How much phyto should you feed and how often?

[Apollomax]

Let's talk about phyto! How much should you dose? How often? Does time of day matter? Excited to learn from you guys and your phyto strategies!!

I’ve seen a lot of post on people making their own…. How/where do you start? I’d like to try making some myself.

 

[Koh23]

All u need some live phyto, some jar, bottle, bit of tubing, air pump, some light. And fertilizer, either commecial "phyto fertilizer", or simple plant liquid fertilizer.


And yes, some fresh saltwater.

 

[Mhamilton0911]

I got my starter kit for culturing from MercerMontana, but I don't think they are currently selling those kits.

Or if you're really serious, @Eldredge sells phyto and fertilizer you could give him a PM he's been really helpful.

 

[Susan Edwards]

I'm still harvesting phyto purchased from @Eldredge On #20 I think

 

[Susan Edwards]

I use the Poseidon system

 

[Paul B]

I never used Phyto.

 

[TWYOUNG]

I dose nightly 8-12 oz, or 256-354 ml to a 220 system. I usually add my AB+ to it and dump in display, with a bit in the refugium. I figure some of it makes it way from display to the 2nd sump where my pods and chaeto grow. If I can I shut off skimmer and UV for 15 min. Not always

I also use 2-3 inches in my condiment containers that have frozen cube/freeze dried fish/coral food (I make 6-8 containers of food and freeze). When I need a new food bottle, I add phyto to thaw it then fill them up with ro

I culture my own (from @Eldredge ). I bought the phyto system from Poseidon. 2 phyto and 1 pod system. I harvest every 5-7 days. Lost some batches I think due to the heat each jar gives off (all 3 next to each other). Since using a fan during the day, I've not had any crashes. I get 375 ml x's 2 every 5-7 days. Enough I keep my brother-in-law supplied and still have a fridge full in case of crashes. Also use it for my pod culture.

This hobby is so costly, it pays for itself to make it on my own. Same with pods. I was spending 40ish on phyto every 3-4 weeks and 80-100 on pods every 4-6 weeks.
This is about 1 harvest.

How much do you dilute the cultures when you split them and how often? I've been doing a 50/50 dilution and every 7-12 days. Sometimes after 6 or 7 days if I don't think they're looking dark enough I'll add more F2 and let them go a few more days. Not sure if that's a good idea or not? Just getting started with this and trying to figure it all out.

 

[PeterEde]

I have a purpose for my dosing. You should know by now I do nothing unless there is a reason for it. lol. I just built my 135g setup. I now have a refugium. I added a couple bottles of tig pods. So I am dosing Phyto to feed the pods. This is the only reason.

This is also why I dose into the refugium and not the DT.

Watched a pod culture video today. He said he feeds pod detritus mostly

 

[Susan Edwards]

How much do you dilute the cultures when you split them and how often? I've been doing a 50/50 dilution and every 7-12 days. Sometimes after 6 or 7 days if I don't think they're looking dark enough I'll add more F2 and let them go a few more days. Not sure if that's a good idea or not? Just getting started with this and trying to figure it all out.

I save out approx 6-7 oz. My directions from posiedan said 250 ml but I find I do better with more. I just use a small 8 oz glass. I also add another ml of fertilizer after 4-5 days depending on how it looks. I usually harvest right at 7 days. In the summer mine were crashing so was harvesting at 5-6 days. Adding more fertilizer and adding a fan to blow on jars helped--think with the led light bands around the jars, they get pretty warm. So much depends on your set up. Mine might not be super strong but they do.

 

[Koh23]

I still have no clue how mucjlh to dose, so..... I simply adjust dosing with production. So, if i need (for example) 10 days to create 500ml high density phyto, then i dose 50ml every night.

Totally wrong, probably, but, since there is no definitive answer how much to dose......

 

[DarkReefer]

I still have no clue how mucjlh to dose, so

Having just aquired my first ever bottle of live phyto and live copepods I came here searching for tips and after reading through I still have no idea.
I'm tempted to go with the 5ml/20 gal that someone posted a picture of so that'd be about 15ml for my Waterbox 70.2. Who knows if it's too much or not but I guess I'll find out if there's a worse bloom LOL

 

[GobyGuy]

Having just aquired my first ever bottle of live phyto and live copepods I came here searching for tips and after reading through I still have no idea.
I'm tempted to go with the 5ml/20 gal that someone posted a picture of so that'd be about 15ml for my Waterbox 70.2. Who knows if it's too much or not but I guess I'll find out if there's a worse bloom LOL

5 ml a gal then 10 ml a gal from
Dinkins aquatics