Growing Phytoplankton

[coralfishreef]

I’ve had good results with dosing Phytoplankton and I recently decided to grow my own.

While dosing phyto my zoas and ricordeas were growing new polyps and splittling very quickly. And in my newest tank, the golden algae that I was battling and scrubbing off of the rock work for months disappeared after dosing phyto for a week or two and it hasn’t come back since.

I ran out of phyto about 2 months ago and the zoa growth is slow even though I dose amino acids.

Noise from a loud air pump has always been the barrier for having a phyto station upstairs. Recently, I found a silent air pump being sold for fresh water tanks. I ordered one and surprisingly, this air pump is completely silent unless you put your ear nearby. There is still some noise from the air bubbles hitting the plastic bottle but the air pump and bubble noise has been other half approved!

Note that this is not a guide, but just my experience with growing phyto.

The setup:
Silent air pump
New airline tubing
New air stone
Rinsed 3 L water bottle
F2 phyto fertilizer
16 oz bottle of phyto from Acro Garden





The process:
Fill up the 3 L bottle about 2/3 full with new, clean saltwater.
Add 8 oz of phyto to the bottle
Add F2 fertilizer per the dosage instructions
Drill a small hole in the water bottle cap for the airline tubing
Place airline tubing and air stone into the bottle
Connect tubing to air pump
Add a light on a timer
Run the light for 16 hours a day
Gently swirl the bottle once or twice a day to keep phyto suspended
Wait for 5-6 days for the phyto to turn dark green

The results:
The left bottles are the phyto after 5-6 days. The right 3 L bottle is a new culture with 4 oz of phyto. The 16 oz bottle is the original phyto from Acro Garden after being diluted twice.



Under a microscope:

 

[absolutecarrot]

I’ve had good results with dosing Phytoplankton and I recently decided to grow my own.

While dosing phyto my zoas and ricordeas were growing new polyps and splittling very quickly. And in my newest tank, the golden algae that I was battling and scrubbing off of the rock work for months disappeared after dosing phyto for a week or two and it hasn’t come back since.

I ran out of phyto about 2 months ago and the zoa growth is slow even though I dose amino acids.

Noise from loud air pump has always been the barrier for having a phyto station upstairs. Recently, I found a silent air pump being sold for fresh water tanks. I ordered one and surprisingly, this air pump is completely silent unless you put your ear nearby. There is still some noise from the air bubbles hitting the plastic bottle but the air pump and bubble noise has been other half approved!

Note that this is not a guide, but just my experience with growing phyto.

The setup:
Silent air pump
New airline tubing
New air stone
Rinsed 3 L water bottle
F2 phyto fertilizer
16 oz bottle of phyto from Acro Garden

View attachment 147648
View attachment 147649
View attachment 147650

The process:
Fill up the 3 L bottle about 2/3 full with new, clean saltwater.
Add 8 oz of phyto to the bottle
Add F2 fertilizer per the dosage instructions
Drill a small hole in the water bottle cap for the airline tubing
Place airline tubing and air stone into the bottle
Connect tubing to air pump
Add a light on a timer
Run the light for 16 hours a day
Gently swirl the bottle once or twice a day to keep phyto suspended
Wait for 5-6 days for the phyto to turn dark green

The results:
The left bottles are the phyto after 5-6 days. The right 3 L bottle is a new culture with 4 oz of phyto. The 16 oz bottle is the original phyto from Acro Garden after being diluted twice.

View attachment 147647

Under a microscope:

View attachment 147651

Very cool

 

[thrillreefer]

Nice, seems pretty simple. A few questions: Can you passage the phyto culture indefinitely as long as you have enough fertilizer (and dilute into fresh saltwater)? How much would you feed of the culture e.g. per gallon per day? And do you shut off flow, or just dump it right in?

 

[coralfishreef]

I follow the instructions from Algae Barn. I most recently dosed 48 oz of phyto in about 2 months split between 4 tanks.

It took 5-6 days to grow about 85 oz... I’ll probably refrigerate some of the newer phyto and use the rest in the tanks.

I’d imagine you could keep growing phyto from a starter culture as long as some phyto is still alive and it isn’t contaminated. I’ll find out about 2 months from now.

Flow stays on.

Dong (Acro Garden) has a previous post about phyto that was helpful to me.

Live Phytoplankton available

Now available in limited quantity. 4 phytoplankton species blend, $10 per 16 Oz. Fresh harvested daily. Please bring your own clean jar or I will pack it in clean plastic bags. It is good for a month in refrigerator. When store in refrigerator, it is best to shake it once a week. I dose...

bostonreefers.org

This article was also interesting and helpful.

Phytoplankton Culture for Aquaculture Feed

This factsheet published by the Southern Regional Aquaculture Center (SRAC) gives information on phytoplankton culture for aquaculture feed.

thefishsite.com

 

[FishieBusiness]

I saw great results dosing phyto also. Acans all loving it got great polyp extension. Lps seemed to respond good. Going to start my own farm soon to have constant supply. thanks for the parts list really helps. I will definitely check out the articles listed. Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[afboundguy]

I notice a huge difference in the amount of algae on the glass and the tank looks much better when I'm dosing phyto. I used to dose about 2-4 ml for my 25 gallon cube. I recently had my cultures crash so I haven't dosed in a few weeks as I stock back up on my phyto. Well worth the time and minimal effort to culture it...

 

[Kymot]

Hi @afboundguy , curious how often do you dose phyto? I have a 20 gal cube, and i’ve been doing 10 ml every other day. Is that too much?

 

[coralfishreef]

I saw great results dosing phyto also. Acans all loving it got great polyp extension. Lps seemed to respond good. Going to start my own farm soon to have constant supply. thanks for the parts list really helps. I will definitely check out the articles listed. Thanks for all the help guys.

One part I’m going to switch out is the air stone. I’ll be switching the air stone to a rigid airline with no air stone. The rigid air line can be sanitized with vinegar.

 

[dz6t]

One part I’m going to switch out is the air stone. I’ll be switching the air stone to a rigid airline with no air stone. The rigid air line can be sanitized with vinegar.

Yes, I don’t use air stone either. Air stone can act like a protein skimmer and cause forming.
I use RO tubing, it is semi rigid. Every time I split a culture, I cut a new piece of tubing amd toss the old one. That way I don’t need to clean it and it is very inexpensive.

 

[afboundguy]

Hi @afboundguy , curious how often do you dose phyto? I have a 20 gal cube, and i’ve been doing 10 ml every other day. Is that too much?

I may have been dosing more... Before I crashed my cultures I wasn't really measuring lol...

 

[PSU4ME]

I’m going to start a culture of my own as soon as I can find a starter culture to get it going. Definitely benefits for new and old tanks.

 

[dz6t]

There is limited life time for a phytoplankton culture, but many crash of culture at home is due to accumulation and exposure to bacteria, rotifer etc.
My current culture is from August last year. So it has been running for a year with weekly splits.

 

[PSU4ME]

That’s a pretty good run there Dong. Where do you buy your starter cultures from?

 

[JPags]

I read online you can sterilize using a microwave so I now steralize my replacement water, the glass bottles I use, the storage bottles and the rigid airline tubes. So far everything has been growing well. Before that I had a culture crash right away. i have 3 bottles running now that I split from the first culture and I just started dozing when I split again. It’s easy to sterilize in a microwave

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

Since I don't use that much, I don't split every week. I add a little more food and split every two weeks or so. My culture is still nice and green and there is no smell. Should I go back to splitting every week? I don't like pouring it down the drain.

 

[PSU4ME]

I’m going to try and “right size” what I grow so that I’m using the part that I’m splitting. I’m not looking to grow and store and pouring it down the drain is no fun!

 

[ChrisNH]

there is a product called starsan that is used in home brewing that can be a good sanitizing option.

when i grew yeast starters for home brew i used a large flask on a stir plate to aerate and dispose of excess co2. could a similar process work well here as an alternative to an air pump?

 

[GobyWanKenobie]

I’m going to try and “right size” what I grow so that I’m using the part that I’m splitting. I’m not looking to grow and store and pouring it down the drain is no fun!

I'm slowing getting there. Each time I split I do a less. I'm at 3/4 a liter now.

 

[coralfishreef]

there is a product called starsan that is used in home brewing that can be a good sanitizing option.

when i grew yeast starters for home brew i used a large flask on a stir plate to aerate and dispose of excess co2. could a similar process work well here as an alternative to an air pump?

Worth a try. The phyto needs carbon dioxide to grow. The aeration may help add carbon dioxide from the surrounding air.

 

[dz6t]

could a similar process work well here as an alternative to an air pump?

Yes, people use small powerhead, stir plate and even shakers.