Trying my hand at growing phytoplankton

[Harry_Y]

I thought I'd try my hand at growing Phytoplankton.

I used a milk crate and put a board at the bottom where I mounted a
light socket; I then lined it with some white plastic cardboard I had.

I'm using a 5100k compact fluorescent "Sunlight" bulb (16 hours on 8 off).

I used DTs for starter culture.

Here it is at Day 2, it looks off to a good start.

 

[Phatboy]

Whats teh purpose of doing this? Curious?

 

[MikeB]

Whats teh purpose of doing this? Curious?

To Feed Corals: Phytoplankton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[gilmour01]

what ferilizer are you using?

 

[JNye]

most of the corals we keep probably do not feed on directly on phyto. I'm not saying feeding phyto to your tank can't be beneficial, I just think if you are considering doing it, you should understand what you are doing. At most, IMO, you are feeding the zooplankton in the tank, which def. could have benefits, but I think you really need to be careful how much you add. Culturing phyto to keep rots to feed to the tank would be a better reason to do it, again, IMO.

 

[Coral Keeper]

Phytoplankton is very good IMO. Phytoplankton = Zooplankton = feeds corals and fish = fish poop = feeds corals

 

[Harry_Y]

I kinda took some directions from here (Read the whole thing):

Melevsreef.com - Phytoplankton


As I was doing it as a proof of concept experiment to see it it would go.

I did it a bit different (with stuff I had readily avaliable).

I used fresh SW from my holding tank (1.026) that was made up with
RODI water (Not Tap as per the article) and DTs as the starter.

I used 5 ml Miracle Grow Houseplant liquid food as per the article and will
most likely add the Kent's Essential Elements to the next "real" batch

So in other words I did it all wrong but it's getting darker
so it looks like it is working.

Not bad for about a $10 investment + stuff I had laying around.




.

 

[JNye]

very cool considering how easy it looks.

 

[Harry_Y]

very cool considering how easy it looks.

That is why I had to try it.

It was an experiment all the way around from lighting to culture.

It looks like it is going to pay off.

I tried to keep it simple by using a milk crate
and a compact fluorescent screw in bulb.

 

[beaslbob]

That is why I had to try it.

It was an experiment all the way around from lighting to culture.

It looks like it is going to pay off.

I tried to keep it simple by using a milk crate
and a compact fluorescent screw in bulb.

I think you'll find it interesting and rewarding.

I use the florida aquafarms micro algae grow for fettz and grow ming in 2 liter coke bottles with a utility light behind them. also grow rotifers also.

FWIW some use 5 g white plastic buckets instead of milk crates. They are availble free from bakeries. they originally had cake iceing in them. :wink:

my .02

 

[gilmour01]

i cultured phyto for awhile, but did away with in order to reduce nutrients in my tank. i never noticed a difference with the health of my corals or system when adding phyto. it can be a fun project, but for me it became more trouble than it was worth.

 

[montipora]

Ya im looking into doing this as well for the pods I raise, I think it would be cheaper but I need to be able to make it really thick as that works better for them I found out trying different kinds of phyto.

 

[Harry_Y]

Ya im looking into doing this as well for the pods I raise, I think it would be cheaper but I need to be able to make it really thick as that works better for them I found out trying different kinds of phyto.

I think you can just grow it longer or let it settle and pour of fthe top.

I was thinking about trying to let it settle a bit then to pour off the
top to start the next batch with, that way what I feed will be thicker.

 

[hollback]

I've been growing nannochloropsis for about 5 years now. I use it to feed my copepod cultures. I rarely add it to my system. By adding it to my system, I have to scrape my glass more but I do see an increase in copepod population in the system, but since I'm culturing them separately and adding them to my display, I don't see a reason to add the phyto.

IMO it makes more sense to use the phytoplankton to grow the zooplankton outside of the system and then add just the zooplankton to your system.

 

[Harry_Y]

I've been growing nannochloropsis for about 5 years now. I use it to feed my copepod cultures. I rarely add it to my system. By adding it to my system, I have to scrape my glass more but I do see an increase in copepod population in the system, but since I'm culturing them separately and adding them to my display, I don't see a reason to add the phyto.

IMO it makes more sense to use the phytoplankton to grow the zooplankton outside of the system and then add just the zooplankton to your system.

I was thinking about this earlier.

Do you just buy a bottle of pods and put them in
a container with phyto and let them multiply?
(similar to growing phyto?)

 

[hollback]

I was thinking about this earlier.

Do you just buy a bottle of pods and put them in
a container with phyto and let them multiply?
(similar to growing phyto?)

Pretty much. But I use tanks instead of bottles. Here is the exact way I set my cultures up back in the day.

Breeder's Net

I've actually had the same culture going for all these years.

 

[litenyaup]

once the culture takes off...you are good and just repeat the process! i started after reading melvesreef about it. i now sell it the lfs and my coral/clams love it!!

 

[Harry_Y]

Sounds good

I just peeked in my sump with a flashlight and saw a bunch of pod swimming.

I may try to catch some and try my hand at growing post as well.

 

[Harry_Y]

I just split the first batch of phyto this morning