Phytoplankton - Rob

[reeferism]

Rob a couple of questions in regards to Phytoplankton feeding.
I guess the overall question is. is it worth it. Now I realize that it will feed certain filter feeders and can have a good effect of larvae, But if you have a very mature tank with an active refugium, sandbed,large quantity of LR do you really need to add these bottled or dried products to your tank. IMHO they seem to only serve to pollute (not in the case of Live) the tank and add to its overall nutrient resource.


thanks

 

[Biogeek]

If your overall question is "is it worth it?" I would have to say sometimes. It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish by adding it. I think that a lot of people go completely overboard with the plankton feeding, and unless there is some organism in your tank that is likely to benefit from it, all that excess nutrient input is simply going to degrade water quality. I don't think that phytoplankton feeding is necessary for every tank, no - but there are a lot of orgnisms in many reef tanks that will benefit from some feeding, and if your goal is to increase your biodiversity and provide for those organisms, then that will be a benefit. If you haven't seen my #reefs talk on phytoplankton, yet, I discuss this issue at some length in this article. Read through that article and see if that answers your question....

Rob

 

[Leloo]

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