Is diatom a form of phytoplankton

[NMSREEFER]

If a tank is producing diatom, brown haze on glass does that feed coral the same way dosing with phytoplankton does? It other words, does the presence of diatom make dosing with phyto unnecessary?

 

[twizztedbz81]

No, Diatoms are actually small microscopic silicate organisms. They are quite awesome to look at under a microscope due to their symmetrical crystalline structures. But definately not phytoplankton. There are creatures that do eat diatoms though, such as gobies, blennies, crabs, shrimp, CUC in general. But for coral that need some sort of direct feeding you should get phyto or zoo plankton. Or if they'll take it like some will, food pellets.

 

[NMSREEFER]

Thanks

 

[bimini_bread]

Diatoms are technically algae and they are photosynthetic. The question of whether they are phyto"plankton" is a different one. Many are planktonic which mean that yes they are phytoplankton and some are benthic so they wouldn't necessarily be called "plankton" as they're found in the sediment. There are many, many thousands of species of diatoms of all shapes and sizes but yes they do all use silica to make their tests. As twizzted said, not all aquarium creatures will eat them though so I would think their presence does not mean that you don't need to feed with other phyto or zoo plankton. My two cents.

 

[NMSREEFER]

Thanks for your thoughtful response. Another thread is going suggesting that phytoplankton and zooplankton are totally unnessary. I suppose if a tank has the nutrients for diatom to thrive some corals benefit from the nutrients and some actually feed on the diatom. Nor that anyone wants their tank covered in diatom so the corals can feed on it. Just weighing the need to dose plankton while diatom is present.

 

[greatwit]

As others have alluded to, they're not 100% related. You may not have any corals in your tank require phyto feeding.