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Biogeek - 08-03-99 06:19 PM
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I haven't tried the IPSF product, but have experimented with ESV's spray-dried
plankton, DT's phytoplankton, Wasatch Aquaculture's Velvet Green & Inland
Seafarm's cryopreserved algae pastes. In experiments with the larvae of some
local species that requires phytoplankton to grow, I found that ESV's product
did not perform well at all -- larvae declined over time and all eventually died
without metamorphosing. In contrast, the DT's product and 2 of Inland's pastes (Nanno
& CHGRA) were all indistinguishable from the live phytoplankton I culture -
the T-Iso paste from Inland, however, was a very poor performer (equivalent to
the ESV product), and I'd suggest not buying that one. If you want to supplement
feeding your tank with phytoplankton (which I think is a very good idea), the
Inland product (www.seafarm.com) turns out to be the cheapest in the long run
($32.50 for 100ml squeeze tube that makes about 295 liters of feeding culture -
compared to about $15/gal for DTs), but is also a bit less convenient (you need
to dissolve the freezer paste into some water before feeding) than feeding DT's
or Velvet Green (which you just pour directly into the tank). I guess it depends
on how much you're willing to spend and how much and often you're trying to
feed. For me, the time I save not culturing algae is worth more than the cost of
the cryopaste, so I'm willing to spend the money. I'd be happy to go into more
detail if anyone is really interested... If you're really interested in how to
culture your own greenwater, you might want to check out either the Greenwater
FAQ or the Invertebrate Larval Culture FAQ at http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=reeffaq;list.
Rob
Biogeek - 09-05-99 07:56 AM
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DTs is currently a pure culture of the green alga Nannochloropsis, although in a
month or so it will be a more nutritionally complete mixture of different
greenwater species. To answer your question, No, it is definitely *not* big
enough to feed to dwarf sea horses -- the cells of these algae are roughly
1/200th of a millimiter in diameter, whereas even newly released dwarf seahorses
cannot eat anything small than about 1/50th of a millimeter. Phytoplankton is an
essential food to many reef organisms, and even those animals that do not feed
on it directly rely on it for nutritional input. In fact, as the foundation of
all marine food webs, every animal on a coral reef is dependent to some extent
on phytoplankton for their growth and nutrition. I think it is a very important
part of the feeding of a reef tank, and have always grown my own to feed my
tanks. It is easy to grow (You can find out how from the Greenwater FAQ article
linked from http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=reeffaq;list), but I
still find that I buy mine -- my time to grow the cultures is worth more than my
cost to feed the bought stuff to all my tanks (and believe me, I have a lot ).
Although virtually everyone who uses phytoplankton for a while reports seeing
benefits (except kenbay, apparently), it is hard to be sure what the actual
cause is (everyone sees changes in their tanks over time even if nothing is
changed). Whether the plankton is consumed dircetly by animals in the tank (such
as clams, featherduster worms, corals, tunicates or sea cukes), or whether it
simply fuels the growth of more plankton that feed the corals and other larger
animals in the tank is hard to say, but it is an essential source of nutrition
to all marine animals (see the seahorse thread for some info on the nutrition
requirements of marine animals and benefits of phytoplankton). If it's possible
to feed it to your tank, I'd definitely suggest that you do it. Rob
Biogeek - 09-23-99 06:48 AM
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The basic answer is that a mixture almost always outperforms any single species
in laboratory feeding trials. If you can afford it, buying at least 3 species to
mix fr feeding will be your best bet. In general, the species most commonly used
by aquaculture facilities and public aquaria are a mixture of Nannochloropsis,
T-Isochrysis and Tetraselmis. The Nanno/T-Iso mixture provides a great DHA/EPA
balance for nutritional value, and the Tetra has a mild antibiotic property that
generally increases juvenile survivorship despite a relative poor nutritional
profile (in comparison to the Nanno/T-Iso mixture). In my original post I
recommended against the purchase of the T-Iso paste based on it's poor
performance in our feeding trials -- the Reeds have since set up new cultures
and are now marketing a new paste that seems to be performing much better. They
have also started to market Pavlova, which I recommend against below (because of
the toxic metabolites which it produces). As I say below, the alga can be
cleaned up (which the Reeds do by concentrating and resuspending thier algae for
these pastes) and is an excellent source of nutrition in a mixed feeding
product. In fact there are great reports from some of the aquaculture folks
rolling in regarding this paste, so this may be a great choice to add for a
4-way mixture if you can afford it (I am using this 4-way mixture to feed my
tanks right now, and am very happy with the product so far). I'll also paste a
small section of the info from my Home Breeder's Guide below as well FYI if
you're looking for more specific info on which lagea are best for feeding which
specific invertebrates -- The species of unicellular algae typically used for
the culture of marine invertebrate larvae are as follows (this information is
largely lifted from Strathmann 1987):
1) Cricosphaera carterae - gold-brown
flagellate with cells in the 10-18 micrometer range. Particularly good food for
small prosobranch veligers.
2) Dunaliella primolecta - green alga with cells in
the 4-10 micrometer range. Particularly poor food for most species with the
exception of asteroid larvae, possibly because it lacks certain polyunsaturated
fatty acids (Peirson 1983).
3) Dunaliella tertiolecta - green alga with cells in
the range of 10-15 micrometers. Easy to culture and nutritious, this alga makes
a good choice for the culture of many echinoderm larvae, but apparently poor for
prosobranchs.
4) Isochrysis galbana - gold-brown alga on the order of 5-8
micrometers which contain large lipid stores. An excellent food for most small
planktotrophic species, especially in mixture with Dunaliella, Pavlova, or
Thalassiosira. Recommended for mollusc larvae, copepods and rotifers.
5) Pavlova
(=Monochrysis) lutheri - gold-brown flagellate approximately 7-10 micrometers.
Tends to be a poor food source alone, and may be harmful in dense culture due to
the accumulation of algal byproducts. There are better species available, so it
is best to avoid this one, unless you are willing to rinse the algae before
feeding.
6) Procentrum micans - large dinoflagellate good when mixed with
Isochrysis for advanced larval stages or large larvae.
7) Skeletonema costatum -
chain diatom, each cell being about 6 micrometers. Fair to good food for
crustacean larvae such as barnacles.
8) Tetraselmis (=Paltymonas) suecica - tiny
green alga, about 10-12 micrometers, recommended for rotifer culture, or when
mixed with Isochrysis for molluscs.
9) Thalassiosira (=Cyclotella) pseudonana -
small diatom averaging about 3 micrometers in diameter. A good food for molluscs
and early crustaceans. When mixed with Dunaliella also for echinoderms.
10)
Thalassiosira weissflogii (=fluviatilis) - large diatom, averaging about 20 or
so micrometers in length. An excellent food for juvenile and adult bivalves, and
a good food for echinoderms and crustaceans.
It should be obvious from my
flippant and superficial treatment of nutrition (good vs poor doesn't tell you
anything, really, other than my opinion) that relatively little is known about
either the nutritive requirements of marine larvae or the exact nutritive
content of marine phytoplankton (although that is changing). It is always best,
whenever possible to feed a mixture of algal species to larvae (and our reef
tanks).
A 4-way mixture of Nanno, T-Iso, Tetra and Pavlova would be a fantastic
paste to feed to your reef tank, and that could only be made better by the
inclusion of a larger diatom (such as Phaeodactylum or Thalassiosira). I don't
know what the Reeds or Brine Direct are recommending for the feeding of the
pastes, but you'll ideally want a final feeding density between 10,000 &
100,000 cell/ml in your tank. Depending on the cell concentration of the pastes
you include (that info should be provided on the label), you'll need to add some
amount of paste to get that final concentration. I'd aim for 10,000 cells per ml
at first and slowly increase the feeding amount as the animals get used to it --
if the water clears in less than 10 min, then you can start to increase the
feeding. If you mix the pastes at 1:1 cell concentrations (i.e., if you add 1 ml
of a paste at 1 billion cells per ml, then you'd add 1/6th of an ml of a paste
at 6 billion cells per ml and so on), then you can easily calculate the amount
of mixed paste to add to the tank with each feeding (this is what I do with
mine). If your pastes come at roughly the same concentration as mine, you'll
only require about 1/2 drop of the mixed paste per gallon to feed 10,000
cells/ml. Of course, over time you can increase that, and after the animals get
used to being fed regularly, you can increase it by 10% every couple of weeks
until the water remains tinged with algae for 20-30 minutes or so at a feeding.
I now add about 5-10 times the amount that I'm suggesting you feed, but my
animals are used to it... Rob
Biogeek - 09-25-99 08:53 AM
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There is no cell count for DTs, Jim. The algae are grown and sold as a cleaned
culture, so there is no concentration and resuspension step like the Reeds use.
It is during that step that they can determine and control the final cell count.
Algal cultures can be highly variable in cell count at the same color, so that
isn't even a useful method to guess. There are some simple techniques for
measuring approximate cell concentrations, and Dennis was going to start
measuring the concentration last time I spoke to him, but I can only tell you
that if the concentration of your product is close to the bottle I got, then the
directions land you around the low end of the feeding range I suggested. Rob
FMarini - 10-20-99 02:55 PM
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HI: not to put words in anyones mouth...i believe what was discussed besides
coral extensions was that corals are more carnivores than herbivores, in that
they consume zooplanktons, larval fry, anything like that. Feeding DTs or any of
the phytos did not feed the corals directly, but indirectly in that your live
rock/sand bed fauna can consume the phyto's and reproduces like crazy..thereby
resulting in food for the corals. ALso that if they were herbivores that the
food source had to be "small enuf", and of the right taste. So as
discussed eariler, even thou your corals maybe extending during your feeding
they might not be consuming directly. Personally I have seen an increase in
feater duster worms in my little tank I feed 3 times weekly w/ DT's. Yes DT's is
alive, it grows easily under strong lighting w/ areation. But again as discussed
eariler the cryopastes are excellent alternatives, especially since you can get
a mixture of three. my opinion frank
Biogeek - 10-21-99 06:59 AM
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Thanks Frank -- you're certainly not putting any words into my mouth that
haven't come out of it before. There are very few corals that have been shown to
be capable of directly consuming phytoplankton (even larger diatoms like
Chaetoceros - CHGRA). The primary exceptions are, of course, the chili corals,
many gorgonians and some unusual SPS like Agaricia. However, feeding your
sandbed, microfauna and the filter-feeders in your tank on phytoplankton likely
results in them breeding and producing lots of larvae that the coral *can* eat,
and that benefits everything in your tank (you not only increase your sandbed
and micrograzer populations, but you also feed your corals and even some fish).
DTs used to be pure Nanno, but is now (or soon will be) shipping as a mixture of
Nanno and T-Iso, which will greatly increase it's nutrtional value. These are
live cultures, and they are processed (some carefully protected secret method of
removing all the phytoplankton nutrients from the culture) before shipping, and
last quite well in the frig for at least a few months (I'm testing stuff that is
6mo old right now to see how it performs). There are 5 different species
available as pastes (Nanno, T-Iso, Tetra, Pavlova & CHGRA), although they
are currently sold out of the last one. A mixture of these 5 (or some resonable
subset of them) will provide an even wider range of nutrition and cell sizes
than the Nanno & T-Iso mxture, although this is certainly sufficient, and is
the standard mixture for most research applications. The big advantage of ading
some of the larger species (such as CHGRA) is to provide sufficient nutrition
for the larger tube worms like the Hawaiian Feather Dusters... Rob
Biogeek - 10-25-99 07:05 AM
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For those of you that are interested, I just did a series of cell counts on the
DTs I received. The cell counts ranged from 8.8x10^4 to 9.6X10^4 cells per ml
(which is considered "all the same" in the world of phytoplankton cell
counts). I know there was some interest in this, so I thought I would post the
counts. Rob
jameso - 10-25-99 07:49 AM
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Rob, cool! Thanks for the data. Is that the nano culture, or the mixed
nano-T-iso? I think Fmarini also did a cell count on the old nano DT's. Maybe
he'll post here as well. Cheers James Wiseman ------------------ President -
MARSH - Marine Aquarium and Reef Society of Houston
jimhobbs - 10-25-99 07:54 AM
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Thanks Rob, I'm gonna show my ignorance now...How many drops of the nanno paste
from sea-farms do we add to a cup of tank water to get the equal amount of
DT's?...Please be gentle as my chemistry days are long past I started out with
two drops of each paste{nanno,T-Iso, and Tetra} in a cup of tank water, stirred
and added to tank...Now, I'm up to three drops of each...This is done every
morning; although I've no idea the exact cell count or target amount I should be
using... Thanks for all your help in this as well as other subjects...JIm [This
message has been edited by jimhobbs (edited 10-25-99).]
Biogeek - 10-25-99 12:37 PM
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James, this is still the "old" pure Nanno DTs -- as far as I know, the
mixed Nanno/T-Iso stuff has not started to ship yet (although it should be any
time now). Jim, figuring this in my head (which is dangerous, let me assure
you), it would take roughly 4 gallons of DTs to make 1 drop of the Nanno paste.
The feeding recommendations for DTs should definitely be considered the
*minimum* amount to feed, and if you take my suggestion and aim for a minimum of
1,000 cells per ml as a "normal" feeding amount, then DTs would be
about a 100X solution (i.e., 1 gallon per feeding in a 100g tank...). I'll
double-check the cell counts when I get some of the new mixed stuff. I am
currently running some larval feeding trials on the DTs at the recommended
feeding amount, and also over time as it is stored in the refrig. We'll see how
those turn out. The initial data look pretty good, actually, so maybe the amount
they suggest isn't really all that low. Also, there might be something odd about
this batch I just counted, because when I was testing the stuff I got last time,
diluting 1 drop of the paste into a liter of water was definitely lighter than
the DTs (of course, color doesn't really tell you anything, but it just looked
less concentrated to me) -- I'll Email Frank and ask him what his counts were...
Personally, though, I am now up to adding about 1ml (roughly 20 drops) of the
mixed pastes to my 55g almost every day (at least weekdays when I'm in the
office ), so I don't think you're likely to overdose if that's what you're
worried about. I'd say slowly increase the feeding (like you're doing) until the
water doesn't clear quickly, or until you're using as much phytoplankton as you
feel comfortable adding on a daily basis. That's the balance you have to find.
After all, even the cryopreserved stuff doesn't last forever -- you really have
a couple of years if it's always kept at -20C, less time the more time it spends
being warm. At a couple of drops a day, it's likely to lose it's nutritional
value before you use 100ml -- but at 1ml per day, it can get expensive pretty
quickly! Rob [This message has been edited by Biogeek (edited 10-25-99).]
FOX - 10-25-99 01:02 PM
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If the paste is supposed to discolor the water, I guess I'm way under feeding my
180 at 1 drop of each type per day. It doesn't discolor the water at all. I
guess I'll go to two drops per day and see what happens. BTW, I asked my lfs
owner (who loves DT's) about the crypopaste and he hadn't heard of it. He asked
me how the crypopaste could be alive if it's frozen. I told him I wasn't sure if
it was alive or not. What's the deal? FOX ------------------ http://members.xoom.com/KoryFox/index.htm
FMarini - 10-25-99 03:03 PM
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Mr. Geek: Yes i did do cell counts on two bottles (the quart sized ones), but
mainly did it to analyze the growth phase of DT phytos.... this is preliminary
data and I ran DT's on both a gated cell counter and did a hemocytometer count
as well. ON well shaken bottle(s) i got reading (hemocytometer) of 9.2 X
10E4/ml, and 1.65 X 10E5/ml, however the gated cell counter (Beckman coulter
particle counter -gated from 1-30nM) which excludes debris particles based on my
gate, gave me 4.77 X 10E4/ml and 2.97 X 10E4/ml. I'm not sure which method is
correct as 1) my eye isn't trained to count phytos (as compared to hematopoietic
cells), and I could have either included or excluded a number of cells depending
on their morphology 2) Coulter counter work strictly on membrane charge (to
exclude doublets/triplets) and the gate should have included most phytos (if I'm
not mistaken you mentioned that these phytos ranged from 2-10nM), however plant
membrane and mammalian membranes differ widely on the dielectric potential, so
this could be a source of a mistake. Without looking at the data too precisely,
it appears from my data would suggest that these DT phytos are
"diluted" at or about 1 X 10E5/ml, which your numbers also jibe w/
(w/in 15%). The coulter counter measurements would suggest that viable cells are
about 3.5 X 10E4/ml. My experiment was simple in that I setup 2 container each
holding 2 litres of aged tank water, and airstones in each side...I used a
36" long bulb resting on top..the bulbs was a coralife trichromatic. I
diluted the cells to a starting volume of 1 X 10E4/ml and counted via coulter
every day......in a nutshell...the phytos took three days in lag, and once out
of lag they doubled every 16-18hrs. I ended with a final concentration of 1.88 X
10E7/ml by the end of 9 days. Interestingly, the water had only a hint of green,
on day 3-6 but became more green quickly thereafterbut never solid green. This
is by no means a scientific study. I did this just to see if i could grow the DT
stuff...since many of my friends are using it. It have gotten to the point where
I can remove almost 50% weekly from each container, and add 50% used water from
the tank-no fertilizers and the culture has not crashed (1 month later). Hope
this answers your question. frank [This message has been edited by FMarini
(edited 10-25-99).]
myron - 10-26-99 12:58 AM
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Hello Biogeek, I had been adding 20 drops of a mixture of cyropaste in my 100
gallon reef tank twice a week for 2 months. Larger coral expansion was observed.
Then my jackfish developed popeye. Adding the cyro-paste was the only sig.
difference done in my tank for quite awhile. I measured the water parameters
which still measures where it always was. In particular NH4 and No2 = 0 and
NO3-N =2 ppm. Temp 81-82 deg, alk 3.5 mg/l ph 8.1-8.3. Terry B. mentioned that
the eye infection could be due to a very high bacteria count in my tank's water
column. I feed very heavily but constant. Could the cyro-paste have contributed
to the fish infection somehow? --increased food = increased bateria count? or
newly intoduced pathogens? TerryB suggestion was to do a water change and lower
the temperature. 30% and 2 deg. later,(and no more cyro for now) the fish eyes
have reduced in swelling. Almost normal. The skimmer has now increased its
foaming export, which could be an indication of reduced bacteria activity. What
do you think? Now I wish I had a bio lab instead of an architect's desk next to
my aquarium.
Biogeek - 10-27-99 08:47 AM
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Thanks for the info, Frank. I wanted to know if my numbers jived with yours at
all or not, and that definitely answered my question . I suspect that if your
DTs cultures were like mine, the difference between the coulter-counter and and
the hemocytometer readings were due to clumping of the cells. I went back and
redid the counts using aggregations of cells as "1" rather than the
number of cells in the clump, and I come very close to your readings for the
coulter counter (average about 2.8x10^4). I used to use a coulter counter for
all my algal counts when I was in a lab that owned one, but now that I'm in a
different lab, and we don't have a particle counter handy, I'm back doing manual
cell counts on a scope Rob
Biogeek - 10-27-99 09:04 AM
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Myron -- sure anything is possible. We could spend a lot of time and bandwidth
to discuss what's "possible" (like sun-spots, alien abduction and so
on), but I don't think that is likely to be constructive Sorry, guess that'll
come across as being smart-a**ed, but I'm just trying to make a point. I
sincerely doubt that adding cryopaste to your tank has anything to do with your
fish getting sick. Fish get sick sometimes -- it just happens -- and although
there is sometimes an obvious stress that is likely to compromise the immune
system of the fish, adding cryopaste to your tank is not one of those. I agree
that you are probably adding a little too much paste too fast for your tank, and
it is likely to increase the organic load in your tank. On the other hand, I
feed cryopaste at more than twice the amount you do to my 55g every day, and
none of my fish have gotten pop-eye or anything else from it. People sometimes
throw around the word "bacteria" as if they were all these vile little
bugs just waiting to attack us, but there is as much diversity among
"bacteria" as there is among "animals" or
"plants." Having lots of "bacteria" does not by definition
mean that something bad will happen -- you have to have a pathenogenic bacteria
present before it can attack your fish and cause a disease. Now some bacteria
are certainly opportunistic pathogens that normally have no effect on health,
but in high concentrations can cause a serious health risk (such as E.coli for
example -- every human on the planet has these bacteria in our gut, but if we
get a heavy dose of them from improperly handled food, it could potentially kill
us), and the infection could well be from such a bacterium, but it just seems
improbable to me that this is the cause. As I said above, sure anything is
possible, but I have yet to hear of a single scientific study that hasn't shown
*increased* survival and health of fishes in systems in which phytoplankton was
added on a regular basis.... Rob
Rena - 10-27-99 04:14 PM
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Where can I purchase the Seafarms nano paste Rena [This message has been edited
by Rena (edited 10-27-99).]
Memnok - 10-27-99 04:24 PM
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Rena - I am VERY glad you asked that question! It gives me an excuse to make
this post (which will end in a flagrant plug)! You can buy them at: http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/product.htm#alga-past
(PLUG) - While we are on the subject of nanno paste, can someone glance at my
post titled "Microalgae paste question..."? Thanx. ------------------
Memnok memnok@pacbell.net http://www.geocities.com/southbeach/jetty/9666 Anyone
can spell, it takes an artist to spell creatively.
myron - 10-27-99 07:19 PM
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Hello Biogeek, Naw, you did not come off as a smartas*, just wanted to get some
feedback from you before I restart the cyro-plankton feeding. Cheers, Myron
Biogeek - 10-28-99 07:34 AM
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Myron, despite the fact that I don't think that the cryopastes are the root of
your problem, I would expect that the amount that you're feeding is likely to
cause some water quality issues eventually (although you point out that water
parameters still test normal). I just posted a reply to Ermin in the "microalgae
paste question..." thread (http://www.aqualink-too.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/019807.html)saying
basically that you need to slowly build to that level of feeding, not just jump
right to it. If I were you, I'd be feeding the same amount a Memnok in the
microalgae thread -- roughly 3 drops of each paste in a 100g tank -- until your
detritivores have a chance to build up and are comfortable with *slowly*
increasing the feeding level. Feeding more paste from the beginning is not only
wasteful for you, but is also likely to degrade water quality if you're not
careful. Start slow and build up to the amount that you were feeding as a goal
for about 6 months down the road... Rob
Memnok - 10-27-99 04:16 PM
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I just got some of the Inland Seafarms Microalgae Paste. I purchased one of
each, Tetraselmis, Nannochloropsis, and Isocrysis, in the 100ml bottle. I have
been adding 2 to 3 drops of each to a cup of tank water and adding that to the
tank (100g) each day. I have also been turning the return pump off to allow the
microalgae to remain in the tank and allow better feeding. I let the water
circulate in the tank for about 1/2 to 1 hour before turning the sump back on.
My question is... Should I continue to use invert foods such as Kent Micro-Vert,
and Coralife Gourmet Gumbo? Or is the Microalgae paste taking place of the other
invert foods? ------------------ Memnok memnok@pacbell.net http://www.geocities.com/southbeach/jetty/9666
Anyone can spell, it takes an artist to spell creatively.
Ermin - 10-28-99 04:26 AM
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I also got the microalgae paste. I can't really figure out how to calculate the
amount to dose. My target is 5,000 cell per ml. If I remembered correctly, their
instruction calls for "add enough so water will clear within couple of
hours". Memnok, you add about 6 drops to your 100g. I add about 40 drops in
my 30g. Without skimmer on, the water clears within 30 min....So, I'm wondering,
am I doing the right thing? They said excessive dosage will encourage bacteria.
So, in my case, will that be ok? Maybe Biogeek, has something to say to that? As
for using this paste to substitue other invert food additive, I think it
wouldn't be the same. One is plant matter, the other is animal organics?
Coralife stuff, I've heard, is almost useless though....
Biogeek - 10-28-99 07:17 AM
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Memnok -- 3 drops of each paste (roughly 1.4 x 10^9 total cells) in a 100g tank
should yeild a final feeding concentration of roughly 3600 cells per ml. That is
a good starting point for feeding the pastes when you first begin. If it were
me, I would feed at that level for about 1 month, and then add another drop of
paste (1 drop, 1 species at a time -- i.e., 4,3,3 drops of the three pastes,
then 4,4,3, then 4,4,4, and so on) each week after that to slowly up the feeding
amount until the water remains colored for about 1/2 to 1 hour. If you can see
the color of the water, the cell count is much higher, and the animals will
still be fed for a while after the water clears. As far as the other foods are
concerned, I personally have never added any of them to my tanks. I just don't
see the necessity of adding them to a properly fed tank. I would say that if you
can feed phytoplankton and newly hatched brine on a regular basis, the
nutritional value will be much better than any prepared bottle of "invert
food" could provide. Ermin -- you say that you bought "the paste"
but don't say which one. I'll do these calculations assuming that you picked up
the same pastes as Memnok, but regardless of which species of paste you have,
you are *way* over-shooting your target feeding range. 40 drops of the most
dilute paste (Tetra) would provide roughly 2 x 10^9 cells to your tank, while
with the most concentrated paste (Nanno) you'd be adding 7 x 10^10 cells to your
tank --that will leave you with a feeding concentration between 17 and 640
thousand cells per ml in your feedings -- I'd cut way back on your feedings to
get close to that 5000 cell per ml mark, which is a reasonable amount to feed.
Take 1 drop of each paste (3 drops total in your tank) per feeding, and you'll
come out at roughly 4000 cells per ml in your tank (again, assuming that you
have the same 3 species that are Memnok does). Start there for a while before
you consider climbing back up to where you are now. I've been feeding
phytoplankton to my tank for a *long* time, and despite a dense population of
filter feeders, and a well established population of scavengers, I only feed ~20
drops per day to my 55g tank.... The directions are absolutely correct that
overfeeding will led to increased excess organics that will likely fuel
increased bacterial growth, so over feeding with phytoplankton is still
overfeeding. This is the major drawback of the paste relative to the live stuff
from DTs -- it's pretty hard to overfeed with live phytoplankton, but once the
stuff is frozen, it is just like adding really fine flake food to your tank --
any excess that settles to the bottom will have to be eaten by scavengers or
rot. That is the reason to very slowly increase the amount that you feed -- you
must allow the phytoplankton scavengers (primarily worms, copepods, amphipods,
isopods, rotifers, forams, etc.) in your sandbed time to build up along with the
addition of new food. If you start dumping 40 drops into a 30 gallon tank from
day 1, there is going to be a lot of excess phytoplankton that will likely just
become waste in the tank! I suspect that (aside from ebing bloody expensive)
this level of feeding is likely to cause water quality problems before too
long.... Rob
Steve Richardson - 10-28-99 07:28 AM
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Rob.. your like Batman. I see calls for 'Biogeek' going up on these boards, and
you swoop in (a technical term), and always give informative, detailed (and
famously lengthy ) advice. Thanks. -S
Memnok - 10-28-99 08:20 AM
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Biogeek - Thanx for the info. As always, you are a champion of our cause! While
we are on the subject of feeding, does anyone know where we can get live
copepods, amphipods, isopods, or rotifers by mail order? I ordered live rotifers
once last year, but I lost the bookmark and can't remember the name of the
seller. Is this even necessary when feeding the microalgae paste? Just thinking
that the addition of the microalgae will boost the natural production of these
within the tank??? Yes?? No?? ------------------ Memnok memnok@pacbell.net
http://www.geocities.com/southbeach/jetty/9666 Anyone can spell, it takes an
artist to spell creatively.
Memnok - 10-28-99 08:27 AM
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Allong that same subject... What about the "Rotifer Golden Pearls and
Artemia Golden Pearls" offered by Brine Shrimp Direct? It looks like they
are live food??? ------------------ Memnok memnok@pacbell.net http://www.geocities.com/southbeach/jetty/9666
Anyone can spell, it takes an artist to spell creatively.
Steve Richardson - 10-28-99 09:16 AM
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no... the 'pearls' are not live. I have some... its a freeze dried fine powder.
-Steve
Memnok - 10-28-99 09:21 AM
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Steve - Are they something like brine eggs that will hatch in the tank? Or is
that all she wrote... Dead and dry? ------------------ Memnok memnok@pacbell.net
http://www.geocities.com/southbeach/jetty/9666 Anyone can spell, it takes an
artist to spell creatively. [This message has been edited by Memnok (edited
10-28-99).]
Foogeepoo - 10-28-99 09:31 AM
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Memnok- I've been feeding my tank with the Artemia golden pearls along with the
phytoplankton to increase the size and variety of the food I put in my tank. It
is not live food, more like micro-pellet food (200-300 microns in size). It's
difficult for me to judge what if anything in my tank eats this stuff (Rob?).
I'm guessing filter feeders like large feather dusters, ahermetypic gorgonians,
and small scavengers. I've seen more "critters" since feeding this,
but I also started feeding more phyto and regular foods at the same time.
Ermin - 10-29-99 04:41 AM
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Thanks for the info, Biogeek. I guess I'm doing an overkill now.... I have the
Tetraselmis and Nannochloropsis paste only. Their description ask for adding
enough so the tank will clear up within "several hours". Should I
disregard that and just go with 3 drops first. Then increase over, say a month's
time to about 15 drops max? Thanks.
Biogeek - 10-29-99 08:59 AM
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Da na nana, Da na nana -- now I just need a mask and a really cool car, I hear
chicks dig the car Memnok, I think IA or IPSF will be your best bet for getting
starter cultures. Yes, it's definitely a great idea to continue feeding those
zooplankton even if feeding phytoplankton. They feed different critters, and
even if you're not trying to feed anything else, a healthy population of
copepods and amphipods in your tank helps with keeping the algae under control!
Adding microalgae will certainly help some species, but if there are predators
in the tank, they are not likely to build their populations all that much -- if
you have a refgium, then they will probably be self-stocking, but otherwise, it
certainly doesn't hurt to add some, and I'd suggest feeding rotifers along with
newly hatched (and/or enriched) brine on a regular basis. The pearls are an
artificial plankton -- it's sorta like the finest flake food you've ever seen
I've seen plenty of ads for the stuff, but I have yet to see the actual
nutritional breakdown beyond the basic info listed on the brine direct page. So,
I don't really know how comeplete a diet it is. I'm sure it's beter than nothing
if you don't have access to live zooplankton cultures on a regular basis, but
I'm not sure how close it comes to the nutritional profile of enriched live
plankton. Ermin, yep, I'd disregard the directions if I were you. If you have
those 2 pastes, I'd suggest that you add 4 drops of the Tetra and 2 drops of
Nanno to start, and slowly start to increase the feedings (about 1 drop every
week or two aiming for the same 2:1 ratio) after a month or so of feeding at
this rate. 4 & 2 will give you an inital feeding density of about 8,000
cells per ml and that seems a lot more reasonable amount to feed. I'd look at
about 16 drops of Tetra and 8 drops of Nanno as a reasonable maximum for your
tank if you're feeding on a daily basis. Rob
Biogeek - 01-16-2000 08:51 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DT's phytoplankton is live, but is "specially processed" to remove the
nutrients on which the algae grow. Because it is live, it can certainly be used
to start a culture of the live stuff for you at home, and the link for how to do
that was already posted by clamrade, but simply topping up the bottle and
placing it in the sun doesn't cut it. There are a number of problems aside from
the obvious one that the algae can die and quikly rot if they are placed in a
warm window without any nutrients on which to grow: first, the nutritional value
of algae is determined by the nutrients on which they are grown and the stage of
growth at which they are harvested. There are actually conditions under which
the growing algae can be harmful to the animals rather than beneficial, and if
you're going to go to all the trouble of growing your own algae to feed your
tank, you don't want to grow something that is going to hurt rather than help,
right? Second, if you don't use sterile techniques, you may grow something green
that looks like algae for a while, but you will always end up with a nonspecific
culture of stuff including bacteria, cyanobacteria and ciliates that will
eventually crash. I've talked to lots of people who say that they ignored the
techniques outlined in the Greenwater FAQ link and their algae is still growing
fine after a month. I've never spoken to anyone who said the same thing after
about 6-8 months... It's not hard to grow your own phytoplankton, it's just a
lot of work and takes a little care. If you're willing to put in the time and
effort, it is easy and cheap to do at home. If you're like me, though, and you
figure your time is worth more than the cost of shipping a quart of
phytoplankton that someone else has cultured, then $20 a gallon becomes a
worthwhile investment.... Good luck! Rob
Biogeek - 01-16-2000 09:08 AM
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The cryopastes from Reed's are a great cheap alternative to live phytoplankton,
and I use them myself, but because they are processed and preserved, the cells
are dead, and that has a couple of major drawbacks. First, dead phytoplankton
starts to decompose almost immediately in a reef tank, and if the cells are not
eaten by something within an hour or two, the cells will be broken down by
bacteria. That means that you have to be very careful about overfeeding -- it is
just as easy to overfeed dead phytoplankton as it is to overfeed flake food, and
that alone is the major advantage of using the live stuff.
The best way to avoid
overfeeding is to very slowly ramp up the amount that you feed as the animals in
your aquarium become accustomed to being fed -- there have been a number of
discussions about this topic in the past, and Doug has archived some of them on
his site at http://sites.netscape.net/douglxyzzy/phytoplankton.html Ooops --
guess Doug beat me to it already
The second consideration is that the cells are
preserved by freezing, and despite the recommendations of some companies that
sell the stuff, refrigeration is *not* sufficient to preserve it -- I wrote a
long letter of complaint to one company explaining why their recommendation to
store the pastes in the refrigerator was incorrect and potentially damaging to
the consumers, and that is posted in the #reefs archives at http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen16.html
There is also a product being marketed by Kent now that uses the Reed's pastes
and dilutes them along with some preservatives to make a bottle of phytoplankton
that can be sold off the shelf -- this is even worse than storage in the
refigerator for the nutritional value of dead cells, and even if the
preservative prevents bacterial growth in the medium, the value of dead cells
offered in this manner cannot compare to live phytoplankton!
If you're looking
for a cheap way to provide phytoplankton to your tank, the frozen pastes do very
well and are the cheapest alternative out there. *But* there are a couple of
things you have to keep in mind -- 1) the pastes lose their nutritional value
the longer they sit, and the warmer it is the faster they degrade, and 2) dead
cells are easy to overfeed and unless you pay close attention to the amount and
frequency of feeding in your tank, live phytoplankton will be a better choice
ultimately because they can actually assist in maintaining high water quality
rather than always degrading it when phytoplankton is overfed... Rob
Storage of Cryopaste Rob Toonen Posted to Reefkeepers emailing list,
Thursday
18th November 1999.
I just called BSD and talked to Tim about wether to keep the
cryopaste in the fridge or freezer He said that if you're going to use it up
within a month, keep it in the fridge. If it's going to take longer to use it
up, keep it in the freezer. He said that keeping in the fridge will allow the
cells to disperse better. OK, as I promised I will reply to Kory's message in a
little more detail and explain why the advice offered by BSD is, IMO, poor. I am
cc'ing this post to them, and will let you know what I hear back as well. As I
said originally, I would store the algae paste in the freezer no matter what BSD
recommends. Algae paste is made by growing the phytoplankton, concentrating it
(there are a variety of ways to do this, but I have not asked the Reeds which
one they use) and then using a cryopreservative (the Reeds use food-grade
propylene glycol) to prevent cellular damage (and keep the product from turning
into a green ice cube in the freezer). Typically, cryopreservation is done by
either flash-freezing (dropping the container into liquid nitrogen -- around
-196C) or by slowly bringing the temperature down (1C/min) prior to storage at
-20C for short-term (months) or -80 to -196C for long term (years to
indefinite). The reason that the samples require freezing, is that protein
denaturation continue to occur at temperatures above -80C even though they are
slowed dramatically and some enzymatic processes can occur even at this
temperature. Hence, for really long-term storage of important tissue samples,
storage in liquid nitrogen (-196C) is considered the only option. Now of course,
we're not too worried about that sort of storage when discussing
cryopreservation of algal pastes, but if you're paying money for the stuff, you
would probably like it to have as much of the original nutritional value as
possible when feeding it to your aquarium. Experiments on the concentration of
cells from algal cultures showed that certain species (such as Thalassiosira
pseudonana and Chaetoceros calcitrans) survived the concentration very well and
the cells were easily resuspended and found to be intact if proper care was
taken in the method of concentration. Other species, however (such as Pavlova
lutheri and Isochrysis galbana) were prone to severe cellular damage during
concentration, and the resulting paste of concentrated cells could declined in
nutritional value very quickly. The rate of nutritional decline is dependant on
the bacth and concentration method used, and since I do not know which technique
the Reeds are using, I cannot guess at how their pastes would perform exactly.
However, when researchers attempted to store concentrated paste at 4C in the
experiment to which I am referring, in the best case, nutritional value of the
paste was comparable to uncentrifuged cells after 12 weeks in storage, but in
most all cases it had dropped significantly (animals did much more poorly when
fed the paste) within 2 or 3 weeks! Furthermore, research on the
cryopreservation of algae has shown that different species handle the freezing
process with differing levels of success. For example, in a test of the
effectiveness of different cryoprservation techniques, researchers at the
Virginia Institute of Marine Science found that for the most effective method
tested, 78% (285 of 365 algal strains tested) of cultures had some cells survive
the cryopreservation intact and if thawed immediately, cultures could be
restarted from those frozen samples. The remaining 22% all died during the
freezing process, either due to cell disruption or stress. Cells that simply
died did not lose much in terms of nutritional value in the process, but
cellular disruption leads to almost immediate declines in nutritional value, and
free cellular contents leads to a cascade of further degradation of the algal
pastes and is likely to be beneficial primarily to only marine bacteria at that
point. Depending on the species, the concentration process and the freezing
process used, there is a great deal of variability in the amount of nutritional
value that is preserved in the algae by the freezing process. I would add that
in laboratory trials we have found that most of the Inland pastes perform as
well as live cultures when we first recieve them, but tests of pastes stored for
1 year at -20C (the coldest setting on a regular upright refrigerator/freezer)
we are finding that the nutrtional quality of the paste has declined
significantly and the animals kept on fresh paste or live cultures thrive while
those we tried to raise on the old pastes quickly died. Given that the rate of
nutritional decline is curvilinear (the decrease in nutritional value happens
much more slowly the colder it gets), and we know from other research that
several of the pastes produced by Inland are among the most nutritious, but also
the most difficult to concentrate and fastest to decline in nutritional value, I
would suggest that you not consider storing your algal pastes at any temperature
above freezing. As I have suggested in the past, I personally keep mine in the
back of the freezer and only remove them for long enough to collect the amount
that I am about to feed, and replace the paste in the freezer as quickly as
possible (i.e., stand in front of the freezer to do this, and don't leave the
paste sitting around on the counter at all). The bottom line is that regardless
of the species or the method of preservation, the colder they are, the longer
they will retain something very close to their original nutritional value, and
unless you go through as much of the paste as I do, you're unlikely to use your
bottles up within the 2-3 weeks that was the most common period to record a
significant decline in nutritional value among experimental pastes stored in a
refrigerator at 4C... © 1999 #reefs - www.reefs.org
markrb Member Posts: 813 From: Sutton, MA USA Registered: Aug 98 posted
01-20-2000 09:39 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been feeding my tank phytoplankton once a week is this enough or should I
increase the frequency? Thanks, Mark IP: Logged Steve Richardson Member Posts:
1113 From: MA, USA Registered: Apr 99 posted 01-20-2000 09:57 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Mark... hows it going. You talking about DT's? Spray dried stuff? Cryopaste?
Depends on whats in your tank, I guess. Have you noticed any difference on this
feeding scheme? On a moderately loaded reef, including filter feeders, I would
think 2-3 times a week at least... especially on a heavily skimmed tank. My
impression is that alot of animals that rely on planktonic material or
particulate 'snow' are used to feeding all of the time, rather than periodic
pulse feeding. If you believe you have animals that are struggling...by all
means, jack up your feeding schedule. I've been doing cryopaste every other day,
about 7 drops of tahitian blend in the 75G, along with a couple of grams of the
golden pearls rotifer replacement, and I leave the skimmer off for an hour of so
while feeding. I think much of it is stripped out by the skimmer once I bring
the skimmer back on line. To be honest, Its been hard for me to tell of anything
is benefitting, though I can see my spirobranchus (christmastree) worms feeding
on the stuff...mostly on the golden pearls, I think. If it is DT's your
using...it (has been said) that its harder to overfeed since it is a live
culture. Dont know how true this is...this supposes it continues to live just
fine in the tank. Cryopaste and spray dried stuff, etc... is obviously dead, so
you want to have decent circulation as you feed, and slowly 'ramp up' feeding as
needed so as not to foul the system. random babling, -S IP: Logged markrb Member
Posts: 813 From: Sutton, MA USA Registered: Aug 98 posted 01-20-2000 10:14 AM
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I have been using the cryopaste. Mark IP: Logged reefhead Member Posts: 20 From:
Philadelphia Pa Registered: Jan 2000 posted 01-20-2000 08:02 PM
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Markrb, I use ESV phytoplankton 2-3 times a week. good stuff! IP: Logged Lock
Member Posts: 7 From: Melbourne Victoria Australia Registered: Jan 2000 posted
01-20-2000 08:23 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve, Mark, Hi, Ive heard about the cryopaste, but cant get it in
Australia...and as its frozen, a bit hard to ship from the supplier, although I
have been talking to them to see if there is a way. I have an import licence for
this kind of stuff, so i may see if LFS's want some and sell it to them so I
could ship it in bulk and cover my costs. What I dont know about is the golden
pearls rotifer replacement. What is that ?....who is the manufacturer / supplier
? Can it be used to feed fry instead of true live rotifer. Any info would be
greatfuly recieved. Thanks Lock IP: Logged Steve Richardson Member Posts: 1113
From: MA, USA Registered: Apr 99 posted 01-21-2000 06:08 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lock - http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com sells the golden pearls. Check the
website. Its is supposedly a replacement for rotifers and (I think) is in the
100 micron range... Intended for fry, etc. I can see polychetae in my tank
feeding on them, but havnt looked too hard beyond that. Seems like a good
product, with decent suspension capabilities. I'm not sure that the nutrional
profile is listed on the site, but the gross analysis is on the bag, and I will
post tomorrow if you would like. I'd say its worth a try for you. Shoot them a
letter regarding the cryopaste. Perhaps they can pack some in dry ice for you or
something. good luck, Steve IP: Logged markrb Member Posts: 813 From: Sutton, MA
USA Registered: Aug 98 posted 01-21-2000 06:23 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lock, they are the distributar and not the people that make it. You may want to
contact Reed Mariculture Inc. to buy the pastes at www.seafarm.com They may have
a better idea how to ship internationally. Mark [This message has been edited by
markrb (edited 01-21-2000).] IP: Logged Biogeek Member Posts: 426 From: UC
Davis, California, USA Registered: Jul 99 posted 01-21-2000 06:52 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I agree with Steve -- the answer depends on your tank and what you're really
trying to accomplish with feeding the phytoplankton. The major advantage to the
live stuff is that it is virtually impossible to overfeed it, because aside from
being live, it is less concentrated than the the other products. The spray-dried
stuff is of questionable value as phytoplankton for several reasons: 1) it is
actually not a phytoplankton product, but rather a weird species that grows
heterotrophically and is more-or-less a yeast; 2) the drying process is known to
affect nutrition in other marine algae, and there is every reason to suspect
that the same is true of this stuff; and 3) the drying causes cell clumping such
that the final particle size profile more closely resembles rotifers than
phytoplankton... I don't mean to say that it is useless -- plenty of people
report good results from using it, I just question whether it is actually a
replacement for phytoplankton or a replacement for the other yeast-based
"Invertebrate foods" available on the shelves of the LFS. Personally,
I feed the cryopaste mixture to my tank along with the "artificial
rotifers" every day. I "ramped up" from feeding an initial
concentration of 5,000 cells per ml originally to the current feeding
concentration of 200,000 cells per ml on a daily basis. However, I am also
keeping a variety of animals that specialize on phytoplankton and require daily
feeding to really thrive in an aquarium. If you're trying to feed phytoplankton
specialists (such as suspension feeding sea cukes, flame scallops, or
Dendronepthya), then you'll want to offer them food on a daily basis. If you're
trying to supplement the diet of your sand fauna and the various corals and
invertebrates on the reef that include substantial amounts of phytoplankton in
their diets (such as polychaetes, gorgonians, clams, sponges and many soft
corals), then offering moderate amounts of food several times a week will
probably accomplish that goal.... Rob IP: Logged EdG Member Posts: 46 From:
Baltimore, MD, USA Registered: Aug 99 posted 01-21-2000 07:18 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Biogeek, What is your feeding technique? If you feed that density daily, I
assume that you leave the skimmer off for awhile, etc? Is this in addition to
the feeding regimen you described earlier(in 4" live sand thread). Thanks,
ed IP: Logged markrb Member Posts: 813 From: Sutton, MA USA Registered: Aug 98
posted 01-21-2000 10:06 AM
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In addition to feeding the livesand critters I am also trying to feed my
christmas tree worms, corals, feather dusters and the fun stuff that shows up on
the rock. Should I feed daily or just a few times a week for these guys? Mark
IP: Logged Biogeek Member Posts: 426 From: UC Davis, California, USA Registered:
Jul 99 posted 01-21-2000 07:43 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ed, sorry I have several tanks, and I don't remember the thread you mention --
do you know which tank was I talking about? In any case, I feed as wide a
variety of foods to the different tanks as I can, tailored somewhat to which
animals are in them, but the phytoplankton and enriched Artemia nauplii are
pretty much a constant in all of my reef tanks -- what else I feed depends on
which cultures I have available at the time (e.g., rotifers, copepods, mysids,
enriched adult brine, krill, invertebrate larvae, etc.) and how much time I'm
spending on my tanks right then.... I don't generally turn off the skimmer in my
tanks when feeding, but that is simply being lazy (and knowing that I'm such a
moron that I'd forget to ever turn it back on ) -- of course, depending on the
tank I mostly have either small or useless skimmers on them, and I don't see
much difference in the time it takes for the water to clear with or without the
skimmer running anyway. If you run a very efficient skimmer, you'll want to shut
it down while feeding, although I'm told that in a recent test the folks at DT's
added 2 cups of their product to a clean tank with a downdraft skimmer, and
after 2 hours there was no phytoplankton removed by the skimmer -- if that's
true, the skimmer may not be much of a problem (at least for live phytoplankton
-- someone will have to do the same test for the other products as well, I
guess...). Mark, feeding the live sand and stuff that shows up on the rock both
fall into the "supplemental" feeding category, and a few times a week
ought to be sufficient for accomplishing that goal. Feeding specialist
suspension feeders like Spirobranchus and other fan worms does not, and these
animals really need to be fed on a daily basis to expect them to really thrive
in the aquarium. These animals are adapated to feed constantly on particles that
drift past them, and even feeding once a day is generally considered a long way
from ideal for them, so the more often you feed these animals, the better off
they'll be in the long run -- you just have to find a balance between
overfeeding your tank and polluting the water with dead phytoplankton and
providing as high a concentration of cells to the suspension feeders as you
possibly can... Rob [This message has been edited by Biogeek (edited
01-21-2000).] IP: Logged EdG Member Posts: 46 From: Baltimore, MD, USA
Registered: Aug 99 posted 01-22-2000 08:18 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rob, sorry, should've been more specific. I was referring to the 225 reefG w/
50G refugium. I found that my system was similar to yours, just on a smaller
scale (120G reef and 40G sump and refugium w/ a 7" live sand bed) The
feeding regimen you described was just that, enriched baby and adult brine,
assorted other goodies for the large inverts and fish. You had also mentioned
the phytoplankton as part of that menu. I guess my concern in my system was
exactly the skimmer issue. I use a ETS reefdevil II, which I have always heard
is murder on your phytoplankton population. I was trying to figure out a way to
tell how quickly the phytoplankton population is depleted. If DT's has found
that it may not be all that bad, that makes me feel a little better. I have a
few phytoplankton specialists, so I want to ensure that they have a sufficient
density to thrive without polluting the tank. Hmmm... I suppose I could set up a
drip of phytoplankton culture... I'll have to cogitate that idea... shouldn't be
too hard once I figure out the depletion rate. thanks, ed IP: Logged BORECKI
Member Posts: 203 From: Madison, NJ Registered: Oct 99 posted 01-23-2000 03:46
PM
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markrb; Just to add 2 cents. You have to play with your tank over the corse of a
few months with different foods,scheduals and loads to see what happens. In my
case I feed phito daily, chrio every other day, brine shrimp twice daily, live
rotifers weekly, sea vegies on demand, live green algaes on demand, silversides
weekly. I also shut down yhe skimmer for FOUR(4) hours when I feed phito and
rotefers!! HTH, Boris. IP: Logged Biogeek Member Posts: 426 From: UC Davis,
California, USA Registered: Jul 99 posted 01-23-2000 05:36 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No problem Ed -- yep, that's pretty much the mix that the big tank gets -- it's
actually under the care of a group of undergrads, and the feeding and
maintenance is up to them. Some quarters it gets much better care, and more
variety of foods, other quarters it can suffer pretty noticably (and this
quarter the student obviously does not have the touch )... At least I have my
tank in my office as a constant Using a drip is really the best way to go if you
can manage -- it's a bit more work and it definitely works better with live
plankton than with a preserved plankton (which will start to break down before
it would even be introduced into the tank), but if you have plankton
specialists, they will definitely be much happier with a constant supply of
dilute phytoplankton than with occasional pulses of concentrated stuff... Rob
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