Question about phyto salinity

Fishy888 · Mar 3, 2022

I noticed that most phyto cultures I see online are kept around 1.019. It seems to me that the phyto is kept at such low salinity because it's cheaper. I might be wrong on that though. I also see pod cultures kept that way. If phyto (tetraselmis) can be acclimated to 35 ppt I will slowly bring it up so it survives long enough to be consumed. When my pods come I will slowly bring them up to 35 ppt since I know they are ok at typical reef salinity. I am going to culture pods and phyto (in separate tanks/jars of course). Please let me know if I can culture the algae at 35 ppt or if I should leave it at 1.019. Thank you.

sunken3 · Mar 4, 2022

i culture mine perfectly fine at normal reef salinity.

Fishy888 · Mar 4, 2022

Ok good. I thought as much but I've been wrong before so I try to make sure I'm not missing anything. Thank you.

Joe Kennedy · Jun 20, 2022

Pods and phyto are extremely resilient - Yes, it's cheaper culturing at that level and it will have a negligible impact on the pods or phyto to add to your tank at 35ppm. You may just be making extra work for yourself. If you're looking to add pods and have the best chance at survival - Add at night time when the tank is asleep, keep your skimmer and UV off for a while. You can turn off your pumps for 10 minutes to let them get situated, but they'll be fine when the pumps start up again.

There's a huge difference in culture yields between feeding phytoplankton and alternative food sources. So if you love a robust pod population, keep up on the phyto!

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Joe.
Food for your Aquarium
https://www.reefsolutions.ca