Continous Phyto Feeding?
- Thread starter Medicine Man
- Start date
skydancer
New member
OK, obviously you didn't start feeding with 2L per day. What were you seeing/evaluating/measuring etc, that helped you decide to go up to 2L of feeding daily?
When I dose phyto, I just dump it in and hope it is enough and not too much. I'd like to learn more on the "evaluation" you went thru to go up to 2L/day. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Medicine Man
Premium Member
Finally found the official GroTech website . Here is a link to how they suggest to set up the phyto reactor http://www.grotech.de/ENGLISH/index.php?c=1&s=planktonzucht
rustybucket145
New member
That is kinda the same idea that I was toying around with but instead of DT's using home grown phyto. I don't see any potential problems but I'm sure there will be some. This would not be self sustaining but it would definately cut down on the daily chore of dosing phyto manually.
I guess I have a few questions that maybee someone could answer.
Would the introduction of the f/2 fertilizer be catastrophic for the tank?
If phyto is cultured in-house what is the life of the fertilizer? (I split my cultures every 7 days) Am I introducing fertilizer into my tank by doing this or is it gone after 7 days/ 6 days/ 8 days??
I guess I have a few questions that maybee someone could answer.
Would the introduction of the f/2 fertilizer be catastrophic for the tank?
If phyto is cultured in-house what is the life of the fertilizer? (I split my cultures every 7 days) Am I introducing fertilizer into my tank by doing this or is it gone after 7 days/ 6 days/ 8 days??
rustybucket145
New member
Medicine Man: interesting diagram but what exactly is the Phyto Controller they have listed and what does it do?
Dwayne
Protector of Diver Dan
You're correct, I did not start at 2L per day. I started feeding small amounts, 1-2 cups a day split into two daily feedings. Then gradually increased the amount to equal "whatever" was on hand. If there was part of a 2l bottle ready, I fed it. If I needed to empty a full 2L bottle of phyto to start another batch, I fed the full 2L. This was over a couple of months and only as I was not seeing any negative results.
The only 'evaluation' was looking for signs of negative impact. I was more interested in how much could I feed without negative effects than what would be the optimum amount. I started slow because of the concern that the phyto would crash the tank and too much F2 would get into the tank. Well, after reaching 2L a day, I didn't concern myself with crashing the tank anymore and this was more phyto than even my carefree attitude could handle feeding. I eventually settled on 1L per day as an amount to feed.
I will say that everything in the tank looked a lot better. Corals opened more and colors looked brighter. Things only got better when I started adding rotifers and copepods to the feedings. It seemed by feeding the bottom of the food chain, the whole tank did better.
The only drawback was need to wipe the glass down every other day. It wasn't really cleaning, like with a scraper, but just a quick wipe to remove the film from the glass.
I have a belief (I wont say theory) on the feeding of live foods versus the addition of additives (Calcium and such) to a tank. Understand that I have never owned a Calcium Reactor. My theory is that comparing the feeding of live foods to say a Calcium Reactor is like comparing eating your vegetables to taking vitamins instead. Your body will get the vitamins, but how it processes them is different in each case. Corals can absorb Calcium from the water and grow just fine. Maybe there is something different (possibly better) in getting that Calcium from the skeleton of a rotifer or copepod. Again, just an idea or belief.
Medicine Man
Premium Member
Looks like it doses the phyto reactor with the fertilizer several times per day while dosing the phytoplankton seperately. Here's a link to the doser http://www.grotech.de/ENGLISH/index.php?c=1&s=phytocontroll
Dwayne
Protector of Diver Dan
Using the GroTech Phyto Breeder as they outline, seems to be self defeating. You would grow the phyto to feed "something" in the tank. As this "something" grows, what prevents it from coming back in the Phyto Breeder and consuming/contaminating the phyto supply?
I do like the "all-in-one" design of the Phtyo Breeder, just not sure about the system diagram.
I do like the "all-in-one" design of the Phtyo Breeder, just not sure about the system diagram.
rustybucket145
New member
I am with Dwayne on the contamination issue. I don't use UV but people say that it would keep the contamination from happening if it were placed inline before the tank water reaches the phyto reactor.
Ohhhhh...... Idea!!! :blown:
What if you rigged the phyto reactor just like you would an auto top off system. With RO/DI saltwater feeding the reactor. You could have a float switch in the sump and a pump in the bottom of the culture to feed the tank. The only problem that I see is that my tank 150gal (in system) evaporates about 2-3 gals per day. And that would be toooo much phyto. I currently have an auto top off system. I think that I could just add the phyto reactor (bubbling 5gal water jug) next to it, on the same float switch and just have a timer to each pump so that only so many hours a day (around dark) the float switch would be able to trigger the phyto 'make up' water. The rest of the day the only pump that would be live would be my regular make up water pump. You would have to fertilize the phyto.... Once a week???
Hope I didn't ramble to much, just putting thoughts into words.
I would probably be able to try this next weekend. Anybody see any problems?
Ohhhhh...... Idea!!! :blown:
What if you rigged the phyto reactor just like you would an auto top off system. With RO/DI saltwater feeding the reactor. You could have a float switch in the sump and a pump in the bottom of the culture to feed the tank. The only problem that I see is that my tank 150gal (in system) evaporates about 2-3 gals per day. And that would be toooo much phyto. I currently have an auto top off system. I think that I could just add the phyto reactor (bubbling 5gal water jug) next to it, on the same float switch and just have a timer to each pump so that only so many hours a day (around dark) the float switch would be able to trigger the phyto 'make up' water. The rest of the day the only pump that would be live would be my regular make up water pump. You would have to fertilize the phyto.... Once a week???
Hope I didn't ramble to much, just putting thoughts into words.
I would probably be able to try this next weekend. Anybody see any problems?
rustybucket145
New member
ok, when you dose phyto manually do you remove tank water?
rustybucket145
New member
I understand it is advised and I am concerned with that aspect. I am not a mathmatician and I'm not even sure I can spell it but. Is there anyone here who could work up an equation to determine how much adding say... Xgal of phyto saltwater to a Ygal tank each week would boost the overall salinity of the system.
In any case an easy fix would be that once a week when I have 'tank time' I could remove a volume of water equal to that which was dosed by the phyto reactor and replace it with RO/DI.
Does anyone see any large drawbacks to that?
In any case an easy fix would be that once a week when I have 'tank time' I could remove a volume of water equal to that which was dosed by the phyto reactor and replace it with RO/DI.
Does anyone see any large drawbacks to that?
Dwayne
Protector of Diver Dan
I kept track of how much phyto I added and tried to remove that much tank water periodically. Sometimes it was once a week sometimes it was longer. The need to do so is greater as the volume of the system decreases. 1L has a bigger impact on a 10gal tank ans opposed to a 125 gal tank.
There is also the thought of "just making things right" with weekly water changes. This involves more test and measure activity.
There is also the thought of "just making things right" with weekly water changes. This involves more test and measure activity.
rustybucket145
New member
So you think that in my 150 gal system that dosing around 1gal/ week should not have considerable adverse effects on my tank. I would like to know exactly how much this would boost the salinity.
rustybucket145
New member
I'll try it tonight. We'll see what happens.
skydancer
New member
Here is the formula and the results:
for a 100gal tank when you add 1L of phyto or approx 0.25 Gal of phyto you're adding 1/4% of the total tank volume per day.
Therefore if you start with a sp. gravity of 1.025 or salinity of 33.9 ppt... you'll get the following:
Day 0 __starting salinity (ppt)__________dilution value________________ending salinity (ppt)
1 _____ 33.9000000000000000000 _____ 0.0847500000000000000 _____ 33.8152500000000000000
2 _____ 33.8152500000000000000 _____ 0.0845381250000000000 _____ 33.8144046187500000000
3 _____ 33.8144046187500000000 _____ 0.0845360115468750000 _____ 33.8135592586345000000
4 _____ 33.8135592586345000000 _____ 0.0845338981465863000 _____ 33.8127139196531000000
5 _____ 33.8127139196531000000 _____ 0.0845317847991327000 _____ 33.8118686018051000000
6 _____ 33.8118686018051000000 _____ 0.0845296715045127000 _____ 33.8110233050900000000
7 _____ 33.8110233050900000000 _____ 0.0845275582627251000 _____ 33.8101780295074000000
8 _____ 33.8101780295074000000 _____ 0.0845254450737685000 _____ 33.8093327750567000000
9 _____ 33.8093327750567000000 _____ 0.0845233319376417000 _____ 33.8084875417373000000
10 _____ 33.8084875417373000000 _____ 0.0845212188543432000 _____ 33.8076423295487000000
11 _____ 33.8076423295487000000 _____ 0.0845191058238719000 _____ 33.8067971384905000000
12 _____ 33.8067971384905000000 _____ 0.0845169928462263000 _____ 33.8059519685620000000
13 _____ 33.8059519685620000000 _____ 0.0845148799214051000 _____ 33.8051068197628000000
14 _____ 33.8051068197628000000 _____ 0.0845127670494071000 _____ 33.8042616920923000000
15 _____ 33.8042616920923000000 _____ 0.0845106542302309000 _____ 33.8034165855500000000
16 _____ 33.8034165855500000000 _____ 0.0845085414638751000 _____ 33.8025715001354000000
17 _____ 33.8025715001354000000 _____ 0.0845064287503385000 _____ 33.8017264358479000000
18 _____ 33.8017264358479000000 _____ 0.0845043160896197000 _____ 33.8008813926870000000
19 _____ 33.8008813926870000000 _____ 0.0845022034817175000 _____ 33.8000363706522000000
20 _____ 33.8000363706522000000 _____ 0.0845000909266305000 _____ 33.7991913697429000000
21 _____ 33.7991913697429000000 _____ 0.0844979784243573000 _____ 33.7983463899587000000
22 _____ 33.7983463899587000000 _____ 0.0844958659748967000 _____ 33.7975014312989000000
23 _____ 33.7975014312989000000 _____ 0.0844937535782473000 _____ 33.7966564937632000000
24 _____ 33.7966564937632000000 _____ 0.0844916412344079000 _____ 33.7958115773508000000
25 _____ 33.7958115773508000000 _____ 0.0844895289433770000 _____ 33.7949666820614000000
26 _____ 33.7949666820614000000 _____ 0.0844874167051534000 _____ 33.7941218078943000000
27 _____ 33.7941218078943000000 _____ 0.0844853045197358000 _____ 33.7932769548491000000
28 _____ 33.7932769548491000000 _____ 0.0844831923871228000 _____ 33.7924321229253000000
29 _____ 33.7924321229253000000 _____ 0.0844810803073131000 _____ 33.7915873121222000000
30 _____ 33.7915873121222000000 _____ 0.0844789682803055000 _____ 33.7907425224394000000
So in 30 days the salinity changed from 1.025 to 1.0249.
In 60 days it will go from 1.0249 to 1.0248 and on and on.
I hope this helps.
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