Phyto

[Gtinnel]

So I've been reading enough about phyto that I want to see if it makes a difference in my tank. When I went to order some I see that there are various strains. What strains do people use and how would I know which one is best? I'm considering ordering a blend from a user on here that seems to get good reviews.
Also, how much and how often does everyone dose, because I am seeing wildly different amounts that people dose per 10 gallons. When does everyone dose, because some people say to dose at night when the corals are more likely to feed, and then others say to dose during the day because phyto does better when the lights are on.

There is so much conflicting information on phyto that I'm not sure what to believe. I'm still not completely convinced that it is that beneficial, but I want to try it for a month or so and see for myself.

 

[mrlavalamp]

For phyto, you cannot go wrong with @Eldredge. His phyto is better than any of the big name vendors I have tried.

If you are purchasing, go with the blends, IMO providing a variety will always be better than providing a monoculture.

As far as "proving" a benefit. This is difficult as most of our experiences are limited to anecdotal reports in this arena. There are also a lot of variables involved in this too, so hard to establish true cause and effect based on reading these forums (lots of incomplete information).

What I do: I dose every other day lately, about 25ml of my own phyto culture, I mix it with the fish food and dump the concotion in at feeding time since sump and skimmer are offline. I started my culture with a blend, but I am sure it has become a nanochloropsis monoculture as that strain is known to out compete the others.

I leave my skimmer off for 3 hours after dosing because otherwise I will fill my skimmer cup up in short order.

I believe it boosts up the pod population in my tank and that it also has some benefit for the other filter feeders as well. When I first started I saw an explosion of pods and have never really stopped dosing it since then.

 

[homer1475]

I buy a blend from a fellow reefer on here. My tank has never looked better! Cyano is completely gone(something I've fought for years off and on), corals are all colorful and growing, and algae for the most part is gone(a little algae is not a bad thing, but a necessary part of sea life).

I dose 1ml per 10G daily, and when I feed my fish. If I dose more then that, my water tends to get a green tint to it. When I feed my fishmmy PH's are off, and skimmer stays off for another hour, so the phyto is not skimmed out. Of course my lights are on, and hadn't read about the lights on or off before.

I have dosed phyto for a few years now, and cannot recommend @Eldredge phyto blend more. Great product, and great guy to do business with. Doesn't help is price is so great compared to other's. Just compare other blends of commercially available phyto to his, and there is no comparison.

 

[Gtinnel]

I guess within this forum he has become widely known as the person to buy phyto from, since I didn't say his name and you both knew that's who I meant.

Usually when I feed my fish I don't turn of any pumps or skimmers, but I guess it'll give me a good reason to actually setup and use a feed mode on my apex.

I don't currently have an issues with algea that I am trying to fix, I'm mostly interested in trying phyto because I've heard that it causes better polyp extension from sps. My assumption is that better polyp extension means a happier coral (I'm likely completely wrong though). Plus who does love a fluffy stick.

 

[Susan Edwards]

I also use @Eldredge and love his phyto. He has what you need if you want to start your own as well. I tend to dose at night into the fuge for the pods. I can't turn off skimmer right now as it might not turn back on. With the new tank, I'll shut down the new skimmer

 

[homer1475]

Since I started dosing his blend, I rarely clean my PH's, they just get encrusted with coralline now. Not that with other blends they were bad, but once a month cleaning was necessary. Even with my no3 and po4 numbers(15, and .30 respectively) the phyto out competes the algae. I honestly cannot say enough good things about his blend, it really has turned my tank around to where I actually enjoy it now instead of constantly battling something.

Of course this is all anecdotal, but what in this hobby isn't?

 

[Gtinnel]

I also use @Eldredge and love his phyto. He has what you need if you want to start your own as well. I tend to dose at night into the fuge for the pods. I can't turn off skimmer right now as it might not turn back on. With the new tank, I'll shut down the new skimmer

I may eventually get to where I culture my own, but I was wanting to see if I saw any benefit from it first, if not I don't plan on using it long term. Plus for the price he charges a half gallon should last me for several months. As cheap as it is I dont know that growing my own is worth the hassle.

 

[homer1475]

Best to buy a small bottle then if you just want to try it out for a while.

While it will last a while in the fridge with daily shaking, it dies rather quickly after about a month.

He ships every week, so if you find you need more, just hit him up.

FYI, it's always bets to dose it while it's still alive. Dead won't hurt anything, but some organisms only eat it live.

 

[Gtinnel]

Since I started dosing his blend, I rarely clean my PH's, they just get encrusted with coralline now. Not that with other blends they were bad, but once a month cleaning was necessary. Even with my no3 and po4 numbers(15, and .30 respectively) the phyto out competes the algae. I honestly cannot say enough good things about his blend, it really has turned my tank around to where I actually enjoy it now instead of constantly battling something.

Of course this is all anecdotal, but what in this hobby isn't?

As it is now I rarely clean power heads or scrape my glass. I think it's been several months since I've cleaned my front glass and other than the spots of coralline and spirorbids it isn't too bad. I've always "struggled" with low nutrients in my tank so reducing them would actually be a disadvantage of phyto to me. If it makes the corals happy I can always dose the nutrients to where I want them though. I already have to dose nitrate occasionally so dosing more isn't an issue.

 

[homer1475]

I have found I need to monitor my nutrient levels with dosing phyto. Not that they get low, but rather raise rather fast. I have read from pretty much everyone that doses live phyto that PO4 raises. Not sure of thats directly related to the phyto, or the f2 fertilizer used to grow it in. There was a thread a few weeks back about nutrients raising and dosing phyto.

 

[Gtinnel]

Best to buy a small bottle then if you just want to try it out for a while.

While it will last a while in the fridge with daily shaking, it dies rather quickly after about a month.

He ships every week, so if you find you need more, just hit him up.

FYI, it's always bets to dose it while it's still alive. Dead won't hurt anything, but some organisms only eat it live.

My tank is a 125g so even at 1ml per 10g per day the 32 oz bottle would last me over 2 months if my math is correct. Now I've gone from considering trying phyto to actually kinda excited to try it. LoL

 

[fishface NJ]

Glad you are excited to try it. I have bought from @Eldredge in the past. I am expecting another delivery today from him.

 

[homer1475]

Err I was wrong, sorry, I dose 1ml per 1g. or about 80ml a day.

 

[Gtinnel]

I have found I need to monitor my nutrient levels with dosing phyto. Not that they get low, but rather raise rather fast. I have read from pretty much everyone that doses live phyto that PO4 raises. Not sure of thats directly related to the phyto, or the f2 fertilizer used to grow it in. There was a thread a few weeks back about nutrients raising and dosing phyto.

In my case even better. Since the added nutrients don't seem to increase unwanted algea did it change the nutrient levels that you try to maintain in your tank? I currently dose my nitrate up to 5 whenever it drops to around 2 and my phosphate is always around .05 and I've never had to dose it. I monitor my nitrate/phosphate fairly closely anyway because I battled dinos in the past and I really, really dont want to do that again.

 

[Gtinnel]

Err I was wrong, sorry, I dose 1ml per 1g. or about 80ml a day.

Ok. I will probably just buy the half gallon and it should still last several weeks. Plus at the beginning until I am comfortable using it I probably won't dose as much. The amount to dose that people recommends seems to be vary greatly.

 

[homer1475]

Same, dino's are the devils plague! I test twice a week and only react if something is out of line. I do not chase numbers but rather chase trends. If that makes sense?

Yes my nutrient levels have gone up, but I've been able to maintain around 10 to 15 nitrate, and .1 to .3 phosphates. WC's keep my nitrates in check, while a very small amount of GFO (I literally use like 2 tablespoons changed every other week) keeps my phosphates in check.

I'm more then happy to take a FTS if you don't mind derailing the thread a bit?

 

[Gtinnel]

I'm more then happy to take a FTS if you don't mind derailing the thread a bit?

I don't mind at all. I love seeing other peoples tanks.

 

[homer1475]

Dosing amounts dose vary. I started out only doing about 1ml per 10G, but still wasn't seeing what everyone else was seeing. I finally settled on 80ml for my tank after several months of upping the dosage. If I dose say 90ml(I have 85G total system volume) my water tends to get green, and i have to clean the glass more often.

 

[homer1475]

Sand is a bit "dirty" but today is maintenance day. I do not touch my sandbed, other then to stir it up. This tank was basically "rip cleaned" about 2 months ago when I took it down to have new floors installed.

 

[homer1475]

Ha in the right corner you can see my dang pincusion carrying around my new elegance. LOL