Question abot melev's recipe to grow phytoplankton

[rz1a]

this is the recipe to follow, but was wondering if its safe to use tap water since its added to the tank. we have a TDS reading around ~700ppm here, so I was wondering if you could use RO or RO/DI?

and is Kent's Essential Elements needed? i was going to use RO or RO/DI water and the Miracle Grow to start off with

Starter culture from someone (even DT's would work, I've been told)
Tap water mixed to 1.019 sg
5 ml Miracle Grow (http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/food/miracle_grow.jpg) 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

[erikharrison]

instead of phytoplankton try rotifers... www.rotifer.com (http://www.rotifer.com) if you poke around on there you will find the directions on how to propogate them in a 5 gallon bucket, of which you feed 1/3 of the bucket daily. You missed an AWESOME meeting.

[rz1a]

could you tell me the benefits between rotifers and phytoplankton?

would copepods still feed on rotifers?

[erikharrison]

copepods will eat detritus. Rotifers are small enough to feed SPS, yet large enough for clams. Randy reed called it "candy" for your reef. The benefit is how extremely easy they are to culture. Fish will eat them in abundance as well. I think it really suprised everyone.

From Rotifer.com...

"Marine microalgae contains the important nutritional elements needed for larval development including fatty acids (especially EPA and DHA), carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, and sterols. Microalgae produces almost no fouling in your system (unlike powders and emulsions) so it is much easier to maintain long term rotifers cultures. The most commonly used algae for growing rotifers are Nannochloropsis (http://www.reed-mariculture.com/microalgae/nanno.asp) and Isochrysis (http://www.reed-mariculture.com/microalgae/iso.asp)."


DHA is the most essential nutrient listed, I can't remember all of the factoids that he shot at us, but he said it's the best overall food for EVERYTHING in your tank.

[rz1a]

i read the part on how to culture them, so it seems like id have to set up a system for phytoplankton and a system for rotifers and feed the phyto to the rotifers.

florida aqua farms' culture kit comes with both rotifers and phyto and the stuff to feed the phyto and rotifers. Melev's version of making phytoplankton seemed really easy. Could i still use miracle grow for plants instead of Micro Algae Grow?

[erikharrison]

just buy the concentrated bottles of phyto from that site. :)