I am curious if anyone has used a dosing pump to add phytoplankton to their tanks at regular intervals (specifically for an SPS tank)? It would require a stable source, that did not need to be refrigerated. I'm thinking a half gallon or gallon container under the tank with light source and potentially aeration. Dosing a few mL during the night. What cultures would be good for this?
"Dosing" Phyto?
- Thread starter patchesj
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Reef Frog
New member
Most who feed live phyto have a few cultures going outside the tank stand. Cultures can crash so redundancy is a good idea. What are you intending to feed? I'm not sure stony corals utilize phytoplankton directly. But filter feeders like feather duster & coco worms do, as well as some gorgonians.
I cultured Reef Nutrition's product for a while and it was easy enough to do if you stay on top of it. There are other species available but don't know any details on them.
I cultured Reef Nutrition's product for a while and it was easy enough to do if you stay on top of it. There are other species available but don't know any details on them.
read this section: Predation of Cyanobacteria, Bacteria, and Algae by Symbiodinium spp. (Zooxanthellae)!
of this: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aafeature
of this: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aafeature
On my current build I'm incorporating an automatic plankton feeder. With the main purpose of constantly supplying live artemia, but to gut load the artemia I'll also be using phyto. The design will be based on a product that is no longer being produced called Reefworks Automatic Phytoplankton Feeder. An Internet search will pull up the product.
I'll simply be modifying 3 phosban reactors. 1 phyto grow out, 1 phyto artemia feeder and 1 artemia hatch and feeder (alternating the phyto reactors as grow outs). I'll invert the phosban reactors and all 3 will have drains for clean out. All 3 will also be supplied with air. The 2 phyto reactors will both be supplied with new water and the one being used as the artemia feeder will have it's spill way open to the artemia reactor. The artemia reactor will be supplied with DT water from the bottom that will be controlled by my Apex to automatically pump water which will spill over a tube that goes down to the bottom of the display, under the sand and inconspicuously come out of a rock or barnacle. The tube will have DT water always running through it to prevent any trapped artemia from getting stuck when the feeding process ends.
So while I won't exactly be dosing phyto, it will be making its way into the tank through the artemia feeder. Of course I'll be using decapped eggs so no shells are introduced to my system.
This may give you some ideas rather than using a dosing pump.
If you were just interested in auto feeding phyto, one idea would be to keep a small reservoir of water to supply the reactor with an aqua lifter pump set on a timer or Apex and have it simply fill the reactor to spill over into the return section of your sump. I wouldn't use DT water as any zooplankton that gets inside the phyto reactor would consume all of it.
I'll simply be modifying 3 phosban reactors. 1 phyto grow out, 1 phyto artemia feeder and 1 artemia hatch and feeder (alternating the phyto reactors as grow outs). I'll invert the phosban reactors and all 3 will have drains for clean out. All 3 will also be supplied with air. The 2 phyto reactors will both be supplied with new water and the one being used as the artemia feeder will have it's spill way open to the artemia reactor. The artemia reactor will be supplied with DT water from the bottom that will be controlled by my Apex to automatically pump water which will spill over a tube that goes down to the bottom of the display, under the sand and inconspicuously come out of a rock or barnacle. The tube will have DT water always running through it to prevent any trapped artemia from getting stuck when the feeding process ends.
So while I won't exactly be dosing phyto, it will be making its way into the tank through the artemia feeder. Of course I'll be using decapped eggs so no shells are introduced to my system.
This may give you some ideas rather than using a dosing pump.
If you were just interested in auto feeding phyto, one idea would be to keep a small reservoir of water to supply the reactor with an aqua lifter pump set on a timer or Apex and have it simply fill the reactor to spill over into the return section of your sump. I wouldn't use DT water as any zooplankton that gets inside the phyto reactor would consume all of it.
Last edited:
Reef Frog
New member
Interesting topic I've always wondered about - Which/Do Corals Eat Phyto?
Reed Mariculture says:
Q: Which of my animals will feed on Phyto-Feast products? (Which contain live Pavlova, Isochrysis, Thalassiosira weissflogii, Tetraselmis, Nannochloropsis, and Synechococcus.)
A: Some soft corals, sponges, tunicates, gorgonians, sea fans, Basket and Feather Stars, Clams, Mussels, Barnacles, Feather Dusters and Tridachnid clams.
They don't mention any stony corals. But the sighted article in Advanced Aquariast does briefly seem to indicate at least one acropia species uses phytoplankton directly as food. Lots of conflicting information out there. What little information I've seen don't seem to address large polyped stony corwls. One thing that article does do conclusively (for me at least) is that it refutes the notion "corals only eat sunlight & need no food" that some people seem to believe & repeat to others.
Reed Mariculture says:
Q: Which of my animals will feed on Phyto-Feast products? (Which contain live Pavlova, Isochrysis, Thalassiosira weissflogii, Tetraselmis, Nannochloropsis, and Synechococcus.)
A: Some soft corals, sponges, tunicates, gorgonians, sea fans, Basket and Feather Stars, Clams, Mussels, Barnacles, Feather Dusters and Tridachnid clams.
They don't mention any stony corals. But the sighted article in Advanced Aquariast does briefly seem to indicate at least one acropia species uses phytoplankton directly as food. Lots of conflicting information out there. What little information I've seen don't seem to address large polyped stony corwls. One thing that article does do conclusively (for me at least) is that it refutes the notion "corals only eat sunlight & need no food" that some people seem to believe & repeat to others.
There's a thread on here that went into detail about a study of comparing growth rates of sps corals between no food (control), phyto and artemia. I'll see if I can find it. And the growth rate for the sps corals that were fed artemia was substantially greater. This article is what provoked me to incorporate this feeder into my system. For me, the extra phyto that gets into my system will also benefit pods which again are good coral food. I also want to try and keep a few difficult species like garden eels for example. And I'm tired of manually feeding my mandarin.
When I wrote the above (Gresham from Reef Nutrition here), there wasn't any supporting data that I could find, nor did any of the aquarists and biologists I consulted with suggested acroporas (or any other sps) utilized phyto in any significant way. We contemplated actually doing the study ourself, but at well over $100K to do it right, we decided against it.
The article you are thinking (or at least the one I think you are talking about) of was also an Advanced Aquarist article. It was written by Dr Tim Wijgerde of Coral Science. He's got quite a bit of reading on his Coral Science website, soon to be taken offline so go read up.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/12/aafeature
It seems to me that the goal should be creating as full of a nutrient life cycle as possible in a closed tank environment, for the benefit of all the life forms kept in it (well, at least that is my goal). If we are only supplementing further up the chain (processed or large particle foods), or we are artificially supplementing too low (raw chemical or light source only), there are substantial nutrient source gaps.
If corals (SPS in particular) are not meant to utilize small particle foods like phyto and bacteria directly, then I don't understand why they would have the mechanism to do so or why levels of those foods would decline over time in an otherwise closed system.
The smallest organisms are the most difficult to keep in balance in an aquarium because of stability issues and density of their predators vs area for natural reproduction. Unfortunately it looks like designing a system that can provide controlled and consistent introduction of small particle foods, and in a simple process, is going to be challenging.
Perhaps keeping/purchasing exceptionally small batches of phyto for the dosing system would be more expensive but at least remove the culturing/growing aspects of it. Is it reasonable to expect 2-4 weeks supply of phyto could be kept in a small tank side container with minimal life support systems (refrigeration, etc.)?
I'm also thinking that using a dosing pump to "lift" fluid with phyto could be problematic as they would tend to settle in the lowest part of the tubing. Might be better to use the pump to lift replacement low salinity water up to a container above the tank, and have that over flow into the tank. This setup could also utilize the lighting system from the main tank for phyto growth.
If corals (SPS in particular) are not meant to utilize small particle foods like phyto and bacteria directly, then I don't understand why they would have the mechanism to do so or why levels of those foods would decline over time in an otherwise closed system.
The smallest organisms are the most difficult to keep in balance in an aquarium because of stability issues and density of their predators vs area for natural reproduction. Unfortunately it looks like designing a system that can provide controlled and consistent introduction of small particle foods, and in a simple process, is going to be challenging.
Perhaps keeping/purchasing exceptionally small batches of phyto for the dosing system would be more expensive but at least remove the culturing/growing aspects of it. Is it reasonable to expect 2-4 weeks supply of phyto could be kept in a small tank side container with minimal life support systems (refrigeration, etc.)?
I'm also thinking that using a dosing pump to "lift" fluid with phyto could be problematic as they would tend to settle in the lowest part of the tubing. Might be better to use the pump to lift replacement low salinity water up to a container above the tank, and have that over flow into the tank. This setup could also utilize the lighting system from the main tank for phyto growth.
Yes that is one article I read at the time I was doing my research, but this is the thread I was referring to. This was a while ago, so ignore my previous post reviewing the process they took to evaluate coral feeding. The thread goes into more details. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1843241 It is relayed information, but very informative.
Not only that, but you would have the extra maintenance of cleaning the dosers tube and any phyto trapped in the tube after dosing would die and begin to breakdown.
That's why I suggested earlier an overflow feeder. An inverted phosban reactor or nalgene imhoff would work perfect. Supply the phyto with air and use water from the reservoir to replace and overflow the phyto into the return section or refugium of your sump. Keep a light on the reactor so the phyto will continue to grow. You may have to supplement fertilizer or simply just pour a commercial bottle of phyto in once a month or so. Plus doing it this way would be less expensive than buying a dosing pump. All you need is the reactor with an angled tube welded on, air pump, aqua lifter pump, timer/controller, a gallon jug water reservoir and a cheap light.
gogo7
pico reefer
i recommend nannochloropsis. nanno will convert to freshwater. if you're using a freshwater ato, hooking it up to a freshwater nanno culture can kill two birds with one stone. keep it in suspension with an air pump. and a light is good. the culture should be at least five days from being fertilised. understanding cell count density is also beneficial. dense ten day old cultures need to be cut with fsw for dosing. certain filter feeders will not eat the phyto, but waste it, if the cell count goes over 100 000 per ml (ish). sabellid worms will produce 'pseudo feces', wasted phyto...where its not really wasted, but converted to a green slime that pods, hermits, snails etc will feed on.
phyto is a good feed that all your creatures will benefit from.
i never had a problem with doser tubes getting clogged. and there are dead phyto cells in with the live ones in your cultures. so don't worry about dead cells in the tubes.
forget about the expensive dosing pumps, just dump a few ozs of phyto straight into your tank. keep a batch in a small bottle near your other feeds.
phyto is a good feed that all your creatures will benefit from.
i never had a problem with doser tubes getting clogged. and there are dead phyto cells in with the live ones in your cultures. so don't worry about dead cells in the tubes.
forget about the expensive dosing pumps, just dump a few ozs of phyto straight into your tank. keep a batch in a small bottle near your other feeds.
