Easy phyto-farming
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: DIY
Forum Description: Do it Yourself
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5491
Printed Date: July 17 2026 at 2:14am
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Topic: Easy phyto-farming
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Subject: Easy phyto-farming
Date Posted: February 23 2005 at 1:11pm
Phyto-farming is even easier than I remember. 
Some time ago I was given a 15 gal tank that someone had used as a sump. I removed the baffles and used that acrylic and some aquarium silicone for patching the drilled holes. I placed a 55W pc light over it, hung a spare powerhead in it and added 10 gals of saltwater made using tapwater. My one last cup of Phycopure started the culture. Well, it grew fine until some strange algaes decided to take over growing in the water and on the side of the tank. Soon, the water went totally clear and there was organic crud swirling around on the bottom for a week or so. I didn't want to bother with it. It looked ugly but I left it alone. 
Surprize! 
In one day a green microalgae reappeared in a fairly heavy concentration, as though I had added a half gallon of purchased phyto. The next day it was getting darker so I syphoned the good greenwater into a 5 gal bucket. After I cleaned the tank, the greenwater went back in with an additional 5 gal of tapwater-saltwater and maybe 10 ml of fertilizer. I don't hav a pic of this one, but the pic below, of one of my former phyto-farms will give you the general idea of how it's set up.  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Replies:
Posted By: nellans
Date Posted: February 23 2005 at 1:26pm
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mark, i'm thinking about using an extra 10 gallon tank i've got to grow
phyto. all these phyto growing posts got me inspired. do you think a southern facing window that recieves direct/indirect lighting all day would be enough light or should i supplement it as well? i was going to "cover it" with a piece of acrylic to prevent other things from finding their way in there except when i'm adding/removing. -dwn |
Posted By: Adam Haycock
Date Posted: February 23 2005 at 1:57pm
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I did a batch culture of nannochloropsis in full sun and it did great. ------------- 
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Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 23 2005 at 6:22pm
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I have a feeling this is nanochloropsis because of it's current color and it is the most resilient of the algaes in Phycopure.
I agree with BananaTropics. From my experience, sunlight is very powerful, more powerful than many of us realize. Millions/billions of cells must have gone dormant and then bloomed when conditions were right. Kinda cool, huh! ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: pmpt
Date Posted: February 23 2005 at 6:47pm
| Any pics? |
Posted By: Shane H
Date Posted: February 23 2005 at 10:03pm
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Mark -
Its funny you should mention this now. I too have had several bottles of green water turn clear over the past few months. I have been neglecting my cultures and havn't paid much attention to them. Well I went into to check things out on Sunday and lo and behold the clear water was turning green. Of three 2 liter bottles that were clear, two of them are now completely green. I tossed the one that remained clear and seeded another bottle with my existing cultures. Very odd as I havn't done anything differently. My bottles are in a basement room that gets very little natural sunlight.
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Posted By: pmpt
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 9:20am
| When starting a brand new culture. Whats needed? I have a small powercompact unit I could use for light, or even natural sunlight. I can get a small ten gallon tank, cheap and easy. Small powerhead for water movement. What else? Just saltwater, and buy a culture from any local fish store? |
Posted By: jglover
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 9:39am
| You need fertilizer as well alot of these guys have some extra they could sell you. |
Posted By: Shane H
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 9:39am
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Yep - that sounds about right.
I can give you a start when you're ready. |
Posted By: pmpt
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 10:28am
| What excatly is fertilizer? Where can you get it? Besides from great people like Mark and Shane. |
Posted By: nellans
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 5:20pm
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i'm on the same page as pmpt... if anyone has a little fertilizer to spare at the meeting that would be great to get me going and a link to where we can buy it would be even better so i don't have to keep mooching people for it! i'm going to try and start my culture using a bottle of "velvet green" i've got that is nice and green, i'm excited to start this! |
Posted By: WhiteReef
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 5:27pm
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The fertilizer can be purchased from Florida Aqua Farms. What you are looking for is Micro Algae Grow. https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi?cart_id=9888361.5983*hx1-z6&product=MICRO_MACRO_NUTRIENTS - https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi?cart_id=988836 1.5983*hx1-z6&product=MICRO_MACRO_NUTRIENTS ------------- ---------------- Richard Former 47G Column Reef, Magna 20" x 18" x 31"H |
Posted By: pmpt
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 5:30pm
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I'm just a little confused on what the fertilizer is and does? Is in the start of the culture? Or is it some food that the algae feeds on? But if its food, whats the point in growing green water? Why not just buy it? Help I'm a little confused.
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Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 5:41pm
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What excatly is fertilizer? Where can you get it? Besides from great people like Mark NO! Don't use that stuff. Trust me, get some from someone else. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: WhiteReef
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 5:43pm
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The fertilizer is used the same way fertilizer is used with plant. It is a food source to help stimulate growth. Suzy had a thread on this call 'So you want to grow green water' and explained a lot of this. ------------- ---------------- Richard Former 47G Column Reef, Magna 20" x 18" x 31"H |
Posted By: WhiteReef
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 5:47pm
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So the FAF stuff is fine, just leave Mark's magic yellow water out of the mix... ------------- ---------------- Richard Former 47G Column Reef, Magna 20" x 18" x 31"H |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 6:12pm
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I'm just saying don't use Mark's fertilizer... the stuff everyone else is using is fine. We've been teasing Mark about this for almost two years now... http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=501 - http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=501 Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 6:13pm
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Oh yah, and if you search for Mark's magic water or magic fertilizer or things like that.... you'll find even more references. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: Corey Price
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 6:18pm
Hah! The threads are funny. You gotta wonder where somebody came up with that idea!
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Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 6:24pm
 I've got an older but more established production unit! ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Adam Blundell wrote:Posted By: Adam Haycock
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 7:00pm
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Fertilizer provides the elements (N,P,K,Fe,I etc) needed by the algae for growth and reproduction. The algae also needs CO2. If doing a batch culture (like described by Mark), there should be strong surface aggitation or air bubblers for best growth. Batch cultures work great, but the density will continually decrease until the culture crashes. Before a batch culture is started, all the culture material should be cleaned with a dertergent and light acid bath (5% hydrochloric acid). Ok, this may be going a little to the extreme, but it is important to keep contaminant-free equipment if you don't want to constantly be starting new cultures. Anything that has touched aquarium water especially needs to be cleaned. So why go through all that trouble to have clean equipment? Well, if you don't, you will end up with biological contaminants in your culture and it will either crash or have a severly decreased density. Even if the culture looks dark, it may only be a fraction of its potential density. Any culture aquired locally WILL have contaminants and there is no easy way to get rid of them. Ok, now im starting to ramble.. -------------
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Posted By: nellans
Date Posted: February 24 2005 at 9:32pm
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an interesting note on "cleanlyness"... homebrewers often use something called "one step" to sanitize things that will touch the beer while they're brewing. this is a powder that when disolved turns into hydrogen peroxide, so oxygen is the cleaner. there are also iodine base sanitizers as well. i prefer the oxygen based myself but there are arguements for both. if you're trying to keep clean, one step is a cheap alternative that won't harm your water by adding excess idodine. |
Posted By: Richard L.
Date Posted: February 25 2005 at 4:00pm
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Boy this could easily turn into one of those testosterone contests Adam's Gumbo vs Mark's Magic Waters . . . . by the way Shane- What do you have? Shane's Super Suds? ------------- Richard Alpine, UT |
Posted By: pmpt
Date Posted: February 25 2005 at 4:18pm
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So how would be determine which is better? Any volunteers on tasting the gumbo and magic to see which one taste's better?
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Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: February 26 2005 at 9:04am
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Guys, green water is soooo last year! Some of us have orange
flavored water! I need to get more fertilizer. Should we do a group order? |
Posted By: nellans
Date Posted: February 26 2005 at 10:11am
| i'm in on fertilizer... how long does it last suzy? the $26 version claims it is good enough for like 8000 liters? that is a LOT of green! |
Posted By: pmpt
Date Posted: February 26 2005 at 10:13am
| Where do you guys buy the fertilizer from? |
Posted By: WhiteReef
Date Posted: February 26 2005 at 10:23am
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Suzy - do you use the stuff from Florida Aqua Farms? ------------- ---------------- Richard Former 47G Column Reef, Magna 20" x 18" x 31"H |
Posted By: nellans
Date Posted: March 18 2005 at 12:33pm
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I just bought and recieved a gallon from flordia aqua farms,
there is no way i could ever use all this with my minor phyto needs so
i'd be happy to share the cost of it by selling some of it to anyone
that needs some. -dwn |
Posted By: Suzy
Date Posted: March 18 2005 at 2:33pm
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Darn! i ordered from FAFUSA, too! we could have shared
shipping! I do use the FAFUSA fertilizer, and it has worked great for me! |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: March 19 2005 at 8:55am
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I've never ordered fertilizer, because I know that I can always get it from you guys! Thanks BananaTropics ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: March 19 2005 at 2:21pm
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I've never ordered fertilizer, because I know that I can always get it from you guys That's funny because I've never ordered fertilizer because I always knew I could get it from you Mark. Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: Adam Haycock
Date Posted: March 19 2005 at 3:57pm
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FAFUSA has never given me an estimate on shipping and it always seems to be outrageously high. I remember spending $100 there and shipping ended up being $50+. They definately need to update their online ordering format. Other than that they are a good company. No Mark, thank you for all you have done for me (i.e. delivering 800+ lbs of sand to my door for FREE!) -------------
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Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: March 19 2005 at 5:36pm
You mean Mark didn't charge you a $5 delivery charge? Huh, I thought that was the going rate? |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: March 19 2005 at 5:57pm
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I don't have Mark deliver it. I just have him make it while we're all at dinner after the meeting Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: March 21 2005 at 12:45pm
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Thanks for the confidence in my fertilizer and it's delivery.
Hey, I don't know if I said this before, but I'm having extraordinary good luck with culturing phyto so that it doesn't crash or turn yellow. I've been using 5 gals at a time, half of the culture, then replacing the 5 gals with new saltwater made with tapwater. I do this about twice weekly. Using half, refilling the container and culturing the phyto for 3-4 days before using half again seems to keep the culture going strong. I believe in the past I was trying to concentrate the culture too much which took it to the point of overpopulation and starvation. 
 ask me how often I do a water change.
5% semi-weekly! So that's 40% each month. And the water is green tapwater! I wonder what Calfo would say?
Oh, and with this much phyto at my disposal, I've begun to keep 2 large jugs going with rotifers fed solely on phyto. Right now I'm dumping 2-3 galons of rotifers into my system about once/week leaving a cup or two in the bottom to be refilled with greenwater. Just call if you need rotifers!  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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