Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Anyone culturing phyto? I'm on day four with Nannochloropsus and it seems to be going well. Also trying rotifers, but I believe I will need to restart my rotifer culture, because of bad timing. I should of had a good supply of phyto before beginning the rotifers, oh well.. maybe enough will make it through week 1 to restart it, I have more in the fridge that I should be able to use.
I just did a real simple setup and will be harvesting my first batch in 3-5 more days. Once I get this going, if anyone needs starter cultures, I would be glad to help them out.

good thing you didn't show that bag of anhydrous ammonia in the pics. the feds would be knocking right about now

Brandon can you go into more depth on how to do this. There is no way i would do it now, but i for sure will be after i move.

I'm going to wait until I get a system down on doing it first. This is my first attempt and I'm probably doing everything in the world wrong. Let me see that these cultures don't crash and I will.

Okay don't laugh....Alright, I have to ask... I have seen these contrapshuns on several websites on larger tanks, and have often wondered what they were for. So I am going to ask just for the sake of knowledge... what exactly is phyto and why do you run it? or use it? or what is it for?

Have you started dosing the phyto yet? Have you thought about a rotifer culture?

Amy, the theory behind it is that you dose the phyto periodically to feed the corals and other things that can produce some of the zooplankton that feeds the corals.

It is what scott said... Phytoplankton a form of algae that critters and corals in your tank can eat. You can also use the phytoplankton to raise larger critters to feed your tank.. mysis/brine shrimp and rotifers.

I have one culture of rotifers going, but I do not think it will make it, my timing was bad, and did not have enough phyto ready to support them. I have more in the fridge and will restart the rotifer culture this week. I believe one of my phyto bottles is ready, if it does not get any darker by tommorrow , I will harvest it, and the other will be harvested when the same is true for it.

I hope to accomplish a more diverse micro-fauna and better coral growth. I am feeding the hell out of this tank , and see no significant algae growth, other than diatoms on the glass.. so I think it should support a decent amount without a bloom. I will start with 1/2 a cup every 2 days to begin with and increase it from there slowly.

I know I am doing some stuff wrong to begin with, but you have to start somewhere.. for one thing, having that rotifer bottle so close to my phyto cultures is asking for bad news.

Updated: Day 5

Hey there. I cultured phyto and rotifers/baby brine when I was raising baby bangaii's.

If you have a southern facing window that really rocks for getting denser cultures. In the long run, I didn't have the ability to make a sterile enough environment for creating the culture without taking over the whole house.

However, it can be done, especially if you're patient.

Have you been getting your cultures from florida aqua farms? They were pretty good to me during my culturing time.

Sounds like your dosing plan is pretty sharp but you can ramp up and down as needed.

You may be able to keep some rotifers alive by using some of the cultures you have.

I never liked the soda bottles by the way. You should look in the kitchen section for glass or plastic pasta containers. Easier to clean (and clean you must) in my opinion and they have better light transmittal properties.

You won't see increase in nuisance algae right away with dosing phyto. As a matter of fact, you will see less due to the fact the micro is competing for nutritents.

However, if they aren't eventually consumed, they will die and cause a small spike. Its definitely a delayed reaction.

Anyway, I'm no expert but definitely been there, done that.

If you have any specific questions i'd be happy to try and answer them.

I got my supply from Paul Sachs at Sachs System Aquaculture. The prices were better. He sent actual wet cultures instead of the algae disks by USPS, but they seemed to have survived fine.

I thought about the window idea, but only have a east or west window available... I will experiment to see what happens.. thats the fun part of this stuff anyways.

I figured the plastic wouldn't work out long-term, a few cultures and discard. I'll probably end up using glass when I find something I like. Maybe sun-tea jars or some such.

I am REALLY glad you said that about the delayed reaction! Thanks!! I'll just take it slow in the beginning then. I'll probably be skimming green a bit then after adding them.

I think I've got the clean part down from my beer brewing habit.. bleach and oxy-clean is my friend

I'm going to have lots of questions!

JPerkins wrote:Hey there. I cultured phyto and rotifers/baby brine when I was raising baby bangaii's.

If you have a southern facing window that really rocks for getting denser cultures. In the long run, I didn't have the ability to make a sterile enough environment for creating the culture without taking over the whole house.

However, it can be done, especially if you're patient.

Have you been getting your cultures from florida aqua farms? They were pretty good to me during my culturing time.

Sounds like your dosing plan is pretty sharp but you can ramp up and down as needed.

You may be able to keep some rotifers alive by using some of the cultures you have.

I never liked the soda bottles by the way. You should look in the kitchen section for glass or plastic pasta containers. Easier to clean (and clean you must) in my opinion and they have better light transmittal properties.

You won't see increase in nuisance algae right away with dosing phyto. As a matter of fact, you will see less due to the fact the micro is competing for nutritents.

However, if they aren't eventually consumed, they will die and cause a small spike. Its definitely a delayed reaction.

Anyway, I'm no expert but definitely been there, done that.

If you have any specific questions i'd be happy to try and answer them.