Auto Dosing Phytoplankton for Optimum Benefit.

[Reef By Steele]

Yes it is always or almost always present.

 

[Doctorgori]

Ive just purchased 6 fairly cheep USB Magnetic stirrers $15 each and a USB banking station and USB smart adapter/timer as the Air pumps aren't stoping the phyto from clumping. Pretty sure that will do the trick of keeping the phyto suspended as they are the perfect size for my setup and only 14.6cm / 5.75 inches wide. Was looking at USB mini pumps that are a lot cheeper but being made for fresh water i kinder went cold as i can guarantee they wont leach in salt water and a food grade plastic covered magnet is easy to sterilise. I can just have the air pumps on low and silent. At the moment they're hammering away and its pretty loud. Ive also upped my dosing to 200mils a night, in and out to keep up with production. I'll probably up it again depending on how quickly the phyto grows.

that’s slick, I'm shamelessly steeling and anyone thinking about a phyto setup, commercial or otherwise should consider…
if those usb stirrers get smaller you could use them in a refrigerator under your phyto culture, heck the usb cord is thin enough that it won't really compromise the door seal

Nanno is rich and great for many uses, but super high fats (which is why it settles less than tetraselmis etc. Not as automatic, but I would suggest culturing phyto separate from tank and replenishing the dosing container with a more robust blend.

Are there published nutritional profiles for the different algae strains …this info has gotta be floating somewhere amongst the aquaculture crowd

Baby Brine Shrimp really only hold their nutritional value for 24-36 hours, and adults should be gut loaded with phyto and or Selcon so they could be fine being dosed daily with the phyto.

After raising saltwater and freshwater fish I’ve always wondered why more people don’t feed their corals gut loaded bbs … also wonder if bbs soaked in aminos would work similarly

 

[Reef By Steele]

After raising saltwater and freshwater fish I’ve always wondered why more people don’t feed their corals gut loaded bbs … also wonder if bbs soaked in aminos would work similarly

I would think if you put the BBS in the amino acid and target fed it would be positive.

 

[hsp]

I would think if you put the BBS in the amino acid and target fed it would be positive.

So I could make a daily bottle (2ml per gallon) of phyto, add bbs and amino acid dose the mix throughout the day. Of course, flush the line in the evening and start next morning again.

 

[Reef By Steele]

It would definitely be worth a try.

 

[hsp]

If I refresh the bottle each day, would I need a stirrer in your opinion?

 

[Reef By Steele]

If I refresh the bottle each day, would I need a stirrer in your opinion?

I don’t know. I know I recently bought a bottle of Phyto from a competitor and did some comparison pics and theirs was pretty much all on the bottom by morning in the fridge and I took the pics late evening.

 

[slythy]

@Reef By Steele Do you have dimensions? I would be interested in putting this in a mini fridge so I dont have to deal with the cleaning except for refill time. I would just dose the volume of the line + xML then pump it back into the container

 

[Reef By Steele]

I w

@Reef By Steele Do you have dimensions? I would be interested in putting this in a mini fridge so I dont have to deal with the cleaning except for refill time. I would just dose the volume of the line + xML then pump it back into the container

I will measure mine.

 

[Reef By Steele]

@Reef By Steele Do you have dimensions? I would be interested in putting this in a mini fridge so I dont have to deal with the cleaning except for refill time. I would just dose the volume of the line + xML then pump it back into the container

6”x6”x8.5-9” tall with 1/2 gallon vessel.

 

[deome]

Interesting thread. I don't travel, and therefore I don't need as much automation, so I'm thinking I can try a much simpler version of this. I grow my phyto in a Phytotank that's just running 24/7 (I use a turkey baster to dose, refill with fresh mixed or RODI water), and the thought occurs that I can just stick another rigid line in the Phytotank and connect it to my doser.

My questions:
How much unused F2 would need to get into a 150 gal system before I start to notice a nitrate spike? I'm thinking that with a 100 ml daily dose I wouldn't even notice a problem.

What, other than uneaten F2 getting into my display, could go wrong with this approach?

 

[Reef By Steele]

At 150 gallons you have 567,750 ml of water. If you have your solution at 100 ppm nitrates, and add 100 ml of your phyto you would be increasing your nitrates by .00017613 per day so you would raise your nitrates by 1 ppm in 5677.6 days. However the phyto you are adding should be consuming that plus more from your tank naturally so I do not see that I should make a significant difference in tank nitrates.

As long as you are keeping everything sterile that goes into the culture I don’t see an issue. This is probably workable with a single strain.

 

[deome]

At 150 gallons you have 567,750 ml of water. If you have your solution at 100 ppm nitrates, and add 100 ml of your phyto you would be increasing your nitrates by .00017613 per day so you would raise your nitrates by 1 ppm in 5677.6 days. However the phyto you are adding should be consuming that plus more from your tank naturally so I do not see that I should make a significant difference in tank nitrates.

As long as you are keeping everything sterile that goes into the culture I don’t see an issue. This is probably workable with a single strain.

Perfect. I can probably handle 1ppm of nitrates a day, if it even shows up in testing, and 100ml/day is a good baseline but I can increase w/ testing and observation.

Yup, everything else is reasonably sterile; I have a continuous culture, and dosing lines will only substitute for the turkey baster (I really dislike the mess of removing and replacing the rubber phytotank cap every time I want to dose).

 

[danreef55]

@kent
How about one of these

Put a stirrer into the frig containing the dosing reservoir and two feed lines from two different phyto cultures and line out to the sump.

 

[hsp]

It would definitely be worth a try.

So here is what I have been doing for a few days for my Red Sea Reefer Max G2+ 300 now:
I use one dosing head of my Red Sea ReefDose 4 for dosing directly into the DT the following mix (20 doses per day during the lights-on period):
- 200 ml Phyto
- about a teaspoon of gut-loaded (spirulina and phyto) Brine Shrimp (measured when wet with little water)
- 2 ml Quantum Bio-Enhance alternating every other day with 12 ml Red Sea Reef Energy AB+

Each morning, I clean the bottle with salt water.
Instead of stirring, I have placed an airline in the bottle operated from a tiny USB-driven air pump.

Before the last dosing, I checked in the evening, and the Brine Shrimps were still alive.

Initially, I dosed into the return pump chamber, but I have now rerouted the line directly into the DT—well, above it—to avoid the potential for accidental siphoning.

 

[hsp]

So here is what I have been doing for a few days for my Red Sea Reefer Max G2+ 300 now:
I use one dosing head of my Red Sea ReefDose 4 for dosing directly into the DT the following mix (20 doses per day during the lights-on period):
- 200 ml Phyto
- about a teaspoon of gut-loaded (spirulina and phyto) Brine Shrimp (measured when wet with little water)
- 2 ml Quantum Bio-Enhance alternating every other day with 12 ml Red Sea Reef Energy AB+

Each morning, I clean the bottle with salt water.
Instead of stirring, I have placed an airline in the bottle operated from a tiny USB-driven air pump.

Before the last dosing, I checked in the evening, and the Brine Shrimps were still alive.

Initially, I dosed into the return pump chamber, but I have now rerouted the line directly into the DT—well, above it—to avoid the potential for accidental siphoning.

So, I have been doing this for a few weeks. I sense the corals benefit from the Phyto, and my Mandarin loves the supply of brine shrimp (sometimes, I add Copepods or even baby Amphipods).

Funny observation: My Flame Hawkfish figured out where the dosing line comes into the DT, sitting on the wave maker and being ready when the dosing starts. Sometimes, he tries to jump up a bit to "drink" the drops before they hit the surface. Crazy guy!

Remaining issue to be solved: As stated above (and see picture), I have routed the dosing line directly into the DT above the water line to avoid the potential for accidental siphoning. But, I have noticed that part of the phyto-BBS-amino mix gets sucked into the skimmer right away, which I would like to minimise. Ideally, I would end the dosing line deep in the DT, but I am too scared about siphoning. Any suggestions?

 

[kdx7214]

@sixty_reefer has some posts about continuous culture of phyto in his sump. It's a very simple system and he seemed to have good success with it.

 

[Reef By Steele]

So, I have been doing this for a few weeks. I sense the corals benefit from the Phyto, and my Mandarin loves the supply of brine shrimp (sometimes, I add Copepods or even baby Amphipods).

Funny observation: My Flame Hawkfish figured out where the dosing line comes into the DT, sitting on the wave maker and being ready when the dosing starts. Sometimes, he tries to jump up a bit to "drink" the drops before they hit the surface. Crazy guy!

Remaining issue to be solved: As stated above (and see picture), I have routed the dosing line directly into the DT above the water line to avoid the potential for accidental siphoning. But, I have noticed that part of the phyto-BBS-amino mix gets sucked into the skimmer right away, which I would like to minimise. Ideally, I would end the dosing line deep in the DT, but I am too scared about siphoning. Any suggestions?

Put a one way check valve in it.