Inorganic removal using Phytoplankton

[DrBlueThumb]

Will the increase in sponges and coral caused by the addition of phytoplankton reduce the amount of inoganics and organics in the water? And if this does not work will the increase in mini clean up crew from the phyto eat the organics before it turn into inorganics reducing inorganics?

[DrBlueThumb]

Bacterioplankon I will assume comes from phyto and copepods for the most part and they are smaller then 2 um? making them a perfect size organic? for coral and sponges?

[DrBlueThumb]

I read that phytoplankton can suvive for 5 plus days with out inorganics does this sound true? If so and I have to check my notes but lets say I put 5 ml of f2 ferilizer per 1 G of new saltwater then I culture for several days and this hypothetically used up the 5 ml of ferilizer. if I went 12 days would this not ensure that all of the added ferilzer was used up and that I am not dumping in my tank inorgaincs but organics (phytoplankton)?

Now if I can dump a tad bit extra phytoplankton then what my biological load consumes, then would there be a slight chance that photosynthesis from my lights may work with the extra phyto to consume inorganics P/N in my tank?

Is this worth looking into? it will be a fine balancing act of phytoplankton

[oceanarium]

If you google 'Phyto reactors' you will find a whole range of products used for the purpose of adding live phyto plankton to your aquarium.

It is a very good food source for many inverts and some soft corals. Also a good way to feed and increase pods mysids etc that can intern feed fish, corals etc. That is why most people add them.

Like adding any food source the net result is you are also adding nutrients to the tanks 'nutrient cycle' some will be taken up in the food web and if you add too much others will decompose or continue to cycle.

So if your adding the 5ml of F2 fertilizer via phyto the tanks biomass must increase to help keep the status quo in combination with a nutrient export program skimmer, Phosphate absorption, water changes etc.

Pete

[Onsan]

any organism that grows/lives are a net consumer of matter during its life, both organic and inorganic. can't gain mass or expend energy and not be.

[Onsan]

doubled

[Onsan]

I read that phytoplankton can suvive for 5 plus days with out inorganics does this sound true? If so and I have to check my notes but lets say I put 5 ml of f2 ferilizer per 1 G of new saltwater then I culture for several days and this hypothetically used up the 5 ml of ferilizer. if I went 12 days would this not ensure that all of the added ferilzer was used up and that I am not dumping in my tank inorgaincs but organics (phytoplankton)?

Now if I can dump a tad bit extra phytoplankton then what my biological load consumes, then would there be a slight chance that photosynthesis from my lights may work with the extra phyto to consume inorganics P/N in my tank?

Is this worth looking into? it will be a fine balancing act of phytoplankton

If you starve an organism of nutrition, be it organic or inorganic, it begins using stored energy to survive. If this is occurring the nutritional value of the organism is compromised.
I would suggest you examine it from a mathematical perspective, ie: you look at the volume and concentration of the dissolved nutrients you intend to feed to the tank and the dilution of that in your total mass of water in the tank.
eg:
1 L of high density phyto/zoo with Tot. N of 5mg/L and Tot. P of 0.5mg/L feed to a 500L tank/day

net input /day would amount to a 0.01mg/L and 0.001mg/L increase in loading on the system, not a lot.

One approach would be to run a continuous culture with as low a level of nutrients as required to sustain the population, to achieve this you would need to set up a dosing system that dosed the consumption of the nutrients by the population each day. You would need to regularly analyse the cultures water and monitor the population, you must be consistent and regular in both inputs and harvesting to hope to achieve a stable system, this is not an easy task.
Die offs in a bloom not only result in an excess of unconsumed nutrients but also the dumping of bio-accumulated nutrients released through decomposition.

Another way is to invest in a centrifuge and do batch cultures, then you don't have to worry about nutrients so much as you increase the density of pyhto relative to the volume of water.

[DrBlueThumb]

Organisms such as phytoplankton starve if they live off it's stored nutrients making them less nutritious. I will look into culturing my phytoplankton by dosing inorganics daily and then measuring density and checking for dead cells.




I did this experiemnt on a 20G, where it was full of soft coral. This soft coral consumes organics and inroganics.

Autotrophic/heterotrophic and mixotrophic sponges,bacteria were also present

Other organic consumers were: Copepods,mini snails, chittons,worms,mini serpent stars,. limpets, bacteria etc.

System included: Tap water @ 150 ppm,heater,flow,1 cup of GAC reactor, light,L.R,aragonite,pod piles,2 percs,algae blenny, 3 dsb.

Maintenence: 10 % weekly water change. Daily 1 cup addition of phytoplankton. Monthly 1 cup change of carbon,feeding every other day. scrape one side of glass every other day while leaving the back dirty.

Testing: salinity and temp that is it.

On this 20G, I was up to 1 cup dailly of nannochloropsus oculata.

I make the assumption that the large amount of phyto i cultured with f/2 fertilizer in it, may have extra inroganics in it from unused f2 ferilizer.

Even the tap water has chlorine etc in it.

But that it was used up once the large amount of phyto was added because the bioload of consumers, consumed a large portion of the phyto, while the small amount of phyto left over grew with photosynthesis. When the unused phyto grew, it took out the chlorine,ammonia,inorganics in the tank along with the waste from the fish's, if there was any left over from the critters,coral,sponges.photosynthetic bacteria not cunsuming the organics before breaking down into inorganics.



I want to prove that pyto can take out inorganics whether that is directly or indirectly! I would also like to run over my next 100G experiemnt with people too, if anyone is interested? I want to keep it similar to my last experiemnt but take it to the next level!

This time with a rodi, small refuge and skimmer to see if I can get by without scraping the glass as much and to analyze the growth of cheeto and skimate. along with lowering the f2 fertilizer in the culture of phyto and adding another phyto higher in DHA and that is motile such as iso phyto.

[DrBlueThumb]

If you google 'Phyto reactors' you will find a whole range of products used for the purpose of adding live phyto plankton to your aquarium.

It is a very good food source for many inverts and some soft corals. Also a good way to feed and increase pods mysids etc that can intern feed fish, corals etc. That is why most people add them.

Like adding any food source the net result is you are also adding nutrients to the tanks 'nutrient cycle' some will be taken up in the food web and if you add too much others will decompose or continue to cycle.

So if your adding the 5ml of F2 fertilizer via phyto the tanks biomass must increase to help keep the status quo in combination with a nutrient export program skimmer, Phosphate absorption, water changes etc.

Pete

Will look into phytoreactor.

So if I add 5 ml for example to a G of salt water and culture phyto for 7 to 12days, how much f2 fertilizer would then be present in the 1G? % wise would it be approx 10%.

How would i go about lessening the f2 fertilzer in the culture? should I split it every 7 day and be consistant then adjust the fertilizer.

How would I test this? can I buy a 2500X scope and check for the phyto density or the presence of inorganics? or are inroganics too small to be seen?

Srry for the question I would like to fine tune things because I know I am adding P/N to my display that is not necessary.

[Onsan]

I want to prove that pyto can take out inorganics whether that is directly or indirectly!

You don't have to. Phytoplankton are autotrophs, by definition they synthesis their own energy from inorganic compounds, they do not require external organic consumption for energy.