Phyto Dosing - How much in a small tank?

[The Fish Tank Hobbyist]

Just set up a copepod and phyto culture and it has got me thinking about not only using the phyto for the copepods but to also feed the display tank.

My dilemma?!?::: My tank is a 10 gallon and I don’t run a skimmer. Tank has been up and going for 2 years with weekly 1 or 2 gallon water changes.

Anyone have thoughts on how much phyto to dose and how often in such a small scale set up? It does not appear this has been a topic touched on when it comes to the nano sized tanks. I’ve seen it a lot on the bigger ones that have skimmers and the works so I’m wondering if anyone has experience on a small scale set up like mine.

Here are a few pics of the display and copepod and phyto cultures:

 

[HuduVudu]

How quickly do you see nitrate drops?

 

[Saltyreef]

Id start with like 1ml per week or 2x weekly and increase from there as needed.
Keep an eye on your parameters.
I dosed too much for an extended period and saw no benefit. Only mucked up my water and raised nutrients.
I believe in smaller doses the benefit is much greater as to not build up excess, unused phyto.

 

[MohrReefs]

I used tovdose like 1ml per 10 gallons but I stopped dosing it. Also grow copepods myself.

 

[Ta2oodfreak]

There are a bunch of threads on here regarding phyto dosing and opinions definitely vary. I actually just started myself with my nano reef about 10 days ago. On a 13.5G tank I have been doing/spot feeding 7ml every other day and even in conjunction with reef roids twice a week. Water params have been stable and the corals seem to be quite happy.

Here is one with some good info.

dosing phytoplankton-how much?

My first batch of phyto will be ready in a few days and was wondering if I could get a feel for how much to dose per gallon per day. I don't think the guidlines on DT's apply because it's been concentrated.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[LardLad]

There are a bunch of threads on here regarding phyto dosing and opinions definitely vary. I actually just started myself with my nano reef about 10 days ago. On a 13.5G tank I have been doing/spot feeding 7ml every other day and even in conjunction with reef roids twice a week. Water params have been stable and the corals seem to be quite happy.

Here is one with some good info.

dosing phytoplankton-how much?

My first batch of phyto will be ready in a few days and was wondering if I could get a feel for how much to dose per gallon per day. I don't think the guidlines on DT's apply because it's been concentrated.

www.reef2reef.com

In my 13.5 EVO I am dosing 5-7ml live Tetraselmis every day. I do it right after lights out.
My Goniopora and Alveopora have plumped up a lot. I almost never have to clean glass and am solidly ULN.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

I think tanks produce phyto naturally and dont see any reason to dose it.
D

 

[SauceyReef]

Isn’t live phyto supposed to decrease nutrient levels?

 

[DaJMasta]

There is not much of a ceiling for how much you can dose, you just run into salinity issues (rising because you're adding saltwater) and possibly elevated phosphate.

I've dosed 100mL a day or more to similar water volumes with cultures that are several times as dense, so go nuts. A couple mL per day probably won't have much effect unless you get the density of the cultures up, but maybe 10-20mL a day or so would be a good starting point to see some changes. Personally, I dose enough to slightly tint the water, and the tint will generally clear within half an hour.

 

[SauceyReef]

There is not much of a ceiling for how much you can dose, you just run into salinity issues (rising because you're adding saltwater) and possibly elevated phosphate.

I've dosed 100mL a day or more to similar water volumes with cultures that are several times as dense, so go nuts. A couple mL per day probably won't have much effect unless you get the density of the cultures up, but maybe 10-20mL a day or so would be a good starting point to see some changes. Personally, I dose enough to slightly tint the water, and the tint will generally clear within half an hour.

Have you tested phosphate a day or two after doing this?

 

[DaJMasta]

No, small volumes won't make a difference measureable on our test kits, but my tanks where I dose heavily tend to run somewhat elevated phosphate (probably also because of feeding frozen twice a day). If you consider the dry weight of the phyto you're dosing, 20mL of the culture pictured is going to be less than a small pellet of food in terms of nutrient addition (it's likely only a few milligrams of material in total), it's just in a more available source to a lot of filter feeders.

As a different example, I've read no phosphate in a larval rearing tub after dosing phyto to visibly tint the water every day. It won't stay like that forever, of course, but it takes a fair bit added and then likely more than a day or two to be converted into phosphate dissolved in the water column.

 

[SauceyReef]

No, small volumes won't make a difference measureable on our test kits, but my tanks where I dose heavily tend to run somewhat elevated phosphate (probably also because of feeding frozen twice a day). If you consider the dry weight of the phyto you're dosing, 20mL of the culture pictured is going to be less than a small pellet of food in terms of nutrient addition (it's likely only a few milligrams of material in total), it's just in a more available source to a lot of filter feeders.

As a different example, I've read no phosphate in a larval rearing tub after dosing phyto to visibly tint the water every day. It won't stay like that forever, of course, but it takes a fair bit added and then likely more than a day or two to be converted into phosphate dissolved in the water column.

I was hoping to find that dream food that doesn't just increase phosphate. I think I need to give up and just run ROWA.