Who cultures plankton?

[chrishayes]

Just wondering how many go through the hassle of culturing phyto or zooplankton as described here?

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-03/newbie/index.php

Rather than feeding all these powder or frozen reef foods like rods and whatnot, wouldnt taking a small amount of space and time to have natural foods be better for our corals and fish? Plus youd get to feel all "Bill Nye the Science Guy" especially if you got ahold of some beakers and a lab coat!

 

[allsps40]

No worth it IMO not when there are many live liquid corals food on the market. Most are just algae fuel anyways.

 

[Maksimsf]

I used to culture Tetraselmis and Isocrysis. then I bought rotifers and used phyto to feed them. every 4 days i was getting my rotifers population doubled, so I used 3/4 for my tank and another 1/4 to set up another culture. Its not much of a hassle, but takes some space and time. I stopped for a while, I will be upgrading my 28g cube to 40g breeder with sump and refuge. I will be coming back to culture rotifers and phyto for sure!

http://florida-aqua-farms.com

 

[chrishayes]

I used to culture Tetraselmis and Isocrysis. then I bought rotifers and used phyto to feed them. every 4 days i was getting my rotifers population doubled, so I used 3/4 for my tank and another 1/4 to set up another culture. Its not much of a hassle, but takes some space and time. I stopped for a while, I will be upgrading my 28g cube to 40g breeder with sump and refuge. I will be coming back to culture rotifers and phyto for sure!

http://florida-aqua-farms.com

Yeah, thats the same method used in the write up I linked to. Can you give your opinion on noticeable differences between commercial coral foods compared to live? Is it REALLY worth doing? The only issue I see is if you get lazy for even a day you could wreck your cultures and end up with really stinky green pop!

 

[ryanrid]

i do but for a different reason, to feed baby brine which i then feed to my tuka anthias.

i use this product
http://www.reefculture.com.au/store/enrich
the tuka have been in QT but go into the DT next week so will be interesting to see any difference to the tank when this food will be in.

 

[Maksimsf]

Yeah, thats the same method used in the write up I linked to. Can you give your opinion on noticeable differences between commercial coral foods compared to live? Is it REALLY worth doing? The only issue I see is if you get lazy for even a day you could wreck your cultures and end up with really stinky green pop!

I don't use any commercial products for corals, I just use Formula one for everything in my tank, but I noticed that skimmer go nuts the next day I feed with frozen food. Never happened when fed with rotifers. You gotta try and decide for yourself if you want to grow your own. Don't worry about culture crush, just always keep back up in your fridge. Good luck

 

[cbrfire]

I did it for three months, ended up with a a daily hassle, and 2 liters out the wazoo. If you have to have the phyto just buy the concentrated. I had it to grow rotifers and baby clownfish... otherwise I don't really see a use for it

 

[vapor1]

I'm culturing 2 Nanaacloropsis and tetraselmis phyto's and culturing rotifers. Most of my phyto goes to the rotifers, and I feed the phyto and rotifers to the tank.