!

 

[Hambone6299]

Thank you for the link, SMSREEF!

I will look into it immediately! I have kept many aquariums but never as large as this 120 gallon build I am currently working on! So, any and all help is appreciated!

 

[csb123]

I dose homegrown phytoplankton via doser twice a day. I’m fortunate to have a fridge nearby, where I store the phyto. I flattened a section of ro tubing to traverse the seal of the fridge door.

 

[Dilan Patel]

are you using the Poseidon phytoplankton method to culture your phytoplankton? I thought of investing in this as well. I would be interested in learning how to culture my own, as well as creating a food source for my pods! Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you!

Here is my phytoplankton thread I list a lot of what I have conducted doing this experiment! https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/culturing-phytoplankton-experiment.714534/

And no I do not use the poseidon system as I believe it is very expensive.

 

[Chincaca]

you can use a phyto paste of nano (Nannochloropsis). i buy it from brine shrimp direct

 

[csb123]

Live phyto won’t pollute you tank. There’s a thread postulating that it may bring nutrients down.

 

[Dabcrusher]

welcome i actually already do that .i use an apex dos and a 6 pack fridge with an air stone i dose quite alot of phyto cause i have alot of clams and i work at algaebarn so i get it free. when you dose it you cant let it sit in the line cause it will start to matabolize and die off so you will need a dosing pump that can run in reverse.

 

[Cwentz758]

Algae barn has phytoplankton, you have to keep it refrigerated though.

 

[Doctorgori]

Live phyto won’t pollute you tank. There’s a thread postulating that it may bring nutrients down.

Correct, but un-used Guilliards F/2 can .... I grow lots of phyto, you kinda gotta time the cultures and feed at peak cell count lest you unintentionally add excess ferts to the water...usually worst happens is a brown coating the next day on the glass

 

[amcgee2842]

the way I am doing it is I set up a magnetic stirrer to run 30min x2 a day. I leave a 7 day supply of house cultured phyto under my stand with no fridge just ambient temp and dosed through a pump. I figured since I culture in room temp it should be able to stay out for a week at a time.

Can you send a pic so I can see how you have this setup?

 

[minus9]

Or you can just use EasyBooster and hook it up to your doser, done!

 

[Dilan Patel]

Can you send a pic so I can see how you have this setup?

I would but I won't be home for about a month.

 

[Pistondog]

FYI, this doesn't need to be refrigerated

 

[MartinM]

I dose phytofeast live out of a mini fridge with a dosing pump. Maybe you can ask someone to drill the hole for you

 

[fancy_fish101]

the way I am doing it is I set up a magnetic stirrer to run 30min x2 a day. I leave a 7 day supply of house cultured phyto under my stand with no fridge just ambient temp and dosed through a pump. I figured since I culture in room temp it should be able to stay out for a week at a time.

How does This work for you? Without keeping it refrigerated?