I would like to start gowing my own Phytoplankton. I have read about how to do it on Melevsreef.com. It seems pretty easy. I was wondering if anyone in the club would have a starter culture or be able to help me get started? Let me know.
Thanks
give me a little over a week and I will have more to sale. you can start the culture with the 8 oz bottle witch will start 2 2 liter bottles. I will pm you when its ready again. or pm me in about 1 week
craig
I don’t believe anyone in the club is culturing any currently. Two formers members did a couple of times, but it was so time consuming and with colony crashes and the cost of reordering live… DTs(though it won’t be available for a little while as they are moving facilities) , ReedMariculture, and there is another I forget. Just find something with an expiration date on it.
That being said I’ve fed dead bottled phytoplankton for years and seen the same benefits as feeding “live”. Currently I use Brightwell’s, but I’ve used other brands in the past.
Biggest question is why would you like to grow some? Want to feed rotis to feed clownfish fry? Get a hold of ChrisAndBarb or KaptKen and ask them what they use.
Want to feed other animals in your display? At this point in time I don’t think there is a massive benefit to “live” over the bottled stuff.
Just my two cents.
+1… the stuff Chris gets in a concentrated paste seems like the easy, and less expensive way to go!
Gordonious
I want to see if it will have a positive effect on my tank. I want to start feeding my SPS corals and i read that by adding live phytoplankton it will increase the amount of zooplankton for the SPS corals to feed on. Just something to try. I have a few encrusting montiporas that are starting to bleach. Other SPS corals, Acros, Plating Montis, Other encrusting Montis, are all doing fine. Don’t know why i have only a few bleaching. Thought maybe adding some food might help.
Craig
How much are you selling a bottle for when it is available? Do i just split the 8oz culture add an airstone plus light and wait? Thanks.
Saltcreep
Is the paste live? Do you grow it like regular plankton?
Thanks everyone for your responses
Matt
I would exhaust a lot of other options before taking the time to culture phyto plankton which after months of feeding could slightly increase your zooplankton population which could help your corals color up.
I’m assuming Ca, Alk, and Mg are dead on where they need to be, pH is stable night and day, temp where it should be, bulbs not too old? (sorry I don’t read all the threads here any more, not aware of your tank situation)
You can easily cut to the chase and go grab some zooplankton from and LFS today, live or dead. Honestly most successful aquarist feed dead bottled plankton. Not to take anything away from a natural eco system, but if your a bit worried about your corals and want them to color up this year vs next a quick trip to an LFS could get you where you want to be.
Something else to consider. Instead of your corals putting out energy to capture live food, or even collect dead food for that mater, and then digesting it and breaking it down and building it into amino acids, how about adding a bit of amino acids to the tank directly. This could get your corals full up with an energy reserve in no time and limit the possibility that they are starving. I personal use CoralAmino from Brightwell, locally made, great quality control, and good price compared to European brands.(hurts the natural reefs less when you buy local and less trucks and plains use fuel)
Just some food for thought, pun intended. 
This is an interesting study I came across awhile ago pertaining to absorption of amino acids by hard corals. I have always used a combination of DT’s and Marine Snow for my tank.
How much are you selling a bottle for when it is available? Do i just split the 8oz culture add an airstone plus light and wait? Thanks.
here is the mix to make it work
Tap water mixed to 1.019 sg
5 ml Miracle Grow Houseplant liquid food, per bottle, per batch
1 ml Kent’s Essential Elements
Lighting 16 hours of light, 8 hours of darkness regulated with a timer
Steady bubbling of air via rigid tubing to the base of the bottle
Shaken slightly each day to stir up the solution from the bottom.
you take my 8 oz and put split that between the 2 bottles
the bottle is $ 4 plus shipping
Thanks everyone for your input. I think i am going to try the Brightwells stuff it seems to have good reviews. Also i think the plankton will be cheap and fun and wouldn’t mind seeing if i can keep it alive plus dose the tank with it. I just did a water change tonight and only ever test my Calc and Alk. Usally my Calc is around 380 or higher and the Alk is around 7 or 8. I know those are a both on the low side i dose almost everyday. My bulbs are 250 watt MH and they are approx 6 months old. I just don’t know why a few montipora corals are starting to lose color when i have some frags of the same corals that look to be doing better than the actual colonies they came from. Will see if any of this stuff helps them improve. Thanks everyone!
I think a nice side benefit of feeding the tank LIVE phyto is that while the lights are on, it grows, multiplies and consumes nitrates and phosphates in the tank water too. and feeds micro fauna as well as the corals.
[quote=“kaptken, post:10, topic:4367”]
I think a nice side benefit of feeding the tank LIVE phyto is that while the lights are on, it grows, multiplies and consumes nitrates and phosphates in the tank water too. and feeds micro fauna as well as the corals. [/quote]
+1
For me this is the most important benefit of feeding live phytoplankton. Even if you over do it, it’s all good. And will not pollute the system like dead stuff. Also as side note, there was study done about live and dead phytoplankton, guess what was much much better? LIVE
TFP have the best price $26 for 32oz of DT’s
yeah, DTs is pretty good. more in dormant hybernation than alive i think. i mean you keep it in a dark fridge for months. but i got a bottle from DPA the other day just in case. it seems they will be offline for a while while they move their phyto farm to Floriduh.
http://reefbuilders.com/2011/06/26/dt-phytoplankton/
But they will be back up and running in a couple months growing phyto under the sun in a nice warm greenhouse. maybe it will cost less.
Thanks for info on DT’s, Jon mentioned also. I always have few bottles in “fish” fridge. I think will make a run this weekend to TFP to stock up.
Now that yous guys got me thinking about phyto , i remembered a grow system GARF used way back. took a while to find the link, but here it is. Leroys green water and bug growing rack. a DIY , of course.
http://www.garf.org/39/BOB.html
the interesting thing is, they use old tank water to start their cultures, and then have a method of separating out the best, free floating strain of phyto to grow, and not the green stuff that grows on the glass. Just a little bit of kitchen lab work.
[quote=“mortyn02, post:9, topic:4367”]
I just did a water change tonight and only ever test my Calc and Alk. Usally my Calc is around 380 or higher and the Alk is around 7 or 8. I know those are a both on the low side i dose almost everyday. My bulbs are 250 watt MH and they are approx 6 months old. I just don’t know why a few montipora corals are starting to lose color when i have some frags of the same corals that look to be doing better than the actual colonies they came from. [/quote]
If you are only testing the two and are dosing daily you are going to watch your levels continue to fall. You are only paying attention to 2/3 of the equation(actually less that that, but rounding a bit). If anyone has ever told you that you only need to test for those two ignore any other advice they’ve given you(unless they said doing frequent water changes is good) and pick up a magnesium test kit. I’d recommend Elos.
Come on sand bed snobs. 
A newby is asking for help and no ones offering any. Stop pulling an ostridge(get your head out of the sand). I’m surprised at both of you.