Feeding large amounts of Phytoplankton to the tank.

[Guest Ominojacu]

It seems to me that corals in the wild are exposed to a great deal more phytoplankton and zooplankton then I am able to provide, does anyone have any techniques for maxing out feedings? One thing I have noticed is in feeding Phytoplankton, is that it has been, for my tank, self limiting. The foods the phytoplankton eat are high in ammonia, if I wait until ammonia levels come down I risk feed phytoplankton to the tank with a lower nutrional value. It seems like there should be a way rinse it, a coffee filter seem to miss alot of the smaller phytoplanktons, which are the most useful. Anyone have any ideas? I have thought that since phytoplankton eventually clumps when in the refridgerator, that I might pippet the clumped phytoplankton out and put it into clean water, I am not sure if that going to work. Otherwise I could maybe use a very small, like .05 micron membrane to filter it, but for that I think I would have to do it under pressure.

[michaelg]

not sure if it is what you would consider a lot for a feeding, but I have been growing my own phyto for years- Usually feed a couple cups 4 times a week to a 58G tank. I grow it super dark- totally do not follow the "rules for culturing it. I am fairly certain I derived a strain that is bullet proof and near impossible to crash.

Don't feed clumps- they don't re-disperse well. If you are culturing it correctly, there shouldn't be issues with ammonia. Filtering it really isn't an option. Yes, you would need to vacumm line it, it would immediately clog up the filter, and probably rupture the algae cells. Centrifugation would be a good option, but not something most of us have sitting around the house.