How often to feed Phytoplankton?

[bdejong]

OK, now I heard a new one. A fellow tank keepers is now telling me that I should only dose my corals with Phytoplankton twice a year. He also told me that since he has stopped using DT's Phytoplankton his notrates are now ZERO. Mine are usually around 5 and just before the water change time they may be at 10 but never higher. He says that its because of using the phytoplankton. I only feed twice a week, and since I only have a finger leather and a small pos of zoo's I use about 7ml of them mixed in with my water. I have never had problems with cloudiness and I dont think 5ppm on the nitrates is to bad.

Am I wrong here? they heard this from some expert, but I have never heard of feeding only twice a year, but then again I dont know everything.

[bobby]

I dose once a week to once every three weeks about a half a tea spoon or less. There are people with alot of corals and dont dose at all, they claim the corals will get food out of the water. I would cut it done quit a bit you dont have that many corals so theres really no need IMO.

[yote]

I been feeding a 1/2 teaspoon of the DTs phyto once a week in my 55. So far I been getting zero nitrates when I test,which is every night.
In my 30 I feed the phyto once a week,DTs oyster eggs once a week,and kent zooplex once a week,in addition to feeding my fish every other day and the nitrates in there barely hit 10.
Of course I dont feed em all on the same day.

[reeffreak]

Anything you use rather it be phyto,mysis,zooplankton or any food for coral and fish will add to the nitrate.Doing regular water changes,refugium etc. will help keep it near zero.5 is definitely not bad at all.

With the corals you have there isn't really any need to and unless your like me looking for rapid growth.
I feed phyto twice a week(capful) and my nitrates stay at ZERO.

[bdejong]

Sounds like a plan to me. From what I have read tonight corals feed all the time. They dont just feed twice a year when the plankton blooms. I would expect in a 29 gallon tank that getting the nitrates down to zero all the time would be a tough task. I also imagine that in a much larger aquarium it would be more feasable. the gentleman that I was talking to has a 65 gallon setup, so I can see that he may be able to run lower levels than I. I think 5-10 is pretty good for a 29 gallon with a lot of rock and three fish.

I will continue and maybe cut back to only once a week, but I cant see starving them to test out a theory.

[reeffreak]

Remember phyto is just a supplemental food source for your corals.The lighting will provide most of what they need.

[yote]

Read on another forum too,that as long as your trates dont go over 40 that you'd be alright.I how ever dont think that I would want to test that theory either.

[AndyB4784]

I dose phyto once per day. just don't use as much as the bottle says. Remember that your corals don't eat the phytoplankton, it's the organisms that the corals eat that are the primary consumers of the phyto. by feeding them every day starting with small amounts and slowly working your way up in dose size you will be able to establish a good amount of coral food in your tank.