Phyto for SPS tank

[Allmost]

Hello,
does anyone dose phyto plankton to their SPS tank ?

I hear many ppl saying you should and many saying u shouldnt.

so I tried it fro almost 2 weeks, it increased the hair algea in my seahorse tank . no real change to the corals ! so I want to knwo why do some ppl insist on using them in SPS reef tanks.

 

[schroder_reef]

Good question, I wouldn't dose it in an sps tank. I would in a soft coral tank. Sps eat zooplankton. I guess it goes back to the saying, "Don't believe everything you read on the internet or reefcentral." To each their own.

 

[rireuter]

i was always under the impression that phyto was more for filter feeding inverts such as clams, tube worms, and so on

 

[Allmost]

Good question, I wouldn't dose it in an sps tank. I would in a soft coral tank. Sps eat zooplankton. I guess it goes back to the saying, "Don't believe everything you read on the internet or reefcentral." To each their own.

true, but to some degrees.

the Idea of adding phyto to SPS tank is different, the phyto is added so the zooplanktons in the tank can consume it, and reproduce at greater rate and be consumed by the SPS corals

phyto, as ppl say, is not consumed by SPS, although there are no reall data backing this up.

so that being said, it was wrong of me to expect immediate change in SPS.

but since the hair algae, I stopped, so want to know if anyone been dosing phyto for a long time to see the effects.

 

[schroder_reef]

True, I see the theory. Maybe cut back on the doses. Another idea is feed the phyto to rotifers and then feed the tank. That worked for me in the past. Rotifers are easy to culture if you can get a starter.

 

[reefsic]

I do only because I have 3 large Clams in an SPS Dominant Tank!!! I only dose Phyto once a month!

 

[rireuter]

Why not just dose zoo plankton instead of phyto?

 

[reefsic]

^^^^
I could do either, but I always thought the micron level for Phyto was more appropriate for Clams. I'm dosing full blown Zeovit so that pretty much takes care of my SPS!

 

[schroder_reef]

Rireuter: You can. Some prefer to feed live food, such as rotifers. It's easier just to feed food out of a bottle though. Again, it's personal preference. Rotifers are small enough for sps to eat and they are live, more of a natural source I guess. I can't personally vouch for the increase of sps health because of feeding rotifers. First of all, it's been a couple years, and you need to watch how many you feed, or you will get an algae problem. They multiply like crazy though, it's amazing.

 

[jtdesotel]

I think Allmost hit it on the head. For the most part there is no real proof either way, but I know what I have seen with dosing green water in my sps tank. I ran 4 months without it, then 4 months with dosing. While the difference is not huge, I have seen more growth and most of my sps just look better.

 

[Allmost]

I think Allmost hit it on the head. For the most part there is no real proof either way, but I know what I have seen with dosing green water in my sps tank. I ran 4 months without it, then 4 months with dosing. While the difference is not huge, I have seen more growth and most of my sps just look better.

excellent, this is what I was looking for, so when you dose, the growth gets better right ? even if not a huge difference, the corals must be more happy to grow faster.

I think I may start dosing again, but in smaller amounts, maybe like 1 ml per day or something.

 

[Baros]

I found this article pretty useful.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/eb/index.php

 

[JSeymour]

In order to see true benifits of dosing phyto to your tank, I would think you would want to dose as often as possible, atleast once a day. Extended periods without dosing would starve your zooplankton population inbetween use.

Your hair algae issue was likely related to the phyto introduction, but not caused directly by the phyto. What I mean by this, is the fertilizers in the phyto likely spurred the algae growth. This is why it's often better to feed the phyto to something like rotifers, as these can be sieved out of solution with a series of micron plankton collectors. I would do a 25 micron sieve and a 250 micron sieve. This would give you a variety of sizes for all you corals, as well as remove the fertilizer.