phytoplankton and you

[poolshark181]

hey all, im curious if you guys feed phyto, and if you do, what your target diner is? i have zoanthids, candy canes, gsps, frogspawn, and xenia. should i start feeding phyto?

 

[yote]

I feed DTs phyto about once a week.But I'm really not targeting any of my corals.Its ment more for the micro critters the the corals feed on.
At least thats my take on it.

 

[Doc]

I put in a few squirts of a refrigerated reef plankton once or twice a week just to make sure all my bases are covered. I do not target feed anything

-Doc

 

[reeffreak]

I still think its debatable if phytoplankton actually benefits the corals.It does benefits copepods and zooplankton that becomes food for corals.If you use phyto,use it sparingly like once to twice a week.I see nothing on your list that absolutely needs to be fed.The frogspawn and candy cane will readily accept zooplankton(cyclopeeze,micro reef plankton) and mysis.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

I usually dose marine snow once or twice a month. Even when i forget I see no difference in the health of my corals. They seem to most of what they need from the lighting and the leftovers from feeding the fish. I do notice that if I feed to often algea grows a lot quicker (duh).

 

[Bifferwine]

Dude, I dump phyto in my tank like it's going out of style. Seriously, I go through gallons of that stuff.

 

[poolshark181]

Dude, I dump phyto in my tank like it's going out of style. Seriously, I go through gallons of that stuff.

what do you have in your tank that you dump phyto in for?

 

[Bifferwine]

Some corals feed on it. As do pods and zooplankton and clams.

 

[fatman]

There are a few good phytoplankton culturing sites and suppliers on the web, who supply varying degrees of information about phytoplankton feeding. In general phytoplankton is mainly grown commercially for feeding clams, shrimp and plankton, it is a great food for rotifers and brine shrimp which are appreciated by a lot of corals and newly hatched fish. Phytoplankton is nearly always fed fertilizer for a food when cultured so there is a possible nitrate and phosphate buildup problem attached to phytoplankton feeding.