Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

I've been researching this a good bit, and I think I'd like to try it. Has anyone here tried it? If anyone has, I would be willing to buy some to get started.......

Sorry, I don't have or culture phyto, but you should be able to easily start one using something like DTs, other live phytoplankton feeds, preserved algal plates, etc. pretty cheaply. Are you using the miracle grow method?

Maybe you could post on the FL Panhandle section of Reefcentral and try and pick up some at their upcoming meeting.

Amphiprion wrote:Sorry, I don't have or culture phyto, but you should be able to easily start one using something like DTs, other live phytoplankton feeds, preserved algal plates, etc. pretty cheaply. Are you using the miracle grow method?

what is the miracle grow method? I was thinking about getting into this just in case my cardinals decide to have more babies. I was planning on the 2 liter bottle method. I was also going to do rotifers. I'll have to wait and see if they do have more and if so then i'll think about it. If I don't see them carrying anymore I won't waste my time.

Fishfood, the Miracle Grow method is using Miracle grow instead of Macro grow to grow your phyto; here's a link that explains it all:

Melev's Reef: Phytoplankton

It's not just for baby fish, it's for corals as well. That's what I'm more interested in......

Amphipirion, I was planning on using the Miracle Grow method. I know I can buy DT's, but was really wanting to start from a homeade brew.

HAMsmith, I'll check on posting on the Panhandle site.....that might be my best opportunity to get some.

If I do decide to try it, I'll let you guys know of the progress, and then I may be able to offer some up for trades and such.....and of course, give some away at one of the meetings.....

yea i know its for coral too. I'm just not too interested in keeping it going for coral. Did you look into getting a starter culture from on line. I saw one place that had them for fairly cheap. Does anyone around here carry DT's? I had some a long time ago. I don't think I noticed any difference with my coral and decided it was too expensive to continue using.

DTs might work if you don't mind having a mixed phyto culture. That in itself can be a pain to work with since those three cultures that are in the bottle have difference growth rates and nutrient demands.
Otherwise, I suggest two places:
First-Aquatic Eco-systems
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fus ... ons/sid/32
2nd-Florida Aqua Farms
I've personally not ordered from these places, but they've got a good rep. I was going to suggest Bigelow Lab the place where I used to order from, but it looks like they might charge the average home user way more than the previous two. We used to get academic discounts .http://ccmp.bigelow.org/ Might be worth the call to ask for those who are looking for something besides the top 3 culture strains.

EDIT-I don't know much about the miracle grow method, but looking at Melev's page he has a pic of f/2 medium (algae fertilizer) from Fl Aqua Farms. Last time I checked that bottle picture only cost $13 shipped and it goes a LONG way! A cultured hundreds of gallons of the stuff and only used a fraction of the bottle. Actually, looking at his recipe, you would use a lot less f/2 than miracle grow and you'd be using something that is made for cultuing marine algae.

Not to sound like a total idiot but, why would someone grow phytoplankton? I promise i'm not being a smart a$$, I really don't know. There are so many things for me to learn in this hobby. I like asking questions when there is something I've now been involved with.

Thanks,
Buzz

Suziq21 wrote:DTs might work if you don't mind having a mixed phyto culture. That in itself can be a pain to work with since those three cultures that are in the bottle have difference growth rates and nutrient demands.
Otherwise, I suggest two places:
First-Aquatic Eco-systems
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fus ... ons/sid/32
2nd-Florida Aqua Farms
I've personally not ordered from these places, but they've got a good rep. I was going to suggest Bigelow Lab the place where I used to order from, but it looks like they might charge the average home user way more than the previous two. We used to get academic discounts .http://ccmp.bigelow.org/ Might be worth the call to ask for those who are looking for something besides the top 3 culture strains.

EDIT-I don't know much about the miracle grow method, but looking at Melev's page he has a pic of f/2 medium (algae fertilizer) from Fl Aqua Farms. Last time I checked that bottle picture only cost $13 shipped and it goes a LONG way! A cultured hundreds of gallons of the stuff and only used a fraction of the bottle. Actually, looking at his recipe, you would use a lot less f/2 than miracle grow and you'd be using something that is made for cultuing marine algae.

True on the varying growth rates, but the amount of npk in miracle grow is substantial and should provide plenty of excess, allowing for the growth of all the species (unless one is particularly better at sequestering nutrients than the other, which I don't think is the case, or it would be more difficult for DT's to do what they do). The algal fertilizer has lower amounts of all npk and in differing percentages.

Buzz wrote:Not to sound like a total idiot but, why would someone grow phytoplankton? I promise i'm not being a smart a$$, I really don't know. There are so many things for me to learn in this hobby. I like asking questions when there is something I've now been involved with.

Thanks,
Buzz

It is cheaper in the long term to culture your own (as opposed to DT's and similar products) and is relatively easy. It is also beneficial for most filter feeders, namely clams, copepods, feather dusters, etc.

DTs raises pure cultures then mixes them during the bottling process. It would not be wise to do anything other than that. IME we observed different growth rates and nutrient demands in our phyto, which are some of the ones DTs uses in their mixes. Either way, we used less F/2 per liter of culture than what Melev is suggesting for miracle grow and that was with the concentration that provided the max growth without wasting F/2.
We tried (albeit not intentionally at first) raising mixed cultures and it did not work well.

So DT's does use pure culture, eh? It is certainly possible to do mixed cultures-- very easily, in fact. I know many a person who actually just took samples of natural seawater, strained them through a fine filter (enough to filter zooplankters) and used that as a culture for many years. Those cultures contained at least 4 species. You may be wasting some fertilizer with the miracle grow, but it is fairly cheap, and you don't have to worry about nutrient depletion.

On another note, I found that pure, sterile cultures crashed at a much higher rate than ones that were not so diligently cleaned/pure.

Buzz, phyto is food for corals and also food for rotifers. Basically, it's food for the little things!