Tag: phytoplankton

DIY phytoplankton Culturing

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I have been thinking of culturing my own phyto for a while now.. recently my local store stopped selling some fresh cultures so i decided to try out my own.

Ideally one would start with a specific strain however there was slim pickens where i live so i decided to go with the only live culture i could find. I found a nice big bottle of phytofeast to get started.
phytopheast
I mixed the salt water to around 1.019 – 1.020. For the fertalizer I decided to use miraclegrow for the first batch (and ordered some F2 for future cultures).

I mixed two different batches.  The 2L bottle was my first attempt with 5ml of miracle grow.  The second batch I added 1ml of miraclge grow to the 500ml bottle and  thew the bottle into the microwave for 2 min to sterilize it.. once it cooled i added some live phyto (mixed much darker than the first one) and added it to the shelf

The light is currently on a timer for to run at 16 hours per day…

Day1:  will see how it goes! 🙂
diy-phyto-culture

 

Phytoplankton Copepods and micro organisms 

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phytoplankton is one of the building blocks of life in the ocean. A little further up the food chain we get tk pods, Copepods, and rotofers.  Adding this blend of goods will create a natural food source for your fish and corals.

To initially load your tank its recommended to do it with the lights off and pumps off to give the miniature life forms a chance to hide and get settled. Once settled they should start to reproduce and provide a flow of snacks for your fish and corals.

Adding phytoplankton every few days will help feed your pods and corals