Who feeds their sps phytoplankton?

[cherubfish pair]

Are you keeping a light on it and do you feed the phyto while it is being used up?

Are you growing your own phyto? and how does this compare to zooplankton for you?

I'm just starting in sps and I'm feeding redsea reef energy A&B once in awhile but don't know if i should feed solid food.

[Touring]

I have a thread and asked to move it here about sps phyto and zoo but the mods never moved it so I guess I'll have to start one here.

[daido]

No one has been able to prove what is the effect of phyto on corals, and it's accepted that it doesn't have any. Even though, I like feeding phyto to increase the growth of zoo and filter feeders. I have container filled with phyto, a light and some dosing pumps to dose the phyto and the fertilizer. As for the difference between zoo and phyto, zoo is digestible by corals and phyto is not.

[Allmost]

SPS corals do not consume Phyto.

Idea of dosing phyto in SPS tank, is to feed the live zooplankton in water, so they grow to a larger population, so the corals can consume them.

good read Here (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/eb/index.php)

[sanchoy]

Poopyplankton is all I feed. Phyto IMO is a waste of $

[kissman]

I was getting ready to start a thread just like this, so thanks for starting it! I to wonder about feeding phyto to sps tank. So if you don't mind I will tag along!

[cherubfish pair]

SPS corals do not consume Phyto.

Idea of dosing phyto in SPS tank, is to feed the live zooplankton in water, so they grow to a larger population, so the corals can consume them.

good read Here (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/eb/index.php)
Can the same zooplankton that lives on phytoplankton dosed in our tanks be fed bacterioplankton from ZEOvit reactors?

In other words: can bacterioplankton substitute entirely for the phytoplankton that is fed to the zooplankton? If so, it might be better for me to run a zeoreactor than dose phytoplankton. Allmost, can you pitch in here?

[cherubfish pair]

I have a thread and asked to move it here about sps phyto and zoo but the mods never moved it so I guess I'll have to start one here.
You don't have to start one of your own, tag along here.

[jerpa]

Can the same zooplankton that lives on phytoplankton dosed in our tanks be fed bacterioplankton from ZEOvit reactors?

In other words: can bacterioplankton substitute entirely for the phytoplankton that is fed to the zooplankton? If so, it might be better for me to run a zeoreactor than dose phytoplankton. Allmost, can you pitch in here?

I don't think bacterioplankton can substitute for phytoplankton. Zooplankton thrive on phyto because it synthesizes certain fatty acids, produced through photosynthesis, that zooplankton cannot produce themselves. While the bacteria may be able to augment their diet I don't believe it would sustain them. Even the benthic copepods that can survive mainly off detritus have a much poorer nutritional profile than when they are fed live phytoplankton.

[TarheelReefer22]

Please excuse my ignorance as I'm new to this... do u have to add live zooplankton for it to be found in an aquarium or will it just come in on items added to the tank? In other words I have set up a sps dom tank and been feeding phytoplanton and haven't had any consiterable growth from any of my sps...should I just feed zooplankton from my lfs I have the option of reef snow, phytoplanton by kent and zooplankton by kent?

[TarheelReefer22]

Ping

[cherubfish pair]

I still want to know if sps eat bacteria. Isn't that the whole reason for the ZEOvit method? to feed corals bacteria grown in their reactors?

[kissman]

When i was carbon dosing a lot of what i read was that the added bacteria would benefit all corals by having a better food source, so i would say yes