I want to grow phytoplankton in my old tank

Discussion in 'Algae' started by coyle, Oct 31, 2010.

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  1. coyle

    coyle Bristle Worm

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    Is this the wrong place to post for this? I am upgrading to a bigger tank and want to use my old nano setup for raising phytoplankton and copepods. Am thinking the bottom tank will have the bright light and the top is where the pods can thrive in some live rock or something. Any suggestions?
     

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  3. jonjonwells

    jonjonwells Great Blue Whale

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    Pretty cool idea. Phyto requires a ton of water agitation. This is usually done with air lines.
     
  4. coyle

    coyle Bristle Worm

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    I have good flow with a mag3 moving 30 gallons but not much agitation. I'm starting to think some buckets and an air pump would be best for the phyto and pods (also some brine shrimp.) Thanks for the info on agitation.
     
  5. Renee@LionfishLair

    Renee@LionfishLair 3reef Sponsor

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    Not too many bubbles. The cells can get trapped in the bubbles and die, dead cells lead to degrading water quality, bad water = crashed phyto culture. Nanno is pretty hardy, but no where near as nutritious as many of the other commonly available species.

    That setup will not work for a phyto culture. Contaminants are the number one downfall of a phyto culture and it's vessels require periodic steriling for continued growth and health of the culture.

    You also can't have the food item and the prey in the same vessel and expect dual cultures. Your pods will eat the phyto and your phyto culture will never flourish. You could have 2L vessels of phyto brewing and feed it to that tank of copepods. That would work very well. But you would have to keep your cultures far apart from one another or things like rotifers will eventually crawl into the phyto culture and crash it.

    To convert that tank to a copepod harvesting haven, I would put some sponge airline filters in there. Then I can just remove the the sponge, squeeze into a separate container and PRESTO.... pods to feed out.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2010
  6. Maksimsf

    Maksimsf Banned

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    Just set it up for copepods, amphipods and culture phytoplankton separate. I'm in the middle of doing it. Everything is set, just need culture and fertilizer from FL aqua farms and I'm ready. You can't grow phytoplankton in the tank if you have a bacteria/pods in there, it will be consumed right away.
     
  7. coyle

    coyle Bristle Worm

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    As you can see from the picture it's a 2 tanks system, should I just put a lot more live rock in the top and make that a pod tank and raise the phyto in 2 liter bottles off to the side? I've got 16oz of phyto (mixed culture unfortunately for now) and my phyto-grow came today, so I suppose I'm all set. Of course I'm reading I should grow the pods in a dark bucket too.
     
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  9. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    What exactly is in that tank? Some type of brown polyps and.........
     
  10. coyle

    coyle Bristle Worm

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    In the top tank I've got some crabs, supposedly a peppermint shrimp, though I only see his molt lol, a damsel, and in the bottom a mandarin goby and some burrowing olive snails (not nerites.) I am setting up a new tank and most of that can go in there. While I can see maybe getting a big culture going in a separate system I think if I fill that top tank with live rock eventually I could have so much phyto that the pods couldn't eat it all and it could be darker in the top for the pods, but I don't know. For now I guess I'll grow the phyto in some 2 liter soda bottles or something.
     
  11. Renee@LionfishLair

    Renee@LionfishLair 3reef Sponsor

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    What's in the mixed culture? I'm sure you already know, that won't give you a reliable lasting culture. If there is Nanno in there, they will be the lone surviving species when it's all done and said. Unfortunately, nanno isn't what you want to feed copepods.
     
  12. coyle

    coyle Bristle Worm

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    I thought nannochloropsis was what they ate? And yes, that is one of the species. I'm going to start the phyto today in a 1/2 gallon tub with a clamp light on top, put some phyto grow in there and see what happens.

    I poured 16oz of phyto in my nano tank a couple of weeks ago and I can see a faint tint to the water, I think it is living just on the nutrients in the water.