White particles in phyto?

[Adam1985]

Hi everyone,

For those of you that are culturing (or have cultured) phyto, have you ever noticed white particles developing?

If so, any idea what they are and if they can be fed to the reef or need to be filtered out, or even not used?

I’ve got two cultures going; one has these white particles and one doesn’t.

Only difference was that the one with white particles had it’s airline pop out for about a day after I first started it, that’s to say it went for a while with no water movement and normal gas exchange.

Looking forward to your advice! Videos of both with and without the particles attached.

Thanks so much!

Adam

 

[SPR1968]

I can’t answer the specific question, but I can maybe bump the thread for you to see if we can get you some help

 

[Rawsreef]

Noticing the same thing on my culture atm. Pretty weird everything I used was pretty darn clean. But I didn’t clean anything with alchohol so maybe it’s a crash because of a bacteria or something?

wondering if you used it or tossed the batch.

 

[Adam1985]

I’ve temporarily stopped culturing. Too little reward vs. hassle. But I do think you probably can use it.

 

[Rawsreef]

I’ve temporarily stopped culturing. Too little reward vs. hassle. But I do think you probably can use it.

Sorry you feel that way, I feel the complete opposite, it’s free food for our tank man!

but looking at it more closely I thought it may be some residue from the sw mix I used. Not 100% sure but just a possibility, since I just shake up the salt and water in the jug by hand a few times. instead of running a pump to mix it

 

[TheLandShark]

I have the same thing the bubbles don’t mix super well. I get them after about 10 days. So I’m thinking it’s when the food runs out and the phyto starts to die off. It’s not that big a deal, Just don’t let it get too bad I’ve never had any negative impacts and nitrates or phosphates because of it. When you see that it’s time to bottle your stuff and just leave the little bit of white stuff at the bottom and don’t use the last eighth of the culture for anything. Pour that part out. Start the culture again with some of the top 7/8ths.

 

[Rawsreef]

I have the same thing the bubbles don’t mix super well. I get them after about 10 days. So I’m thinking it’s when the food runs out and the phyto starts to die off. It’s not that big a deal, Just don’t let it get too bad I’ve never had any negative impacts and nitrates or phosphates because of it. When you see that it’s time to bottle your stuff and just leave the little bit of white stuff at the bottom and don’t use the last eighth of the culture for anything. Pour that part out. Start the culture again with some of the top 7/8ths.

Thanks for the heads up! I haven't made any more phyto since this issue came up. But I will start it back up pretty soon and I'll keep this in mind