Question About DTs?

budsreef

Active Member
Market
Messages
1,659
Reaction score
0
Every now and then I see someone post that they dose their tank with DT Phytoplankton which I know is good for filter feeders, but at what point does it make sense to use it and who or what all benefits from it?
 
Primarily filter feeders like feather dusters and clams (including tridacnids), but there are all sorts of other benefits. For instance, I get blooms of zooplankton at night that must be food for the corals, and I think they benefit from the phyto. I'm not and expert on coral food, but I don't think LPS or SPS directly consume phyto.
 
I think they do as well. I know that my fish eat the phyto when i put it in there as well. I think it is good for all of the little creatures in your aquarium (copepods, etc).
 
Copepods will consume phyto as well as a host of other potential organisms. In turn, they are consumed by still more. Phytoplankton is the photosynthetic base of the food chain in the ocean, so it really benefits everything in the tank.
 
Eric Borneman has a pretty good article in reefkeeping.org about phytoplankton...granted it's from 2002. I think you will find a lot of debate though on the benefit. Some scientists will talk about finding phytoplankton in the guts of SPS...others will say it's just a bi-product of natural processes and never really is used (which is why it's in their gut, undigested).

I think I've also read that it stimulates fish to eat better.

a>
 
Low on the food chain...feeds everything that everything feeds upon. Softies benefit from phyto also!
 
balagan;66722 wrote: Eric Borneman has a pretty good article in reefkeeping.org about phytoplankton...granted it's from 2002. I think you will find a lot of debate though on the benefit. Some scientists will talk about finding phytoplankton in the guts of SPS...others will say it's just a bi-product of natural processes and never really is used (which is why it's in their gut, undigested).

I think I've also read that it stimulates fish to eat better.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/eb/index.php">http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-10/eb/index.php</a>[/QUOTE]

Thanks Loren, that is a pretty good article. I've got some more reading to do before I decide whether or not to use it.

Thanks for all the other inputs as well.
 
My opinion (and experience) is that if you want to dose phyto for food to whatever may or may not eat it, DT's is fine. However if you want to bolster the food chain in your aquarium and increase the population of copepods, amphipods, mysid shrimp and other bugs which feed all levels of organisms in your tank, grow your own phyto as it will be more alive than DT's when it hits the tank.
 
Yep...thanks to George I am on my second batch of Phyto. I even have enough to take several bottles to Chattanooga to sell.:yay: It's easy to grow and definitely makes a difference, especially with the softies. And my micro inhabitants are thriving!
 
I would add that if you're not target feeding your tank and you have a refugium, feeding the phyto to the refugium instead of the display will help increase the bug population. I don't dose phyto to my main tank. Only the fuge.
 
I did a Wiki writeup of my process. There are links to sites and podcasts that give details at the top of the article.

a>
 
Back
Top