Help with PhytoPlankton and Copepods???

[sefrayser]

I have been reading and watching vids all day. I want to make my own Phytoplankton and then harvest some Copepods. I have the "just" of what equipment I need and parameters of the water. My question is, What and where do I get the starter. I dont know what type of Phyto and what fertilizer to get. I have seen where people use Miracle Grow.....I dont really want to try that. Any links or info will be greatley appreciated.

 

[skinz78]

First off, welcome to Reef2Reef!

I've never cultured either of them so I'm gonna give this a bump for ya and see if anything comes up.

 

[caudill187]

For the phyto, I'd get nannochloropsis occulata. It is possible to grow/use a mixture of other species to improve the nutritional value somewhat, but nannochloropsis is probably the best as a stand alone feed. Florida aqua farms sells good starter cultures, if you can't get some from a local.

 

[CJO]

Have you looked at this?

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/do-yourself-diy/59497-culturing-phytoplankton.html

Also, Nanno is probably not the best choice if that's all you're using. Copepods don't metabolize that very well. You might want to look at T. Iso and Thalassiosira weissflogii.

CJ

 

[papagimp]

I've gone through Florida Aqua Farms for my phyto cultures and equipment before, very good results. The culturing itself is rather simple. I also prefer to get a few different strains and then when dosing my tank, mix em up a phyto cocktail. They sell the algae fertilizer, which is what I use, but you can make the same stuff, plenty of DIY recipes floating around the web. Alternatively, you can start a culture from using products like DT's live phytoplankton but it's kinda a crapshoot as to what strain you'll end up with. The nanno is very opportunisitic but that's no guarantee. Last time i spoke to meleve on the subject of phyto, he said he was still using miracle grow fertilizer with great results (this was several years back) but I read enough potentially bad things about it, I chose to play it safer and get algae specific stuff through FAF.

for the actual strains, I prefered to use Chlorella, Tetraselmis, and T. iso, no particular reason other than variety. Tetra is a larger motile phyto while the others are bit smaller and non motile. (actually i'd have to double check, pretty sure t iso is nonmotile but the chlorella may be, or i'm thinking nanno... FAF site will say lol)