Phtyofeast live culture?

lebrown87 · 09/25/2011, 02:22 PM

So I was looking into starting a plankton culture and was wondering if the Phytofeast live was actually alive enough to get a culture going off of? I know of a couple of places online that I can get a culture starter from, but the Phytofeast is available locally for about half the price. Anyone used it?

lordofthereef · 09/25/2011, 03:09 PM

Everything that I have ever read on the subject states that getting a plated culture is the way to go. That or a fairly fresh batch of green water.
I would think that phytofeast would have a large amount of dead in it, especially depending on the age of the bottle.

papagimp · 09/25/2011, 05:36 PM

I prefer getting prepared starter cultures myself but you can use any source of live phyto. If that particular bottle has been sitting on a shelf long enough, may not be alive anymore but a fresh bottle should work no problems. I've not used phytofeast myself to start a culture, but have used DT's in the past, and plenty of starters from florida aqua farms

lebrown87 · 09/25/2011, 08:09 PM

I will be sure to check the date next time I am in the store. If I am not confident, I will just spend more and go online. Thanks for the help.

disc1 · 09/25/2011, 09:33 PM

You can start a culture with a product like that. But after a very short time you will be left with only one or maybe two species in the culture.

It is best to do pure cultures. That way one doesn't take over and eliminate the other. That's the reason for starting with culture plates.

If you just want to get your feet wet with making green water, then using phytofeast live is a fine way to get your first culture going. If they have kept it refrigerated, then it should only take a few drops to seed a culture. Someting should grow out of it. Then once you know how to do it, then you might move on to buying some pure cultures.

IslandCrow · 09/26/2011, 12:15 AM

Agree with disc1. Products like Phytofeast or DT's tend to use multiple strains, and in my limited experience, when using these as a starter culture, they'll usually either crash or like disc1 said, you're left with the one strain that outcompeted the others. . .not really a bad thing, because you're only going to be able to grow one strain at a time with the prepared cultures as well, so go ahead and try it if you have some on hand. Otherwise, I'd start with a pure culture if for no other reason, you'll know what you're going to end up with.

lebrown87 · 10/07/2011, 07:06 AM

I ended up going with the culture discs. I am going to try nanno and Iso. Wish me luck!

09/25/2011, 02:22 PM	#1
lebrown87 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 39	Phtyofeast live culture? So I was looking into starting a plankton culture and was wondering if the Phytofeast live was actually alive enough to get a culture going off of? I know of a couple of places online that I can get a culture starter from, but the Phytofeast is available locally for about half the price. Anyone used it?

09/25/2011, 03:09 PM	#2
lordofthereef One reef to rule them all Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Leominster, MA Posts: 5,299	Everything that I have ever read on the subject states that getting a plated culture is the way to go. That or a fairly fresh batch of green water. I would think that phytofeast would have a large amount of dead in it, especially depending on the age of the bottle. __________________ "A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself" ~ Josh Billings Visit My Home page for current build thread (click my user name and select "Visit LordoftheReef's Homepage" in the drop down menu!

09/25/2011, 05:36 PM	#3
papagimp COMAS Rocks! Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 8,185 Blog Entries: 2	I prefer getting prepared starter cultures myself but you can use any source of live phyto. If that particular bottle has been sitting on a shelf long enough, may not be alive anymore but a fresh bottle should work no problems. I've not used phytofeast myself to start a culture, but have used DT's in the past, and plenty of starters from florida aqua farms __________________ 58g Softie & 75g Stoney Member, Central Oklahoma Marine Aquarium Society Current Tank Info: 58g Mixed Reef Project - Started June 2011

09/25/2011, 09:33 PM	#5
disc1 -RT * ln(k) Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Little Rock Posts: 9,705	You can start a culture with a product like that. But after a very short time you will be left with only one or maybe two species in the culture. It is best to do pure cultures. That way one doesn't take over and eliminate the other. That's the reason for starting with culture plates. If you just want to get your feet wet with making green water, then using phytofeast live is a fine way to get your first culture going. If they have kept it refrigerated, then it should only take a few drops to seed a culture. Someting should grow out of it. Then once you know how to do it, then you might move on to buying some pure cultures. __________________ David Current Tank: Undergoing reconstruction...

09/26/2011, 12:15 AM	#6
IslandCrow Reef Monkey Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rockledge, Fl Posts: 5,759	Agree with disc1. Products like Phytofeast or DT's tend to use multiple strains, and in my limited experience, when using these as a starter culture, they'll usually either crash or like disc1 said, you're left with the one strain that outcompeted the others. . .not really a bad thing, because you're only going to be able to grow one strain at a time with the prepared cultures as well, so go ahead and try it if you have some on hand. Otherwise, I'd start with a pure culture if for no other reason, you'll know what you're going to end up with. __________________ All opinions in the above message should be taken with 35 ppt salt. -Mike C. Current Tank Info: I have a reef screen saver on my phone, does that count?

09/25/2011, 08:09 PM	#4
lebrown87 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 39	I will be sure to check the date next time I am in the store. If I am not confident, I will just spend more and go online. Thanks for the help.

10/07/2011, 07:06 AM	#7
lebrown87 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 39	I ended up going with the culture discs. I am going to try nanno and Iso. Wish me luck!

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