Phytoplankton

[Salty_Space]

How much phytoplankton should I dose to my tank? Will over dosing add phosphates? Thanks!
90gal reef with very little corals

 

[wculver]

How much phytoplankton should I dose to my tank? Will over dosing add phosphates? Thanks!
90gal reef with very little corals

In an effort to actually be helpful, why are you looking to dose phytoplankton?

 

[Salty_Space]

Establish stronger copepod population

 

[Jekyl]

From @AlgaeBarn

 

[wculver]

Establish stronger copepod population

With the proper chemistry the copepodes will explode without any dosing requried. These guys will eat anything so with a few fish and their waste it's all they need. Using a red light at night on my sand bed everything looks blurry with a flurry of copepodes. It's manic. Ultimately I wouldn't suggest dosing phyto unless you were trying to grow something like a clam that needed supplemental nutrition. What you're more likely to end up with is a nutrient issue that ultimately crashes your tank.

 

[Woodman]

How much phytoplankton should I dose to my tank? Will over dosing add phosphates? Thanks!
90gal reef with very little corals

For my tank I daily dose 5mL for my 25. I also have a few coral frag about 5 total. I like to daily dose to feed the bottom of the food chain, the copepods. Over dosing in my opinion doesn't add a lot of phosphates.

 

[JoeJ491]

How much phytoplankton should I dose to my tank? Will over dosing add phosphates? Thanks!
90gal reef with very little corals

The amount of phytoplankton will depend on the size of your tank. The average teaspoon of flaked food holds about 1,000 cells of phytoplankton. So you can start with a teaspoon, and then you may increase the dosage depending on the water quality. If you find there is too much phosphates, you can stop adding phytoplankton for a while and then resume after a few days when the phosphates have gone down.

 

[AlgaeBarn]

Establish stronger copepod population

As @Jekyl mentioned- We recommend dosing OceanMagik 5ml per 20 gallons of tank volume daily for at least 2 weeks to allow your system to get used to live phytoplankton being added. After the 2 week period you can increase if needed depending on your goals/ tank inhabitants

 

[Salty_Space]

As @Jekyl mentioned- We recommend dosing OceanMagik 5ml per 20 gallons of tank volume daily for at least 2 weeks to allow your system to get used to live phytoplankton being added. After the 2 week period you can increase if needed depending on your goals/ tank inhabitants

Thank you!

 

[Salty_Space]

Thank you to @Jekyl , @AlgaeBarn , @JoeJ491 @Woodman @wculver ! This was my first post in a long time and the responses were actually helpful. Thanks again!

 

[PeterC99]

I put in 1 1/2 cups of homegrown phytoplankton everyday to feed my corals. Acros grow very fast!

 

[Salty_Space]

I put in 1 1/2 cups of homegrown phytoplankton everyday to feed my corals. Acros grow very fast!

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Looks great! Did you see a spike in phosphates from the Phyto?

 

[PeterC99]

I did but manage it with a little bit of GFO. I also have a 90g.

PO4 averages .09
Nitrates 15

 

[Miami Reef]

@AlgaeBarn

Should we close our skimmers after dosing the live phyto?

 

[AlgaeBarn]

@AlgaeBarn

Should we close our skimmers after dosing the live phyto?

Sorry we missed this notification! I like to suggest 2 ways- you can turn your flow/wavemakers off for a bit to overcast/spot feed or some reefers will turn off their skimmer at night right before they dose the phytoplankton and then turn it back on in the morning. -Raven