Live phytoplankton for copepods

Earl Karl · Oct 5, 2018

I've been dosing live phytoplankton for a while and it does do a good job keeping my pods population up, but it is very expensive. I was wondering if live phytoplankton makes a big difference if population growth. If I don't have to dose it, that will save me A LOT of money.

If it does make a difference keeping my population up, what do you guys think about Seachem Phytoplankton? I have used it before, but I couldn't tell if it was working since I had a huge population to begin with. This option is a lot more concentrated and more cost effective, only if it actually works though. It's just not live.

PDR · Oct 5, 2018

Earl Karl said:
I've been dosing live phytoplankton for a while and it does do a good job keeping my pods population up, but it is very expensive. I was wondering if live phytoplankton makes a big difference if population growth. If I don't have to dose it, that will save me A LOT of money.

If it does make a difference keeping my population up, what do you guys think about Seachem Phytoplankton? I have used it before, but I couldn't tell if it was working since I had a huge population to begin with. This option is a lot more concentrated and more cost effective, only if it actually works though. It's just not live.

What have you been using?

Earl Karl · Oct 5, 2018

At the lfs store that I work at, we use Aquaholic Aquaculture REEFreshments Live Phytoplankton, which contains four different species of phytoplankton. It's pretty much phytoplankton from Algaebarn but a different brand. Ofc I get a discount since I work at the store, this product runs out on me fast at the recommended dose, as Seachem Phytoplankton lasted me a while, but I don't know if Seachem Phytoplankton was actually doing anything. I just want to know if it actually works since it isn't live.

Mycota · Oct 5, 2018

Why not just culture some from your stock at work? all you really need is a container, air pump, some food (Guillard f/2) and a light.

Earl Karl · Oct 5, 2018

Mycota said:
Why not just culture some from your stock at work? all you really need is a container, air pump, some food (Guillard f/2) and a light.

Tbh, kinda lazy lol. In all seriousness, my manager would probably not allow that, so I would have to that home. However, it's more money and work to do all of that when I'm already putting a lot of effort in keeping my pods up. Not only that, the food source is more expensive than I get for my phyto at a discount at the same amount. So not only it is more work and money, it's not even worth it.

Earl Karl · Oct 6, 2018

PDR · Oct 6, 2018

Earl Karl said:
I've been dosing live phytoplankton for a while and it does do a good job keeping my pods population up, but it is very expensive. I was wondering if live phytoplankton makes a big difference if population growth. If I don't have to dose it, that will save me A LOT of money.

If it does make a difference keeping my population up, what do you guys think about Seachem Phytoplankton? I have used it before, but I couldn't tell if it was working since I had a huge population to begin with. This option is a lot more concentrated and more cost effective, only if it actually works though. It's just not live.

I have just recently started dosing phyto so I won't be able to help you out too much. All I can say is I have seen tanks with tons of pods where phyto is not dosed. I'm not sure how much you need, but check out mikesphyto.com. His premium phyto is super concentrated, much more so than anything else I have come across.