I always add my pods and plankton to my refugium. I was told to wait until lights out if I added them to the display tank.Just curious how much phyto everyone here feeds their tanks? Currently my wife is managing my tank for me, and since we are buying from Algaebarn, it gets dosed daily, at 5mL per 20 gallons . If I was home, I'd be growing it to feed, like I did with all my previous systems, and dosing it at much higher levels.
I'm attaching a picture of my old 110 immediately after feeding to show how much I added every evening. I believe this is what kept my thorny oyster, flame scallops, sponges, and feather dusters so happy. I added roughly 2-3 of these bottles daily, using a blend of Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis, Isochrysis, Rhodomonas, Chaetoceras, and Thalassiosira, all grown in separate cultures, then poured together to feed the tank and feed copepod cultures. Water in the display would clear within 2 hrs of dosing, but it was done in the evening just before lights out, with a refugium on an alternate light schedule to help prevent CO2 from spiking and O2 from dropping.
I have a 30g and I dose 30ml-40ml a day and do it about an hr to 2hrs before lights go out. That happens to also be when the fish and coral get food as well so it just all works. But most people dose an hour or so before lights out. I sometimes forget and dose when the lights go out as well. I think 30ml is a little low on my tank. I will probably up it to 40-50ish soon.
Same i use @Eldredge phyto as well but about the same size tank and I do double that! Its good phyto!
My skimmer never turns off. It doesn't go crazy. I know some of the phyto gets sucked up by the skimmer I can tell by the color instead of that brown sludge color it turns more greenish but I like to keep the oxygen in my water. I dump it straight into a powerhead and let it go all over the tank. I dose the phyto right after I turn all my pumps back on after feeding fish and corals. But the skimmer doesn't go crazy. If it did I would turn it off. Its never excessive skimming.
I don't know much about phyto, but all that green seems like it would cause a PO4 issue. Would it?
Phyto bound phosphate will not be detected on hobby kit unless you give the phyto time break down (could be very long because the presence of the cell wall). The culture media, on the other hand, may contain a fair bit of phosphate.
Wow! How does that affect your nitrates? I'm guessing you have a larger tank
I agree, that's why it's important to monitor cell density when culturing. It gives an idea of when perhaps that media has been exhausted and uptaken by the phyto. I've found the use of a secchi stick to be good enough for our hobby grade efforts. @Anthony Scholfield had been doing some experimenting with culturing phyto using reduced mediums. I generally recommend working your tank up to 1ml/gal/day minimum. I've found some success in helping maintain nutrients in my previously hard to maintain nutrient low tank. We worked on a video where we talk about measuring cell density for culturing at home on my YouTube channel.
