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Unread 04/21/2015, 02:41 PM   #1
hotelbravo
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anyone use the product "Phyto Feast"

I bought this product today in hopes to add nutrients to my tank. I have been running my tank for over a year (upgraded multiple times) and I have never had an algae bloom. Oddly enough I want some algae in my tank I have a tang and angel that are constantly trying to graze but I have nothing for them to graze on other than the algae sheets. I also read that copepods would be positively affected by phytofeast adding more food in the water and increasing their reproductivity. Just out of curiosity does anyone have an experience dosing their tank with this?


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Current Tank Info: 180 gallon, 40b sump. 3x OR T247 lighting, Reef Octopus protein skimmer, phosban 550 reactor, tunze ato, gyre xf 150, 2x mag 9.5 returns.
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Unread 04/21/2015, 03:06 PM   #2
ClownsRCoo
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I have that and oyster feast and for me at least when i put it in the tank i dont even know if my corals are even eating any of it or not. Even when i spray it on them with my julians thing its hard to tell if they are even eating it or if im putting all that in my water for nothing.


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Unread 04/21/2015, 07:34 PM   #3
tom obrecht
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I used it for a length of time. Did it help....hard to say...did it hurt anything...in my case absolutely not. I think like anything if you overdose you could have issues so IMO go slow and don't add too much too soon.


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Unread 04/21/2015, 08:05 PM   #4
hotelbravo
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I feel like I would know soon if it was working with growing algae. I have very very little algae in the tank right now only a little brown on the sand. I only have 5 snails and 10 hermits so they are not keeping the algae levels down. But if after dosing this stuff for a week or so and I start seeing algae then I would know if its working or not. As far as going slow the bottle recommended 5 teasooons for my size tank and I only added 4 so I think im going to stick with a smaller number. I was worried because it says its food for clams, dusters, tunicates, corals and maybe one or two other things but I dont have any of those in my tank. Maybe a few tunicates but none I can see right now. I dont want to have nothing eat this stuff and it hurt my water quality


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Current Tank Info: 180 gallon, 40b sump. 3x OR T247 lighting, Reef Octopus protein skimmer, phosban 550 reactor, tunze ato, gyre xf 150, 2x mag 9.5 returns.
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Unread 04/21/2015, 09:42 PM   #5
zachogden
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isn't phytofeast a live phytoplankton culture? not so sure that will aid you in sparking an algae bloom by itself


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Unread 04/21/2015, 10:24 PM   #6
hotelbravo
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zachogden View Post
isn't phytofeast a live phytoplankton culture? not so sure that will aid you in sparking an algae bloom by itself
i believe it is a live culture. i am not sure how it will aid me if it even will. but i figured id try it and see if it helps. i remember reading somewhere that the population of copepods can be increased with adding phytoplankton to the system but im not sure how true this is.


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Current Tank Info: 180 gallon, 40b sump. 3x OR T247 lighting, Reef Octopus protein skimmer, phosban 550 reactor, tunze ato, gyre xf 150, 2x mag 9.5 returns.
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Unread 04/25/2015, 09:27 AM   #7
Sk8r
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It probably helps, but watch your phosphate levels. Don't go crazy with it, but I have used it, and it might indeed help with pods.


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Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low.

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Unread 04/25/2015, 08:37 PM   #8
ichthyogeek
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I used it to grow out some brine shrimp nauplii before...

I think you would be better off getting some Caulerpa or Ulva algae for the tang and angel, rather than try to add nutrients. If you really want to increase nutrient load, why don't you feed heavier or more often? Nori sheets provide a good grazing opportunity when wedged between rocks.

The few times I added it to the tank, I saw no significant increase in algae, and my kenya tree's polyps closed.


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Unread 04/26/2015, 07:28 AM   #9
dkeller_nc
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I use PhytoFeast and OysterFeast, generally dosed twice per week. The phyto feeds the sponges, featherdusters and non-photosynthetic clams in my live rock. It might (or might not) be helping the pod population. The Oyster Feast feeds the SPS corals - at least I think so. Without cross-sectioning some SPS polyps after feeding and putting them under a microscope, I can't verify how much of the O.F. they take up, but there is definitely a feeding response when it's added to the tank.

PhytoFeast comes in two versions - one's "PhytoFeast Live", and one's "PhytoFeast". The live version has a formulation that preserves viable phytoplankton cells, at the cost of declining nutritive value over the life of the bottle; the non-live phytofeast is formulated to preserve the nutritive value of dead phytoplankton.

In my case, I use the regular phytofeast version; it's considerably less expensive than the live version, and it seems to maintain sponges and my copepod cultures very well.

With respect to your fish, however, I would suggest directly feeding them macro algae rather than encouraging opportunistic algae growth in your tank.


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Unread 04/27/2015, 06:58 PM   #10
hotelbravo
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i bought some caulpera brachypus today from a fellow reefer on here. he is shipping it today and should be here Wednesday ill see how that works instead.


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Current Tank Info: 180 gallon, 40b sump. 3x OR T247 lighting, Reef Octopus protein skimmer, phosban 550 reactor, tunze ato, gyre xf 150, 2x mag 9.5 returns.
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Unread 05/11/2015, 09:06 PM   #11
hotelbravo
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So I finished off the entire bottle of phytofeast today and noticed no change in anything at all. no diatoms, extra algae on the glass, corals were not looking any different or bigger (I only have GSP and some mushrooms), the macro algae in sump didn't get affected (I didn't think it would), and most importantly I have no seen any increase in copepods in the sump. soooooo im not sure this did anything for me


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Current Tank Info: 180 gallon, 40b sump. 3x OR T247 lighting, Reef Octopus protein skimmer, phosban 550 reactor, tunze ato, gyre xf 150, 2x mag 9.5 returns.
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Unread 05/11/2015, 09:52 PM   #12
ichthyogeek
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Well, you can always use it to culture pods!


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Unread 05/12/2015, 12:03 AM   #13
hotelbravo
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hotelbravo View Post
and most importantly I have not seen any increase in copepods in the sump.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ichthyogeek View Post
Well, you can always use it to culture pods!
i see no benefit as far as pods go.


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Current Tank Info: 180 gallon, 40b sump. 3x OR T247 lighting, Reef Octopus protein skimmer, phosban 550 reactor, tunze ato, gyre xf 150, 2x mag 9.5 returns.
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Unread 09/19/2015, 10:47 AM   #14
manilaboy1vic
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hotelbravo View Post
I bought this product today in hopes to add nutrients to my tank. I have been running my tank for over a year (upgraded multiple times) and I have never had an algae bloom. Oddly enough I want some algae in my tank I have a tang and angel that are constantly trying to graze but I have nothing for them to graze on other than the algae sheets. I also read that copepods would be positively affected by phytofeast adding more food in the water and increasing their reproductivity. Just out of curiosity does anyone have an experience dosing their tank with this?
I def. put in way too much phyto feast live one day.. a huge squirt.. now i have diatoms all over my sand.. and a tiny amount of hair algae on one piece of LR...

**note to self.. do not dose phytofeast live after drinking whiskey.

after my blooper.. the next few days I did notice quite a bit of little baby flatworms on the glass.. and pods going nuts when lights out.. haha..

i just recently checked my params and thankfully my nitrates and phosphates are acceptable.

if you not seeing a bloom in algae, then i guess you would need to dose more??

i am currently skimming a bit more wet and changing carbon weekly.. haha.. keeping an close eye on phosphates and nitrates..


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