Growing phytoplankton?

[blakeoe]

I have a hob refugium on my tank and want to put something in it that will grow and slowly be released into the tank via gravity drain to feed my corals and possibly fish. I was trhinking about phytoplankton. Can this be done? The fuge gets light from my halides would this be enough for it to grow?

[boxfishpooalot]

Yes phyto does not need a lot of light. But what they do need is nutrients which is why a slow drip may be dangerous to your tank. IE- adding N,P.

[blakeoe]

is there anything else i could grow in it that would be better?

[Paintbug]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9331085#post9331085 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blakeoe
I have a hob refugium on my tank and want to put something in it that will grow and slowly be released into the tank via gravity drain to feed my corals and possibly fish. I was trhinking about phytoplankton. Can this be done? The fuge gets light from my halides would this be enough for it to grow?

simply put, no it cant be done that way. if you want to grow phytoplankton, then you will need to do it separately from the tank. not just because to the light, but other issues as well. if you are looking to grow something in the fuge, look into getting some macroalgae, and getting a good population of pods going in there.

[blakeoe]

yea that's what i have in my main fuge Cheato and pods, starfish and stuff but for the HOB since the stuff growing in it will be gravity fe into the tank not pumped(chopped) up i wanted to grow some good live coral/fish food. I know fish will eat the pods but do they do anything for corals?

[Paintbug]

some corals will eat pods. stony corals more so. its near impossible to culture zooplankton thats small enough for the corals to eat in a tank. they have very special needs to say the least. even creatures like rotifers.

pumps do very little damage to pods, and other zooplankton. some of the larger ones may get damaged some, but not as much as you would think :)