phyto

[ServantSoldier]

Any good resources with good explanations of what is needed to establish and care for phtyoplankton that you can recommend? I would like to start growing in a 10gal if possible. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks a bunch!

[lancer99]

Florida Aqua Farms (https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi) have been around since like, forever...their site isn't easy to navigate, and doesn't have a great deal of info, but has just about anything you could think of to buy.

Melev (http://www.melevsreef.com/phytoplankton.html) has a good page about culturing phyto.

HTH,
-R

[ServantSoldier]

thanks for the resources

[Triterium]

Why do you want to add phyto to your tank? I would bet over 9 out of 10 people add phyto when they don't need to.

I have grown many species of phytoplankton. I had a whole lab setup for it. I had agar plates, small test tube cultures, haemocytometers, glass beakers. I kept these cultures going by using various isolation techniques (ie using a microscope to capture a single cell and growing it into a culture.

Unless you have a hard-to-keep animal (ie baby seahorses), don't bother with adding (or growing) phyto.

If you really want to grow it, i'd love to answer any questions (although there is a lot of info just a search a way).

[ServantSoldier]

I'm growing phyto in order to feed rotifers I plan on propagating. Have in info on those? :-) That will be my next post once I have a system of phyto going. Additionally, I'm going to feed phyto to my fuge.

[Triterium]

Yeah, i've grown lots of rotifers.... What are you feeding the rotifers to?

I really love phyto/zoo plankton. I grew lots of different species but hardly ever added it to my tanks. lol, i just like growing them for the challenge some of the species require. If you can grow Isochrysis (Tihitian strain), you're doing good.

Do some searches on yahoo or on this site (if you can get the search function to work). There are a TON of good web pages on how to do it.

A good book to look into is "Plankton Culture Manual" Its written by the guy from Florida Aqua Farms. It's seriously the best book for beginner to advanced. Talks about how to grow pretty much anything you would want, phyto, rotifers, mysis, copepods, etc.

I used the 2-liter bottle method with rigid air tubing. Do some searches and you will get lots of good threads.

I would not recommend growing it in a 10 gallon tank. The large open top increases chance of contamination. Things must be sterile. Don't let tank water get into the culture water. There are lots of zooplankton that will crash a culture.

Bottom line: It can be a hassle to grow the stuff and the benefits aren't that great for most reef tanks. I can only think of a few people who actually need to grow it (ie fish breeders)

[Triterium]

woops double post :o

[billsreef]

There's a real good thread (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=135137) on growing phyto, rotifers, etc. that is stickied in the Breeding Forum.